Food Deliveries That You Can Rely On for an Impromptu Park Picnic

Craving a trip to Tokyo? We’ve got the next best thing. All you need is a whiff of a cherry blossom tree (hot tip: they usually bloom in early spring in Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha) and a quick browse of the Harajuku Gyoza menu. These Japanese dumplings come in sets of five, and you can choose from flavours including pork and prawn or grilled lemongrass chicken with a ginger and spring onion dressing. Throw in a serve of salted edamame and a cup of piping-hot miso soup and South Bank can become Shibuya in no time. Don’t fret if your chopstick skills aren’t worth flexing — these gyozas are perfectly fork-friendly.

Image: Tim Ireland. 

Brooklyn Depot has a menu stuffed with American classics such as hot dogs, mac ‘n’ cheese balls, chicken tenders and fried pickles. You’ll be spoiled for choice, but our money’s on the burger menu, with standouts such as The Dubya Barbecue Brisket burger with slaw and onion rings, or the Notorious PIG with slow-cooked pork shoulder and truffle mayo. Keen for a truly buckle-busting meal? We humbly suggest the full rack of barbecue pork ribs, or a Golden G’Time shake with salted caramel sauce and cookie shards. Food coma incoming.

If you want to keep this park sesh on the healthier side, Malolo Poke in Capalaba serves up fresh, flavoursome poke bowls that are almost too beautiful to eat. The Loco Lomi bowl is a blush-hued delight, featuring salmon sashimi with citrus ponzu dressing and pink pickled ginger. If you are craving a little crunch, look towards the Funky Chicken bowl, stuffed with poached chicken, carrot, kale and crispy fried wontons. For drinks, Malolo Poke serves up the entire Amplify kombucha range (BYO cocktail umbrella if you like things bougie).

While European summer is off the cards right now, the guys at Fritzenberger have our local frites cravings sorted. You can choose from either the classic seasoned fries (with the potato skins left on, for extra flavour) or the totally bonkers loaded frites, with cheese sauce, candied bacon, green onions and Twisties salt. Yep, Fritzenberg grinds up Twisties and calls it a seasoning. Madness? Yes. Genius? Absolutely. The rest of the Fritzenburger menu is loaded with burgers, buffalo wings, and handmade chicken nuggets. It’s basically Brisbane’s answer to Brussels, except you don’t need to hunt down your passport to join in the fun.

Image: Hennessy Trill

Classic fish and chips always reminds us of summer holidays as a kid, and Fancy Fish in Flinders View is making us all kinds of nostalgic. Remember scorching your legs from holding the bundle of chips on the car ride home? Luckily for us, the Fancy Fish delivery menu means that you can skip the third-degree thigh burns. The meal packs can serve up to four people, with a choice of fish, plus calamari rings, chips and tartare sauce. Do yourself a favour, and add on a couple of handmade potato scallops (just try not to argue with your Victorian mate who insists that they are called ‘potato cakes’, ugh).

Bakehouse Buns is the sister restaurant to Ipswich’s legendary Bakehouse Steakhouse, serving up home-style classics such as cheeseburgers with caramelised onions, and crumbed pork cutlets with apple cabbage slaw. The dessert menu is similarly impressive, with the kind of sweet treats that you would find at your favourite country bakery, such as lemon meringue tart, baked cheesecake and banoffee pie. All of this, and you don’t even need to fill up the fuel tank (or fight over the Spotify playlist).