TL;DR: This is a great little find, where the finger is constantly on the pulse. With that extra credit being well utilised, that makes it all the more difficult to pigeon-hole and as a result gives it more fuel in being given a recommendation. Freshness goes all around, not just in the produce but also in the atmosphere and the service. More and more I am finding, if it rests adjacent to suburban housing it seems more worth the while to be given a go. Fuel & co is the best example of that going around.
Putting aside some of the old by knowing what still works after all these years, the designers with Fuel & Co then fit in a more modern and relaxed environment into a substantially sized courtyard and they have not made do. Instead, they have built it from the ground up with what they have and transformed what most would just bypass in another time, and now it is open as a great place to cater a big event or come at any opening time for a relaxing coffee. Just to think of this in a quiet street within Nundah, just adjacent to a school. Finding the best places usually requires going off the main drag, and seeing the quirky and the unusual, along with the hidden gems that the locals gravitate towards. You have yours right here in the flesh.
It was once again that time of the week. Sunday morning, after the big busy stretch of the work week, after the long Sabbath including being out on the town doing volunteer work, the time had come for the usual Sunday tradition. It was time to go and get some breakfast, and throughout the week my house mate had been doing the research and the study to find the right place. He was continuing on from the previous week, utilising the best of the northern suburbs where they have it fancier on average up there. This was the next one in line, and there is more to come if I am not mistaken.
With everything set in place, he just needed to do one thing to set it in motion - that was to sneak in while I was still either dozing or in a sleepy haze, and blast that air horn app in the air. That is the time to indicate that it is time to get dressed, and onto the road. Like it is most of the time, this was surprise and another card up his sleeve.
The adage of never judging a book by its covers come and goes in my mind, but it is always resting dormant just in case of a real surprise in contrast. This was such a case. They had a mix of casual and fancy going on with the components as a whole, where the ladies running the place could have well been managing a fancy Euro-themed restaurant closer into town, yet the whole cafe looked much like the semi-secret coffee shop hiding in the nursery somewhere out in the Styx. If there is anyone who loves it when a styles clash occurs and winds up with a unique design that works upon falling into line - the writer right here is just your man for that.
With the decor and the design, full credit is definitely given. On the outlay, it looks about as laid back as you can get and that you can merely saunter in right off the pavement. The entrance is through the side fence, which has been laid out with astroturf and a sign asking to wait to be seated. There is no tasted space - the house plenty of tables with enough to fit a few dozen, and the planning has allowed the walk-up window for coffees on the go. On the topic of the walk-up window, they also have a few bar stools which is a neat touch. It could well be a Queensland thing, but I do like this design which looks simple enough but requires a good through flow of planning to ensure that it has that simple look.
It was a hot day, getting into the summer months, so many people were suitably needing to cool down. As well as cold drinks being the choice du jour when getting the beverages, they had plenty of umbrellas up for shade, and the fans had faucets attached in order to spray mist and keep the air cool. All of that, plus the several pot and wall plants adorning the area, helped transform this courtyard into the right escape from the massive heat outside.
The service makes you feel welcome, and that extends beyond the welcoming committee. From that initial welcome, all the way to paying for the food at the end, they sure as heck ensure that you do feel welcome at Fuel & Co. What always is a good start to customer service is the folks undertaking the customer service, and the ladies here are something else. Not only are they easy on the eyes, but they have a lithe classiness through and through. Granted, the pace is not as quick as some others though it is far from slow. It helps if the place is popular, which Fuel & Co is.
How the service is done depends on whether we are talking weekdays or weekends. if it is a weekday, you go up to the counter and do the usual thing. But if it is a weekend that you choose to park yourself here, everything becomes that bit more relaxing. In other words, it becomes table service in which that improves everything by quite a bit and it is only with a little tweak.
Now it gets to the glue that holds everything together with any eatery, and that is the food. If we can use glue analogies - though it may be once off, just saying - they have got an industrial strength solvent, which even using that classification, is among the higher grades that you can get. I am not expert in that area, but I assume some of these stronger ones require a license, and if so you will need a license in this regard. That is because the food is very good quality - each component, but also that they rarely rely on laurels and will change up their routine on a regular basis.
Whenever they are open, you just know full well they are going to deliver some goods. The menu is one that changes on a regular basis, according to the seasons and according to what they got available. They have a fair bit of sweetness on the breakfast menu, a little bit more than most places. With something more for the savoury kind, they don't tend too much towards the cafe basics instead option for the more European style of cooking. Merely opting for the meals to be as healthy and good quality as oppose to anything else, it is a real surprise what they might have on the menu. It is one that caters well to all tastes.
The lunch time rush is a similar sort of precedent. They leave on a few of the favourties from breakfast, and give a bit of the usual range associated with cafes. You have the burgers, there is a couple of big meaty dishes, and just some general finger foods. Like with the breakfast menu, don't be surprised if they change the range up according to the seasons.
As far a the first impressions go, where a cafe really gets their chance to shine is in the drinks section. Most might focus on one or two, with the rest being the bare basics. You can tell that is not the case with Fuel & Co, as each section is given due justice. They have the usual range of tea and coffee - both hot and iced, milkshakes and all their ilk, and smoothies. They then have the big range in the fridge: juices, iced tea, sodas, kombucha et al. They have catering in their blood, and it certainly shines through.
The first order of business is the drinks, and while many were in the mood for milkshakes - tempting as those things always are - for me, it is breakfast time and few drinks signify the breakfast run like coffee does. The beans they use here are from Di Bella, which is hardly one of my favourites. By no means does that indicate the coffee is bad; if you are one that likes to have the coffee be strong it is well advised to get an extra shot of espresso. You can get a decent coffee when the barista knows full well what they are doing - which was the case right here. It was a tasty coffee,
It might slip my mind a little bit about what I exactly had; a look at the snaps indicate they were fritters. These were vegetable fritters, made with a combination of zucchini, roast capsicum and corn, which were then served alongside a couple of poached eggs (in which they were requested soft), a generous scoop of labne, and several pieces of asparagus. To give it a little more meat, chorizo was requested on the side.
One thing about the dishes here is that while each ingredient is good quality, the overall portion size is a bit modest. It might not be producing any food babies per se, yet fear not with leaving here not quite satiated - there is enough here for a decent meal, and will satisfy most appetites. The fritter was delicious. Strangely, the capsicum was cooked to the extent it produced a sweet flavour, which was complimented with the additions of corn and zucchini. That labne on top was the perfect accompaniment, laced with plenty of mint and enough of it to spread over. The eggs were good as per normal, and they cooked that asparagus to just the right degree. Lastly, the chorizo was really spicy - the first bite, and I could feel some small flames. That means it was something else - definitely get this on the side, you won't regret it.
I've figured that Fuel & Co is much like this, it is kind of the local for anyone in the area.But it is a high-level sort of local, that is actually worth trekking across town to try out, as nothing is done at half-ball like it can be at a lot of the locals. That is because of the attention to detail, which starts at them making you feel welcome, and utilising their environment very well which helps it fit into the neighbourhood. The food was top notch quality, and the pace of everything suits the weekend mornings very well. Anyone living among the northern part of town ought to seek Fuel & Co out, since they have a real winner in their midst.
Final grade: 4.5 - it doesn't just fall over the line from an ambiguous 4.0 rating, nor is it falling too short of a 5.0. Fuel & Co rests comfortably in the middle area of the still prestigious 4.5 rating by getting practically everything right at a high level.
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