It's hard to be a cafe in New Farm. You have to be: hip enough to attract the weekend brunch crowd , fit in with the latest food trends (clean eating, paleo, sugar free, dairy free, gluten free), innovative enough to keep the short attention span of a discerning crowd yet offer something traditional and familiar enough for the hip but not so adventurous (in other words traditional food but with trendy ingredients).
Pablo does most of the above--I say most because I'm not familiar with what the latest food trend is--all I care is if it tastes good, not if it's in fashion. We've been to Pablo before (like most of Brisbane), dropped off our radar for awhile mainly because there were always long queues and the interior can be a bit noisy on a Sunday morning.
Menu is clever--familiar brunch staples like salads, hotcakes, muesli etc yet a little bit different e.g. gin cured sea trout. I was a bit disappointed when the trout arrived--somehow i expected more fish and where is the avocado? As you eat through the plate, there's more trout than you think and avocado is at the bottom--crises averted. Hubby's staple of smashed avocado has a nice bit of summer feeling injected with the mango salsa and bit different with haloumi rather than feta.
While the menu is appealing, the specials board probably did too good a job as the dishes on it sounded more hearty and appealing than the fixed menu--maybe thats why everything was sold out. Hint: get there early (ier) to try the specials.
Hopefully Pablo can continue to come up with specials to spruce up the main menu and keep things interesting, else, as it juggles the many plates and requirements of a competitive environment it risks losing its point of difference and fading into the background of so many other New Farm cafes.
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| House gin cured Sea Trout |
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| Crushed Avocado on Sourdough |
