Picnic Cafe

It’s not often that you can be surrounded by so many people, and yet feel so exclusive, especially in a café; however that’s exactly how I felt Camp Hill’s ‘Picnic’ café. Post-​Christmas visits showed to be extremely busy, but luckily, my company and I had little-​no waiting time.
For my first (of soon to be many) visit to picnic café, I ordered the classic Smashed Avo, which was accompanied by a sweet tomato relish, lemon, and delicious feta on sourdough. To be completely honest, ‘Smashed Avo’ has become somewhat mundane and feels ordinary to order seeing as it’s become such a high priority hipster trend, but regardless I ordered as many of the meals I would have liked to try were temporarily unavailable. Picnic however did the meal justice and somehow, the meal leapt of the plate at me. Despite being the same set-​up, the same meal as almost every other breakfast breakthrough, the meal had something special. It was different to the smashed Avo I’ve had in the past. It was sweeter, more sour and creamier in all the under appreciated places, which made it perfect, as if somehow each ingredient was enhanced individually.
Commonly I’m not a fan of feta, but it was astounding to see that a not-​so renowned café could pull me out of that past. The feta, relish and lemon joined up and brought the freshness out in the avocado and made the food even more delicious and fulfilling. Somehow picnic café found a way to out the flavor back in the overused meal and I can’t naturally describe it. I’m really thankful for the kitchen staff at picnic for making my start to the day a great one.
On other notes, the coffee was smooth and sweet, the staff were patient and friendly, the atmosphere was calm and collected in one of its most busy times of the year, and the prices were average (not including the 15% holiday surcharge. Definitely a café worth returning to in a lovely area.

Really great coffee! Thanks a bunch.

Nice little café, nice atmosphere and popular. You have to try the scramble tofu, it was fantastic and the portion size was big. Would highly recommend. The coffee was also great.

First trip to the Picnic Café was a success! There is a broad range on the menu for breakfast/​brunch, which as a non-​egg fan (crazy, I know) is great to see. I had the wagyu burger and chips ($ 17). It was delish! Great battered chips :) Coffee was also lovely. Everyone was really happy with their choices — Vietnamese omelette special, eggs and haloumi and the Big Breakfast with amazing ham hock baked beans. Meals are reasonably priced as well.
We had to wait a while until a bigger table was free, as we had five people but tables for two were moving quicker. No bookings available, which is common but slightly annoying :) Nice service and surroundings. Was pretty loud with the amount of people inside, but small price for an awesome brunch! :) Would go again.

After dining at Pawpaw Café numerous times, I was really looking forward to having a meal at Picnic Café, however my experience wasn’t what I had anticipated.
The café is very well laid out in setting, and is very comfortable to meet with friends or family. Being tucked away in Camp Hill, there is little to no traffic noise to worry about.
I ordered the Potato Gnocchi with cherry tomato and chorizo — which was a little extra on the bill — but it was definitely worth it. My girlfriend had the same meal and really enjoyed it also.
We had ordered some cold drinks with our meals, which unfortunately never arrived at the table. This was a little disappointing, however we did finish the complimentary water on the table pretty early and wasn’t offered another.
Another slight disappointment was the fact one of the waitresses basically «dropped» our meals onto the table in front of us and walked away. Not the kind of professionalism you’d like in hospitality, especially in an almost empty café setting.
Apart from the few hiccups here and there, the food was very nice and I’d like to try them again sometime. It won’t be on the top of my list, though.

Picnic is the latest venue in a bunch that includes PawPaw and Green Papaya… in fact its interior looks rather similar to PawPaw. I visited finally for a quick lunch visit.
I had seen copious fresh juices and smoothies on their instagram account but these were none to be seen on the menu unfortunately, so I had a bit of a panic and ordered a chai/​banana smoothie that I didn’t particularly want. It ended up being a-​ok. The caramel milkshake my husband had was much nicer.
I love an all-​day breakfast and so this is what I ordered… The Picnic Board came out looking delightful and fresh with a pile of sliced ham off the bone, feta (it tasted like the Barambah marinated feta, so perhaps it was), tomato relish, avocado and poached eggs. Unfortunately the poached eggs were underdone, there is definitely a fine line between cooking the whites and making sure the yolk is still runny. Idipped my bread in it and tried not to think about it too much.
My hubby’s burger came with an immense beef patty, delicious caramelised onion and a generous slice of proscuitto.
One thing that certainly irked me was that the waitress waved at the counter and said there were several specials available, but instead of telling us what these these were helpfully, we had to actually get up, walk around the corner and have a look on the board what they were… um… not very cool.
All in all, I didn’t enjoy this place as much as its sister, PawPaw, but am definitely willing to give it another go. I must say the baked sweet goods available in the cabinet looked quite appealing.

Just had late brunch at Picnic. The Picnic Board was my choice of dish and was delicious. My co diner switched the ham for bacon on their Picnic Board and was equally delighted.
On leaving we also grabbed one of the vegan choc cherry slices.

We had breakfast at Picnic on the Sunday of a long weekend, and due to some new buzz there was a (short) queue for a table at 8:30 — so much for thinking we got in early! No matter, it was worth the wait.
There were some good solid choices that made it hard to pick, but the sourdough with beans and mushrooms and the picnic board won out in the end. The house made ham hock baked beans were so tasty, they were my pick of the day. The eggs on the picnic board were perfectly poached and accompanied by house baked shaved ham, a half an avo, herbed feta and a tomato relish. All super yum. Even though it was served on a board.
Although we were seated on one of the two little tables outside, we weren’t ignored with staff regularly checking on us.
I’ll definitely be coming back. I must try the green piña colada smoothie — it looked and sounded fabulous!

It’s easy to see why Picnic has become so popular just weeks after their opening. A relaxed atmosphere and excellent food make it great for a relaxed brunch with the family, and perfect for a casual dinner and drinks with friends. Personally, they had me at salted caramel milkshake, but for the healthier minded there are also peanut butter protein shakes. Faultless service and delicious baked goodies also help! Will definitely revisit.

Two visits in one day. Yep, it’s not what I’d planned but let’s roll with it.
Picnic might look fairly familiar as you walk into this new Camp Hill hidey-​hole. There’s good reason. It’s the newest member of the Venzin Group family who’ve delivered Brisbane the likes of Green Papaya and Pawpaw Café. In fact, interior wise, you’ll feel right at home and wonder if you’re in a Pawpaw transplant. You’re not although there’s touches that keep it familiar. One such touch is executive chef Rory Doyle who’s graces in the menu are clear.
There’s hearty and non-​traditional breakfast menu items that all let you select breakfast and a coffee for under $ 20. Then there’s familiar lunch items like the Picnic Burger (this had sold out by the time I headed back for lunch at 12:20pm) and gnocchi. I had the pumpkin gnocchi which was light and filling. It’s good quality and again under $ 20 with a drink.
I was pumped for time when I stopped in on my way to meetings this morning so opted for the fruit toast and a coffee. The fruit toast is the lightest I’ve ever tasted. It really is a fruit brioche. Paired with a light layer of Pepe Saya butter — delicious!
Coffee is, as with Pawpaw, Campos but the team are consistently good baristas so the quality remains high.
Like Pawpaw there was a steady flow of people and already they’re experiencing weekend lines as people trek to taste the new venture. Service is fast, but done well. Granted, I visited on a Thursday but still both visits had at least several other diners in at the same time.
For all the similarities, this isn’t Pawpaw. It is its own café in its own right. Today was the first of many visits I think, and I’m looking forward to see how Picnic grows into it’s name and space.