Tag: Brisbane food

Stafford Heights Butcher Leads Queensland-Wide Vote For Best Butcher

Photo Credit: Rode Meats/Facebook

A Stafford Heights butcher shop is leading a Queensland-wide public vote to name the best butcher in the All The Best competition, with Rode Meats sitting first on the latest leaderboard as local food businesses compete for community support.

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Rode Meats Tops The Butcher Leaderboard

Rode Meats, based on Appleby Road in Stafford Heights, is currently listed in first place in the butcher category. The Bellmere Butcher on Bellmere Road is ranked second, while The Butcher Shoppe on Wynnum Road in Cannon Hill is third.

The competition asks Queenslanders to vote for their favourite businesses, food outlets and destinations across 15 categories. These include butcher, bakery, cafe, burger joint, fish and chip shop, florist, gym, hairdresser or barber, ice cream shop, pizzeria, pub, beach, camping and 4WD spot, bánh mì place and tourism attraction.

For the butcher category, the contest has become a friendly race among local shops, with public voting, social media attention and creative sausage-making helping draw interest.

Rode Meats
Photo Credit: Rode Meats/Facebook

Stafford Heights Shop Builds On Decades Of Trade

Rode Meats describes itself as a family-owned and operated butcher shop in Stafford Heights. The business has been operating since 1980 and is located at the Rode Road Shopping Centre.

The shop supplies beef, chicken, lamb, pork, roasts, sausages, low-and-slow meats and ready-to-go items. It also lists past recognition, including a 2020 Brisbane butcher title and a 2020 Australia’s Best Continental Sausage award.

Its current position in the All The Best butcher category adds to a period of wider attention for the business. Apprentice butcher Ethan Johns has helped Rode Meats build a large online following, with one sausage-making video receiving more than 5.8 million views.

Queensland butcher
Photo Credit: Rode Meats/Facebook

Social Media Adds Flavour To The Contest

The butcher vote has also highlighted how Queensland shops are using social media to show how their products are made. The Bellmere Butcher has drawn attention for unusual sausage combinations, including hot chips with rump steak and pepper gravy, slow-cooked brisket with mac and cheese, and spicy ramen.

Rode Meats has been noted for its growing following, team focus and planned expansion, with two more sister stores expected to open in Brisbane within the next year.

All The Best
Photo Credit: Rode Meats/Facebook

Although the competition has been described as a battle among butchers, the tone remains friendly. The contest is centred on local support, customer loyalty and the public vote rather than direct rivalry.

Voting closes on Thursday, 28 May. Each vote gives the voter one entry into a prize draw for a Queensland Day prize pack valued at more than $1,800, including All World Annual passes, a Skypoint dining experience and a Flight Centre travel voucher.

Read: A Passport, Three Stamps and a Reason to Revisit Wilston Village

Winners will be announced on Wednesday, 3 June, ahead of Queensland Day on Saturday, 6 June. Rode Meats remains the Stafford Heights name at the top of the butcher leaderboard.

Published 25-May-2026

Stafford Bakery Draws Early Morning Crowds for Sausage Rolls With a Yum Cha Twist

Every Friday and Saturday morning in Stafford, hungry locals line up as early as 7 a.m. outside Bella & Tortie, a tiny bakery that’s built a loyal following for its unexpectedly addictive sausage roll inspired by siu mai dumplings.

Read: Stafford Centre Sold as Brisbane Retail Market Hits $32.3M in Sales

A Fusion That Started With Cravings

The bakery’s founder, Suzi Unwin, didn’t set out to reinvent a classic. One weekend, she was simply craving yum cha. Sitting down to plates of siu mai, the familiar flavours sparked an idea: what if the traditional pork and prawn dumpling could be reimagined inside puff pastry?

She experimented with the ingredients by swapping mushrooms for crunchy water chestnuts, boosting the ginger, and adding carrot and shallots. The result was a flaky, juicy, and full-flavored sausage roll. Alongside it comes a chilli soy dipping sauce made with sesame oil and roasted sesame seeds, which customers now request by the bottle.

Stafford bakery Bella & Tortie
Photo Credit: Bella & Tortie/IG

Suzi says this particular sausage roll has become her signature. Although Bella & Tortie offers other variations, this is the one she always comes back to. She recommends enjoying it fresh from the oven or crisped up at home in an air fryer or hot oven. Frozen versions are also available to take home.

A Business Built on Determination and Change

Bella & Tortie didn’t always look like this. It began in 2018 as a modest market stall and online shop, run by Suzi, a former interior designer who changed careers after living abroad in Sweden and South Korea. Her time in Korea, where she started selling baked goods at local markets, marked the beginning of her food journey.

After returning to Brisbane in 2014, she trained as a pastry chef and worked at several local institutions before launching her own business. The first version of Bella & Tortie opened in late 2019 and quickly grew, with a whole team and a growing customer base. But the pressures of rapid expansion, paired with COVID-19, floods, and supply chain issues, eventually led to the closure of the original store in 2022.

Within months, Suzi relaunched Bella & Tortie in a smaller, more manageable setup behind a Stafford shopping precinct. This time, she focused on quality, not scale. The current model is intentionally compact, with limited trading hours—Fridays and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to midday—and a weekly menu.

Photo Credit: Bella & Tortie/IG
Stafford bakery Bella & Tortie
Photo Credit: Bella & Tortie/IG

One-Woman Kitchen, Big Plans Ahead

For much of 2023 and 2024, Suzi ran the bakery solo—testing new recipes, managing walk-in trade, and baking everything herself. She described the period as the hardest work she’s ever done. With no other chefs or kitchen staff, the demands were intense, and the experience nearly pushed her to the edge. Still, she kept going.

Now, Bella & Tortie is entering a new phase. Suzi has hired a senior pastry chef and is preparing to renovate the space. Her goal is to create a more sustainable work environment, expand her small team, and improve the layout for both customers and staff. She says she wants to keep the quality high, reduce her working hours from 90 to 60 per week, and make the space more comfortable for everyone who walks in.

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After years of setbacks and lessons, Suzi says she’s starting to believe in herself and the direction Bella & Tortie is heading. The bakery, once built out of necessity and survival, is now slowly shaping into the business she always hoped for.

Published 10-May-2025