Tognini's at the State Library

Tognini's CafeWineBar
State Library of Queensland, Stanley Place, South Bank



Back in the day when hair was my obsession more than anything else (at one stage *cough* I was blonde and at another stage, *cough* I had a girl mullet), I was faithful to AKA Tognini's in the valley for haircuts. When I found out that the same people were responsible for the cafe my mum went to for lunch, I was SO DYING to try it out. Never got the chance to.

How lucky for me then that Tognini's have branched out to open a cafe under the State Library. I don't really dig the State Library - being near books that I can't take home (be it through borrowing or purchasing) doesn't make sense to me. Please explain? Anyway, that doesn't matter because the State Library is next to the Gallery of Modern Art and I don't mind heading there every now and again.



I went to the art gallery with my parents to look through the China Project exhibition. Soon enough, dad got the munchies so I suggested we try Tognini's.


Tognini's sort of cuts through part of the bottom floor of the state library. There's an expansive outdoor seating area and the actual inside of the cafe is long and narrow with (I think) 2 entrances. We chose an outdoor table that had individual sofas.


Sofas! That should tell you something about the standards of the place.


We ordered some coffee, a scone, a roast vegetable salad, a toasted Turkish bread sandwich and a Tognini roll. It was a good effort from me to be able to decide on those items in the spur of the moment when there were so many things to chose from.

Latte

Coffee arrived first and it was GOOD. I always order skinny latte so it's fair for me to compare. I'm NOT a coffee expert but I should still be allowed to think a cup is really good. Like... I'm not going to rattle on about aroma or beans or whatever. It just tasted good. Judge for yourself.

Scone with jam and cream

The scone came quickly too. A bit expensive since it was $4.50 for one scone with jam and cream. It was warm, soft, buttery and really nice. Not THE best I've ever tasted but still nice. A friend of mine mentioned that some commercial scones leave a weird, floury after taste so that's something I've started looking out for. This scone didn't have a bad aftertaste.

Tognini roll with fresh side salad

Close-up of inside of Tognini roll

The rest of our order followed about 5min later. The Tognini roll was really delicious. We couldn't figure out exactly what was in it but there was pumpkin and some kind of cheese. I haven't had a vegetable-based 'sausage roll' before but this one was excellent flavors. Mum kept going on about how nice the accompanying salad was but by the time I got to it, it was finished.

Turkey and cranberry on toasted Turkish bread

I thought the turkey and cranberry Turkish bread was nice but 'common'. After all, this filling combination is basic to most cafes. The Turkish bread was lovely though, fragrant and crisp with some herbs and seeds on top.

Roast vegetable and chickpea salad

We chose a small roast vegetable and chickpea salad. Though it IS a small serving, this kind of serving would be perfect for me to have at lunch. I stupidly thought I was eating pumpkin and started lecturing my parents about why they should introduce more pumpkin in their diet until dad pointed out that the orange stuff was sweet potato. Some foodie I am. Mum's never had chickpeas before but she liked them and they related it to 'soy beans, but bigger'. It's a simple combination but works well and is totally guilt-free.

State Library of Queensland

It's great that at Tognini's we could have a filling meal with quite a bit of variety that was still relatively light, healthy and loaded with vegetables. The menu is a bit on the pricey side for cafe dining but the environment is lovely. If you also visit the museum or art gallery, you can really make a day of it and it's such a nice experience. Relaxed and cultured.