Our food editor’s guide to the 2026 Queensland Day Awards

“All the Best” might be a 75,000-vote popularity contest, but of Brisbane’s food and beverage winners, these are the ones worth your attention.

We certainly did, given the enthusiasm emanating from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet over the past few weeks.

Mostly it was about All the Best. This lighthearted bit of boosterism’s stated intention is to shine a light on Queensland’s best food, beverage, beaches, florists, banh mi and whatever else, but really, it’s a two-month popularity contest.

For the businesses it’s aiming to celebrate, if you mobilised your social media following, you were a good chance of nabbing at least a place.

But that doesn’t mean the 75,000 unique votes didn’t spotlight some gold in Brisbane and its surrounds.

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Take cafes and bakeries. Cafes winner, Farmhouse in Kedron, opened in 2017 in part as a tribute to Farmer Joe’s, the much-loved produce store and community hub that had closed in the same space in 2009. But it’s grown into something much more than that – particularly in its post-pandemic years. It’s one of the best full-service cafes on the northside.

If I’m road tripping on the weekend, I’ll use any excuse to swing past bakeries winner The Baker’s Duck in Toowoomba, an icon in that city on the back of its precisely baked pastries, flaky pies and killer sourdough. It changed owner in 2023 but is as excellent as ever.

All the banh mi entries are legit. Banh Mi Factory is perhaps better known these days for its Austin Street outlet in Newstead, but it was the Zillmere original (if you don’t count its market origins) that was announced the winner for 2026. They’re cracking buns either way.

In second place, Darra Takeaway on Railway Parade perhaps rivals neighbouring icon Scotts Road Takeaway as the best on the strip, while Hello Please’s Maris Cook and Jesse Stevens are card-carrying fans of third placegetter My Street Food in Woolloongabba.

The butcher run-off was the subject of a friendly “ButcherTok” battle between Rode Meats in Stafford Heights and The Bellmere Butcher in the suburb of the same name.

They ended up placing first and second respectively, with Rode Meats a favourite among northside barbecue tragics.

For burgers, Just Poppy’s is an absolute classic out at Goodna, having moved on from Riverhills last year. It’s neat to see an old-school Australian-style burger (there are actually 69 of them on the menu) take out second place.

Third placed, Mr Jeebus (formerly Benz on Miller) in Tingalpa was still one of the better Ameri