Also, smoothies, matcha, St Ali coffee, and a terrific range of fresh produce and dry goods.
Operator opens venue in neighbourhood. It’s successful. Soon enough, whether by their own ambition or the grace of a landlord who recognises a good thing, they’re opening a second venue in the same complex, maybe a third.
It’s a familiar tale. In Brisbane’s inner south, Anna Brobjer and Tim Glasson followed La Bodega with Olli Italiano, and Ashley-Maree Kent followed Roman Trattoria with Bar Rocco.
Now, over the hill on Chatsworth Road, young-gun chefs Leaham Claydon and Jianne Jeoung are leveraging the wild success of their cafe and wine bar Snug to unveil Jane’s Deli next door in a refurbished space previously home to California Native.
“This was very impulsive,” Jeoung says.
Impulsive because Claydon and Jeoung were already taking over the tenancy directly next door (the back half of California Native) after discovering it had a pizza oven; that project, a bistro called Bar Cooper’s, will open in the new year.
But beyond stocking some of their favourite goods and produce, Jane’s was an excuse to address a few common requests at Snug: iced matcha, sandwiches, express filter coffee, that king of thing.
It was also a way to establish their jurisdiction on the cluster of tenancies on the corner of Chatsworth and Eva Street.
“We thought it would be odd to have a third tenant next door,” Jeoung says.
“And for us, it was a matter of knowing what the suburb needed … we thought we might as well add to the community, add something different,” Claydon says.
It’s a beautiful little space, decked out in timber benches and service areas, and fetching olive green walls. At the door is a spacious checkout counter, while the sandwich and coffee station sits in the back corner. Out back is a spacious shady courtyard with a few tables for those who want to eat in.
Stainless steel shelves line the venue, stocked with pantry staples, and there’s a fridge with fancy cheeses and small goods.
It’s an impressive but practical spread of goods: shortcut bacon and boneless ham from Paddock to Plate, salami with prosciutto and pistachio from Borgo Salumi, Brets crisps from France, Mama Liu’s vegan chilli oil, a selection of Fancy Hank’s seasoning and Antonella’s passata.
“There were some select products we wanted to stock and it’s a matter of finding who supplies them, and then you enter into this wonderland, where you find all these other great products,” Jeoung says.
The sandwiches and smoothies, though, are far from an afterthought.
For sangers, the current menu includes Hainanese chicken with a spring onion and ginger sauce, cucumber and chilli crisp; mortadella with provolone, wood-fired broccoli, romesco and salsa verde; a hot-honey cheese toastie with caramelised onions; and a vegetarian bagel made with a Greek-style fava spread, roasted capsicum, red onion, capers, feta and oregano.
The smoothie menu features strawberry, banana and mango; mango, pineapple, banana and apple; and kale, cucumber, kiwi, spinach, banana and coconut.
Away from the smoothies, there’s coffee by St Ali and the aforementioned iced matcha.
“It’s been a steady week since opening [in med-December], rather than busy, I think just because a lot of people go away in this area for Christmas, but the response so far from locals has been great,” Claydon says.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
