It was a sunny Saturday, and we finally went to a café I’d had bookmarked for a long time. Snug sits in a quiet residential pocket of Coorparoo, and the little shop is beautifully put together. The weekend crowd was huge, and it felt like the most popular place in Coorparoo. We got there at 10am and every seat was taken. After a short wait a spot opened up, and one of the staff led us to the bar.
The shop is tiny, with two long rows of seats and an open kitchen. From our bar seats we could see the busy chefs making each dish, plating it and setting it down, and I realised it wasn’t far off omakase. Watching our own order get made step by step was a lot of fun.
The prawn omurice
The omurice comes with a big grilled prawn on top. I’d seen mixed reviews on social media, but I thought it was really good. The sauce is the main thing: it’s very well absorbed, with something sour added to lift the flavour, and I’d rate it highly. It’s the hottest dish on the menu, and it isn’t like the traditional curry omurice or the ketchup-based kind. It’s lighter, but it tastes great.
The jjolbokki comes under a thick layer of cheese
The jjolbokki is a Korean-style spicy noodle dish, a bit like ramen, topped with a thick layer of cheese. There’s plenty in the bowl as well, and I thought it was really good too.
The egg sandwich is thick, crisp and milky
We had the Manjimap Black egg sandwich. This whole series of sandwiches looks much the same, thick egg sandwiches, and ours had a layer of truffle added. The bread tastes strongly of milk and is toasted crisp, and I rated this one highly as well.
The pretzel is hard outside, soft inside and very filling
We ordered the knot bread with cream cheese, and the cream cheese is nicely balanced. The outside is hard and the inside is soft, and it’s really good. It’s also incredibly filling, and one bite is enough to feel full.
The Magic is tiny and bitter, and the hojicha latte was a mistake in the best way
The Magic coffee comes in a very small cup and it’s really bitter. The hojicha latte tastes like the hojicha lattes at Starbucks in China. I think it would be better iced, but I ordered it hot by accident. I also assumed it was caffeine-free, like a matcha latte, and that turns out to be wrong on both counts. Hojicha does contain caffeine, just much less than matcha, and matcha isn’t caffeine-free either.
Overall I think this is a really good café, and not one dish let us down. The shop is small, though, and nearly all the seating is at the bar, to the point where you sit face to face with the head chef. It isn’t suited to a group meal. The Japanese-Korean feel is strong, and it’s a great spot for photos.
What to know before you go
Don’t sit on the iron stools by the door. They sit on a slope and are hard to balance on, and the spot is really exposed to the sun. Take your photos out front, then go inside to eat. Opening hours run until 3pm and the shop is closed on Wednesdays, so check the times before you go, because if you arrive late the dishes you want may have sold out. There’s parking right next to the shop, which is very convenient.
Snug is at Shop 3, 321 Chatsworth Road, Coorparoo QLD 4151.
What else is worth knowing
Snug is run by couple Leaham Claydon, who was previously head chef at Yoko, and Jianne Jeoung, who has worked at Greca and Clarence, and it opened in April 2024 in a former trophy shop. When it launched, the prawn omurice came with a lemon mentsuyu sauce, which would account for the sour note you tasted. The menu was inspired by the owners’ three-week holiday in South Korea, but it isn’t strictly Korean, which fits the Japanese-Korean mix we found. The coffee is St Ali, and the owners made the ceramic plates, bowls and cups in Korea, with Jianne’s aunties. On the caffeine question, Yamamotoyama puts matcha at around 60mg per 100ml and hojicha at around 20mg, and says roasted green tea is not caffeine-free. Gourmet Traveller also notes that the space is small enough that groups of three or more can end up seated awkwardly, which matches what we saw, and that Snug runs a Korean drinking-food dinner service in the evening, so the opening hours may differ from what we found. teeny korean inspired cafe opens from pair of greca and yoko veterans 20240404 p5fhdr +4
Would we go back?
Yes, and next time I’d order the hojicha iced. If you like a good Brisbane café wait, our review of Nos. Bakehouse & Cafe in Dutton Park covers another place with a queue that’s worth it, and ilo Bakehouse in Wynnum is a bakery with a view of the water. If the Japanese side of Snug is what caught your eye, OMO Cafe in the Melbourne CBD is a Japanese café we’ve been back to, and there are more in our Japanese café reviews. Check the Queensland school holiday dates before you plan a weekend trip, because Snug gets busier when school is out.