Teeny Korean-inspired cafe opens from pair of Greca and Yoko veterans

Brisbane’s restaurateurs have for years lamented this city’s relative lack of smaller tenancies.

It can be a drag on a healthy hospitality scene: smaller venues equal smaller overheads and provide an opportunity, say, for a pair of young chefs with limited backing to throw an idea at the wall and see if it sticks.

Snug, thankfully, is exactly that.

Leaham Claydon and Jianne Jeoung used to be on the frontlines of Jonathan Barthelmess’s Yoko and Greca restaurants – neighbouring riverside spots that, every lunch and dinner of the year, flex their way through hundreds of diners (Jeoung left Greca in 2021 to cook at Otto, Clarence and then Niky; Claydon finished up as head chef at Yoko on Valentine’s Day). In short, they’re a pair of young guns who would be welcomed into just about any kitchen in the city.

Now, though, they’re out on their own, unveiling this charming Korean-inspired cafe and (soon) wine bar in a pocket-sized former trophy shop in Coorparoo.

“Size was a struggle,” Claydon says. “It was really important we found something this size because the rents can be crazy. And something this size in the city would’ve been $1500 or $1600 a week. If you can only fit so many seats inside, that’s pretty hard to do.

“But we felt if we did something quality, people would travel for it. Look at Mountain River [Patisserie, in Runcorn]. It’s packed every day. People will travel for a good product, so we wanted something small enough where we could focus on quality.”

Snug opened last week, serving St Ali coffee and a selection of pastries baked by the Gold Coast’s Brasserie Bread. But a food licence is expected any day, and Claydon and Jeoung will begin serving dishes such as a scrambled egg drop brioche with mozzarella, omurice with prawns and a lemon mentsuyu sauce, and Korean-style creamed corn with artichokes and provolone. There will also be house-baked soft pretzels and salt butter rolls.

The concept was inspired by an early 2023 trip to Korea, during which Claydon and Jeoung realised they wanted to open their own venue.

“Beforehand, we thought, ‘We should do something eventually,’” Jeoung says. “But that trip, we thought, ‘For sure, we have to find [our own venue].’”

“Locals there support small businesses. It’s pretty full-on but they make enough money. They do what they want to do and they’re very unique. Our whole experience there was, ‘We’re going to do it. We’re going to do something for ourselves.’”

Snug occupies a fetching green tenancy just off Chatsworth Road in Coorparoo. A straightforward fit-out – mostly handled by Claydon and Jeoung themselves – is dominated by a spacious dining counter built out of red-stained Tasmanian blackbutt that runs the length of the venue. Benches line the walls, the prime spot at the bifold windows that look out upon the surrounding houses and apartment blocks.

There’s also smart hand-fired tableware produced in Daejeon by Jeoung’s family.

A liquor licence will follow the food. Expect a rotating list of small-producer wines (along with a small wine shop in a downstairs basement space) alongside an evening menu that will include Appellation oysters, raw fish with shiitake mushrooms and wild sesame, pressed bulgogi served with banchan (Korean-style vegetable sides), and eggplant rice finished with spring onion and a spicy soy.

But even in its abridged form, Snug has already been a hit, with Coorparoo and Camp Hill locals descending on the venue during its first weekend.

“It was 280 people on Friday and then just kicked on from there,” Claydon says.

“People are particularly excited for the wine bar,” Jeoung adds. “They’d come past when we were getting ready and ask what we were up to, and then say, ‘Great, I need somewhere local where I can just walk home.’”

Open Mon-Tue 6am-3pm, Thu-Fri 6am-3pm, Sat-Sun 7am-3pm.

321 Chatsworth Road, Coorparoo.

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