Genki Market
A weekly Japanese and Asian street food market on Charlotte Street, running every Sunday since 2021.
About this market
Genki Market has run every Sunday since 2021 at 123 Charlotte Street, 10am to 3pm, built around Japanese and Asian street food with art and craft stalls alongside. Weekly is the notable part: Brisbane's CBD carries a good number of markets, but almost all of them are weekday sessions aimed at office workers, and this one takes the Sunday.
Takoyaki, karaage and an ever-changing line-up
The food list is the draw and it is specific: takoyaki, taiyaki pancakes, katsu sando, chicken karaage, sushi, dumplings and noodles, with matcha lattes, parfaits and sweets on the sweet end. The operators describe the offering as ever-changing rather than fixed, which is what a small weekly market can do and a monthly one cannot, since a stallholder can trade one Sunday and be replaced the next without leaving a gap. Art and craft stalls run alongside the food, so the market is not purely an eating stop. Charlotte Street sits in the middle of the Brisbane CBD, a few minutes from Queen Street Mall and the river.
Market at a glance
A 10am to 3pm Sunday window makes this a lunch market rather than a produce run, and the format follows: people come to eat on the spot rather than to carry things home. The sweet end of the list is as developed as the savoury one, with taiyaki pancakes, matcha lattes, parfaits and sweets sitting alongside the takoyaki and the karaage, so the market covers a full sitting rather than a single dish.
The market started in 2021, which is to say it launched into the least promising conditions a food market has faced in decades. Brisbane's CBD spent that period cycling through lockdowns and border closures, and a weekly market depending on people gathering to eat in a city centre was a difficult thing to begin. It has run every Sunday since, and the visitor descriptions still call it cosy rather than large, which suggests the scale it started at is the scale it meant to be.
Practical notes
Every Sunday, 10am to 3pm. Bring a card, since street food stalls take them almost universally. Charlotte Street is in the middle of the CBD, so public transport is easier than parking on a Sunday, and Central station is a short walk. Come hungry rather than with a shopping list: the art and craft stalls are worth a look but the food is the reason the market exists. This is Turrbal and Jagera country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is Genki Market on?
- Every Sunday from 10am to 3pm, at 123 Charlotte Street in the Brisbane CBD.
- What food is there?
- Japanese and Asian street food including takoyaki, taiyaki pancakes, katsu sando, chicken karaage, sushi, dumplings and noodles, with matcha lattes, parfaits and sweets.
- Is it only food?
- No. Art and craft stalls trade alongside the food, and the line-up changes from week to week.