Pineapple Express Portside

Are you eating it or is it eating YOU?! 😱

There are two foods that I absolutely try to prioritise and include in my diet every day because they naturally tend to bring benefit to your gut and overall digestion. What are they? The P&P!

Pineapple and Papaya!

Pineapple is the only known source in nature of bromelain, an enzyme that helps the body to break down and digest protein! It also acts as a decongestant and reduces nasal inflammation 👃 

Sooooo, I think it’s fair enough to say that pineapple helps you not only to be able to eat more food because when you eat pineapple it will eat you back and better digestion equals less volume of food aka needs to get more food in (good thinking mate, good thinking 😂) as well as you can smell food better! 👏😍 and I don’t see a better and appropriate option than to feast at Pineapple Express Cafe!

These guys have a few stores around Queensland and even outside Australia, in Dubai, and they sure are an amazing experience! We visited the original cafe store at the outer suburbs of the city, around 1h30 hour from the CBD and actually the walk is quite pleasant to walk as it is done by the river and even in a hot day (typical!) you get the breeze and win that are very refreshing. The also have a box cafe with a few less items from the original menu right in the CBD but we wanted to visit the main store and had time to visit so we went on that pineapple adventure quest! 

The place is well indicated and has a huge outdoor seating area - impressive indeed! They also have different patterns and shapes of their pineapple logo from the ‘normal’ printed one to one it tiles. And once you come inside the store you are definitely not expecting the massive picture of what it looks like a cute little van car on the left wall. It certainly inspires good vibes and creates a positive mood! The right side has the counter and a few cakes and deli and the far end of the store leads to the kitchen where they prepare the amazing things you’re about to see and read! And even though we didn’t have anything with pineapple, there are cute pineapple props everywhere and obviously for the picture I felt that including it was appropriate 😂

We were kindly received by the staff and after a quick look at the new menu we asked what they recommended. Trust me you will want to try everything indeed from the breakfast to the lunch menu as everything here is guuuuutastic! And so that you don’t take too much time deciding, they have come up with share boards! (Plus they have different options depending on your dietary requirements!) 👏🙌

You can also find the items of the share board in bigger portion and ‘single’ meals if you don’t want to share because I know what you’re thinking - I don’t shaaaaare’. Same, same 🙋‍♀️🙃😂 well, you don’t have to because they have double the things! Such a genius idea! 👏 I had never seen such an interesting concept!
 
Of course that we opted for the vegan share board or only because of the allergen content of the ‘normal’ one but also because this one sounded VERY promising! And it sure was! The board comes with:

- 2 little Acai Breakfast Bowls - that in my personal opinion were indeed quite small. It’s obviously a mix of foods that you can find in here but even like that I would have preferred to have a little bit more sweet to the bow and less savoury, just purely because I am a sweet type of person! My friend actually thought the opposite as she is a more savoury person and she was happy with the sizes. Either way the acai taste was good although it melted quite fast and we both agreed that it would be good that the thickness and frozen acai should ideally stay longer without melting as it would have been more enjoyable to eat it towards more the end of the meal and not everything in the beginning. Hard to know what to solve this because once you take the acai out of the freezer it obviously stars melting, and while having some special isolation bowls to preserve the cold could work, the cost would be certainly significant. It was obviously still pretty good but the consistency was quite melting by the middle/end as we were trying to alternate sweet as savoury 😂 either way, it comes topped with fruits such as banana, apple, strawberries and blueberries of an amount appropriate for the size of the cup and with some granola ideally and naturally sweet, very much appreciated 👏

- Toasted Pumpkin Seed Sourdough - the bread itself was impressive and so massive in terms of height and size! The taste was definitely amazing with a subtle pumpkin sweetness and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I think that a cashew creme here would be terrific actually, just spread on the bread 👏

- Toppings: the amazing toast comes with some spinach, very nicely cooked, a massive portion of avocado, some flavoured pulled jackfruit that again came in great serving and some other greens such as broccolini, beautiful arranged and very much appreciated. There were also some cherry tomatoes slightly roasted on top of the broccoli that I really enjoyed and I think that personally I would like to see some mushrooms here too (because how good are grilled sautéed mushrooms!). There was also a crispy tofu slice that we thought that was the the least accomplished item as even tough it wasn’t greasy nor oily, it was just plain tofu and lack slightly in taste of course. 

- Falafel: last but not least, it comes with three little falafels that are so cuuuuuute! Relatively small but the taste is just incredible! Again not oily or greasy and with a crumble that was perfectly achieved! I would definitely love to have a bit more of these and maybe a smaller toast just because I am also a huge falafel lover 👏

It is an amazing meal for you and we were satisfied. Price is very reasonable and I think the serving size with some drinks on the size is just right too! Like I said my only friendly suggestion would maybe to make the acai portion slightly bigger and to try to make it more frozen while being delivered to the costumer so that it comes not as liquid and melting 👏 either way, the team is also very friendly and will make you feel comfortable and willing to please you. Would definitely love to visit again!

Excellent ☕️!

Ordered flat white with almond like which is fantastic! Better than lots of cafe store in Sydney!

Outside sittings and friendly staff, the nice to sit down and get some fresh air. Toast with bacon and mushroom is excellent, my colleague seems really enjoy it!

Favourite breakfast spot in Brisbane! Best coffee and food, so many options! Make sure you try the share board - you won’t be disappointed, it’s got everything you could possibly want. Awesome acai bowls too!

I’ve been to Pineapple Express twice now and Im love the place..coffee has been consistent and food has been tasty and guilt free :) thanks and I will be returning soon..

I looooved my pulled pork nachos, caramel slice and iced latte. 😋 I wasn't a fan of the raw burrito bowl but I'm going through the menu and still very pleased.

Always great! I love that i can customize my own meal. Seaweed is defo my all time fave!❤️ Worth tagging as one of your favorite restaurant!

I was surprised by just how good the Fried chicken was, and the turmeric & lemon donuts lol. And the Chocolate sauce was fun to play with.