A Team Deli peddles Japanese curry sangers and banana bread cold foam

It’s interesting, the opportunities for hospitality businesses that still exist in Brisbane’s suburbs. Particularly in the north.

This side of the river, there are plenty of full-service cafes. But specialty coffee spots? Not quite so many – particularly once you venture beyond the CBD and inner suburbs.

“I feel you get a lot of options south of the river,” says Allen Kao, who previously co-owned Better Day in Hendra. “But on the northside I don’t really feel you can get many different things apart from a full-menu cafe. And not that many specialty coffee outlets … there are full-menu cafes around here that do good coffee, but not specialty coffee.

“Around here” is Days Road in Grange, where Kao this week opened A Team Deli. Compared with the popular (and good) full-service Huskk down the hill, this is much more stripped back. Like many operators post-pandemic, Kao has elected to do just a couple of things and do them well – in this case, specialty coffee and sandwiches.

The cafe itself – previously home to an antique dealer – is similarly stripped back in its design. An old weatherboard shop with large picture windows, Kao has contrasted its timber floorboards with a stainless-steel island counter and understated feature lighting. Much of the seating is on a pair of verandahs that flank the central space.

Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.

Sign up

The cafe’s striking green and white fascia board comes courtesy of Chih-Wei “Tiger” Hsu, who co-owns and completed the branding for Butter in Gaythorne and Alby’s in Wavell Heights.

For drinks, coffee comes from Virginia’s Cavalier Coffee Roasters and is served espresso and via batch brew. There’s also a pistachio-cream topped Mont Blanc, and an iced latte topped with banana bread cold foam.

For food, banana bread and crumpets are served with house-made cinnamon butter, and a bacon and egg muffin is served with American cheese and house-made AT sauce (a combination of barbecue sauce and the cafe’s house herby mayonnaise), but they’re really playing a supporting role to a bunch of toasted and fresh sandwiches.

Most popular so far among the sourdough toasties, Kao says, is a chicken melt with pickles and caramelised onions, but there’s also Japanese beef curry with American cheese and curry mayo, and cheese and fig jam.

The fresh sandwiches are served on ciabatta and include beef brisket with pickles, caramelised onions, lettuce, American cheese and AT sauce; chicken caesar pickled onions and fried shallots; and peppercorn mortadella with stracciatella, gherkins, honey and crushed almonds.

“The neighbourhood and community know us already,” Kao says. “We’ve been running the cafe softly for a couple of weeks before the official launch and it’s been busier than we expected, given it’s been the school holidays.”

Open Mon-Fri 6am-2pm, Sat-Sun 6.30am-2pm

46 Days Road, Grange

instagram.com/ateam_deli

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.