Breakfast Creek Hotel & Pub

A Brisbane icon, the Breakfast Creek Hotel is ingrained irrevocably in the psyche of generations of locals, mainly because of the Spanish Steakhouse first, and its tropical beer garden second.

Part of its enduring appeal is that everything is essentially the same as it has been for decades – the cold beer, the amazing steak and the in-house ghost.

The tiled, Spanish Steakhouse, established in 1968, is still enclosed by stucco white arches and the formula - choosing your own hefty steak, deciding how it’s cooked and the accompaniments of baked potato, coleslaw, bread roll and bacon sauce has never varied.

Similarly, the beer garden, claimed to be Brisbane’s first, still serves beer from wooden kegs.

The grand, French Renaissance-style hotel itself, built during boom times in 1888, was perhaps always destined to be noteworthy, given that its first publican, a former Lord mayor of Brisbane, fell to his death from a first floor balcony after over indulging in his own. It is his ghost that has been reportedly sighted by patrons and staff over the years.

The hotel overlooks Breakfast Creek, across to popular bakery and dine-in cafe, MICA, with historic Newstead House and Newstead Park just a hop, skip and a jump across the nearby bridge. 

Depending on where you live, why not visit the Breaky Creek Hotel on foot. Pedestrian access from the city is an easy stroll along the Newstead River Walk, or if you're heading from Hamilton and Portside, take to the Lores Bonney Riverwalk and enjoy the city views along the river.