Brisbane
April 4, 2011 | 
Author Thank you to those who came along to the progressive dinner a couple of weeks ago. It was a lovely evening filled with delicious food and wonderful company.
A second progressive dinner is lined up for Wednesday April 6th. Hope you can make it! Details are below.
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West End Central was closed for 7 weeks due to flooding. They experienced a lot of issues trying to reopen and felt helpless that they couldn’t get the electricity back on and were unable to provide work or income for their staff. In addition they weren’t able to order from their suppliers since they had no business to run. One shop unable to operate has affected so many, the staff, their suppliers, the people those suppliers employ. When the electricity was finally restored after 6 weeks, a big storm hit Brisbane and there was more flooding in the car park that shorted out their newly repaired switchboard.
The businesses of West End Central are now back and operational. So to show support I am gathering a group of willing eaters to have a progressive dinner at some of the West End Central restaurants.
Where: West End Central – Boundary St, West End
- 1st course – Tapas at Suburban Cafe
- Main – Viet Hoa Cafe Restaurant
- Dessert – Freestyle Tout
Cost: Everyone pay for their own food & drinks.
RSVP: As soon as you can for booking purposes. You can post a comment here or find me on twitter @monkyliciousemail monky [a.t] bellygood.net
Posted in 
UPDATE: Interview on 4BC Radio – March 22nd 2011 [5MB download]
West End Central was closed for 7 weeks due to flooding. They experienced a lot of issues trying to reopen and felt helpless that they couldn’t get the electricity back on and were unable to provide work or income for their staff. In addition they weren’t able to order from their suppliers since they had no business to run. One shop unable to operate has affected so many, the staff, their suppliers, the people those suppliers employ. When the electricity was finally restored after 6 weeks, a big storm hit Brisbane and there was more flooding in the car park that shorted out their newly repaired switchboard.
The businesses of West End Central are now back and operational. So to show support I am gathering a group of willing eaters to have a progressive dinner at some of the West End Central restaurants.
Where: West End Central – Boundary St, West End
- 1st course – Tapas at Suburban Cafe
- Main – Orexi Greek Cafe
- Dessert – Freestyle Tout
Cost: Everyone pay for their own food & drinks.
RSVP: As soon as you can for booking purposes. You can post a comment here or find me on twitter @monkylicious email monky [a.t] bellygood.net
If you cannot make it, I encourage you to think about dining at these restaurants, or any of the other restaurants that were affected either directly by flooding or by powercuts. Some of them are still not open yet. But will be soon! Jellyfish and Moo Moo dining have been closed for an even longer amount of time. Jelly fish was completely under water!
If you know any other flood affected restaurants please let me know and I will add them to the list.
- Freestyle Tout - West End Central - Corner of Browning, Melbourne and Boundary Street, West End 3255 3288 - http://www.freestyletout.com.au/
- Suburban Cafe - West End Central - Corner of Browning, Melbourne and Boundary Street, West End (07) 3161 0858 - www.suburbanwestend.com.au
- Viet Hoa Cafe Restaurant – West End Central - Corner of Browning, Melbourne and Boundary Street
- Jellyfish Restaurant – Reopens March 22nd - Boardwalk Level, Riverside Centre, 123 Eagle St, Brisbane Queensland - PH: (07) 3220 2202 – http://www.jellyfishrestaurant.com.au/ Also check out these photos of flood damage and rebuild: http://www.jellyfishrestaurant.com.au/pg11/flood-update.html
- Moo Moo Wine Bar & Grill - Port Office Building, Stamford Plaza, Brisbane City. 3236 4500 - http://www.moomoorestaurant.com
- The Groove Train - Riverside – Reopens March 25th - Boardwalk Level, Riverside Centre, 123 Eagle St, Brisbane Queensland – 1300 GROOVE - http://www.groovetrain.com.au/
- Rosalie restaurants - The Fishery, Rosa Mexicano, Salt, Fish Lovers, Flute, Blu Grotto
- Cafe San Marco – South Bank
- Wang Dynasty – South Bank
- QPAC cafes/restaurants – South Brisbane
- The Fox Hotel - South Brisbane
- Alchemy - http://www.alchemyrestaurant.com.au/
- Tognini’s Milton - http://www.togninis.com/bistrocafedeli.html
- Red & White Cafe - Shop 2, 165 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane - (07) 3255 3441 http://www.redandwhite-restaurant.com.au/
While I am not known to go out drinking a lot I do love a good cocktail. So I’ll admit to you that when Eliza (Gastronomy Gal) tweeted last year that she was going out to sample some of the entries in the World Class Australia cocktail competition I closed my eyes and wished really, really hard that I was going with her. It didn’t work. BUT because she’s gorgeous and loves me I was given the chance to go along with her recently to try out the creations from QLD’s round two winners.
Round two – QLD’s Best Seasonal Cocktail. The brief is simple, create a cocktail using fresh seasonal ingredients. Ketel One vodka and Tanqueray No. TEN gin.
I was running late so sadly cannot report back about the 3rd place winner – Marco Nunes from Canvas in Woolloongabba (A beautiful bar by the way – try the cheese and champagne soaked apricots!). But you can head over to Eliza’s blog to see his summer cocktail.
My first stop was Laruche in the Valley to meet the second place winner. We spoke to Tara Steele about her love of jam making, in particular peach jam which is an ingredient in her cocktail the “Devonshire Gin Jam”. It’s served in a jam jar with red and white tartan fabric. You could describe it as an adult’s lemonade, with a couple of spoonfuls of her homemade peach jam, lemon juice and Tanqueray No. TEN. Then a sprig of fresh rosemary which fills your nose as you drink and transports you straight to an afternoon picnic in a garden. This was my favourite cocktail of the night, easily swayed by the beautiful scone (CWA recipe of course), cream and jam that accompanies the Devonshire Gin Jam.
Tara Steele with her Devonshire Gin Jam afternoon tea – I’m sure you can tell which pics I took myself… with my iphone… in the darkness of the bar. 
From Laruche we took a leisurely walk down to Kerbside, tummies filled with baked goods and jam, ready to meet 1st place winner Chris Denman. If you have been to Kerbside you’ll know about the white wooden garden swing. You can sit there gently swaying while your toes brush against the green astro turf that the swing sits above. This is where we were sitting while Chris explained the inspiration for his award winning “Aristocrat’s Punch” was sharing drinks over summer at gatherings with family and friends. Sipping our grapefruit pink cocktails out of dainty tea cups was a lovely way to share the moment and chit chat as the evening came to an end. An icy punch is a perfect drink with friends in the summer heat and I even ordered one for my birthday drinks at Kerbside a couple of weeks later.
Chris Denman with his Aristocrat’s Punch – now on the menu at Kerbside Bar.
I had a great night getting to meet the bartenders and try out their cocktails. Australia’s best cocktail bartender will be sent to to represent our country against the world! To read more about World Class check out http://www.weareworldclass.com/. There are three rounds to determine the state winners and the theme of round three is “The Gentleman’s Cocktail”.
Fresh off the plane with a tummy filled with only a Qantas savoury muffin I was grateful that the car-park gods had granted us a space. While there are lots of sights to take in around The Rocks in Sydney I’d have time for that for later when I knew I would be making my way very slowly back to the car clutching my belly full of deliciousness. Right now we had to move at a brisk pace to get out of the frosty wind and also because I was starving in anticipation of the meal ahead.
Sake is Shaun Presland’s baby. You might remember him as the charming sushi ninja from season 2 of Master Chef Australia. Actually I’m pretty sure you would remember him from that moment you seductively whispered “feed me” to your television. Your partner probably then said “what did you say?” after which you told him to shut up, all the while with your eyes glued to the screen.
Before I start showing you the food we ate, the food which I wouldn’t stop talking about for all through our time in Sydney and for days after we got back, the food that I keep dreaming about, and the food that I plan to eat and make everyone I know eat once they open their Brisbane restaurant in the next month or so (YES! You heard me!)… actually I’ll just show you the food now.
Starters:
Sashimi tacos – Two petite tacos, one tuna and one salmon, topped with a chilled tomato salsa accompanied by two Kozaemon Junmai ‘sake shots’. This was one of the highlights of our meal and I believe I had these when I was at Nobu in Melbourne too (Shaun Presland was previously at Nobu). I had to share this with my husband, but I really wish
I hadn’t.
Seaweed Salad – 5 different kinds of seaweed with bonito infused vinaigrette. I loved the different colours and textures of the seaweed.
Salt & Pepper Tofu – Fried with a crispy coating with some chilli and spring onion, this is one of my favourite ways of eating tofu.
Chicken Wing Gyoza – Chicken wings stuffed with a gyoza filling of garlic chive pork mince, which are then fried and served with a dipping sauce. My two favourite foods, dumplings and chicken wings, combined into one glorious dish.
Wagyu new style – thin slices of wagyu beef lightly seared with hot oil and finished with ginger, chives and yuzu soy. Beautiful flavours and wagyu that melts in your mouth.
Kushi Katsu – wait for it.. fried panko crumbed…. PORK BELLY! I highly recommend that you eat this because it’s the best thing that anyone has ever katsu’d.
Mains:
Popcorn Shrimp – bite sized pieces of prawn cooked in a tempura batter and mixed with a spicy creamy sauce. These were incredibly moorish and even Issy, who has an allergy to prawns, kept eating them.
Miso-cream scallops – pan-seared scallops with baby corn, asparagus, shiitake mushrooms and yuzu miso-cream. I loved the miso-cream sauce and are a perfect match for the beautifully cooked scallops. I was also pleasantly surprised that the baby corn actually tasted like young fresh corn.
Miso-butterfish – grilled with pickled radish. My husband and I have been in love with miso-grilled fish ever since we had the miso black cod at Nobu and Sake certainly does not disappointed with their version. The flesh is tender and the miso marinade just works so well with the fish.
Sushi Maki & Sashimi:
Just to save time and repeating myself, all of the sushi and sashimi we ate were fantastic and I would happily order all of them again.
Kingfish Jalapeno – Thin slices of Hiramasa Kingfish in yuzu soy topped with thin jalapeno slices and coriander. The jalapeno doesn’t really add spice to the dish but gives a contrasting crisp texture to the silky slices of kingfish and cuts through the flavour of the yuzu.
Nixon – grilled eel, cream cheese, cucumber and tempura crunch with avocado slices on top.
S Express – Tempura scallops, spicy mayonnaise, cucumber, seared salmon on top with witlof and sweet sauce. For us the witlof tasted really bitter so we just ate the sushi maki.
Dessert:
Just because I can’t say no to dessert and I love cooked banana we ordered the banana harumaki – banana shiso and caramel spring rolls with raspberry apple dipping sauce. I think in hindsight I should have chosen something else. I liked this dessert but we had just had some beautiful fresh tasting sushi and sashimi and it seemed a shame to end it with something fried. Next time I’ll have the green tea cheese cake with vanilla fruit jelly… Mmm.
Here’s my Bang On! cocktail – Shochu, apple & rhubarb syrup, watermelon & vanilla sugar.
And so that is all the food that I ate with my husband and Issy (yes only three people ate all that food).
I am eagerly awaiting the opening of Sake’s Brisbane restaurant and I have been telling anyone who cares to listen about it. Maybe I will see you there, I’ll be the one not sharing my sashimi tacos.
Symposium Cafe
2/26 Commercial Rd, Fortitude Valley
07 3852 3836
Monkylicious brought me to this awesome cafe the last time I visited Brisvegas called Symposium. What’s the attraction? Degustation Breakfast. Oh yeah. Enough said. I am totally there.
For $45 you can have a 4 course degustation brekkie with coffee and tea. First course arrived at lightening speed. Fresh seasonal fruit shot w organic yoghurt & homemade honey nut granola & mango puree. The yoghurt puree and granola is totally awesome, the granola crunchy and nuts are fresh, the mango puree compliments greatly with the yoghurt. Not too sure about the seasonal fruit shot, I didnt mind it but it’s really huge. A small shot glass would have been much better considering we have so much other stuff to eat.
Next up is the Regal hot smoked salmon w hash cake, scrambled eggs & cottage cheese. Daintily stacked in beautiful colours, the salmon is smokey, more smokey than most of the other smoked salmon I’ve tasted, but the dill in that dish really refreshes the flavours. The scrambled eggs are creamy and the potatoes have the most wonderful crunchiness to it. YUM.
Our second savoury course is the Petit fry up w quail eggs & all the trimmings. It is so totally cute that we just stared at it and took pictures for ages. We didn’t actually wanna eat it cos it’s way to cute. The quail eggs has such intense flavours and it is cooked to perfection. It was just the right size for a degustation course.
Our very last course is another sweet course- Sweet brioche w poached strawberries & bourbon cream. There are 4 strawberries on the brioche, 2 poached and 2 fresh. It was funny cos Monky liked the fresh ones but I actually quite like the poached ones. Not too sure whether there’s bourbon in that cream cos I couldn’t taste it but the brioche with the cream absolutely hits the spot. It is my favourite part of the meal.
Other brekkie are also highly recommended, especially the Filo parcel lined w prosciutto & filled w creamy scrambled eggs, topped with hollandaise sauce is freakin awesome. You’ve got to visit this place if you’re in New Farm 8/10
Lefkas Taverna
Cuisine: Greek
170 Hardgrave Road
West End QLD 4101
(07) 3844 1163
Lefkas Taverna is a lovely little place in West End with simple, delicious Greek food. I’ve known about it for years but sadly don’t get to go there very often. Hubby and I recently took his sisters there for dinner and Claire has now told me she goes there all the time. Part of me is overwhelmed with jealousy while the rest of me is happy that she gets to enjoy their yummy food all the time (I’m possibly also a little bit hungry just thinking about it all).
So back to the food. What seems to be our standard ordering procedure at Lefkas is to start with the bread and dips.
One of the dips MUST ALWAYS be skordalia (a beautiful garlicy potato dip). The other dip in this picture is the egg plant dip.
Next we MUST ALWAYS order grilled Haloumi Cheese.
And you really should make sure you order enough for at least one piece for each person so no one has to share.
Now I’m almost always torn between getting the lamb cutlets or having calamari. So if you find yourself in a similar predicament you should be prepared to use your awesome skills of persuasion to ensure that someone else orders what you want and lets you share. This is is usually the reason why I bring my husband to restaurants with me. I mean, my husband and I love each other so much that when we go out to dinner together this seems to always work out for us.
Here is a picture of the beautiful, lightly floured and fried calamari.
And here is a picture of the Paithakia – Lamb cutlets served with lemon potatoes and Greek salad (As a word of advice, I usually get the lamb and let someone else get the calamari… it’s easier to steal.. I mean… share the Calamari from someone else… hehehe).
And here are some very tasty chicken souvlaki skewers.
Last time I was there you could also buy tubs of the dips to take home. This is very handy when you realise you are sitting at home and start craving some skordalia and bread. Just like right now…
Little Larder
76 Moray St, New Farm, QLD
07 3358 2024
To be honest, Little Larder was not our first choice. I’ve been to Little Larder before and while it was great, we were extremely keen to try Au Cirque. Disappointingly, Au Cirque had a power failure, which meant that not much was available and so we had to go to Little Larder.
Thank goodness Little Larder did not disappoint. Whilst the service was a bit abrupt at times, they generally deliver efficiently in a Saturday morning mad rush. We had two breakkies between the three of us, as the servings are quite big.
Pesto scrambled eggs $13.5- I love, love, love pesto so as you can clearly see- green colour of the eggs = lots of pesto! YUMMM! The scrambled eggs are creamy and salmon compliments the pesto and eggs well (actually, what DOESN’T compliment eggs?), kudos also to putting toast on top to the scrambled eggs, so it won’t get as soggy- the only glitch was that it needs a little teeny bit more salt- then it’s prefect.
We also had a polenta served w/ poached eggs, avocado, spinach and dill mayo $13. Ok, polenta may sound like a dull, healthy, tasteless snack but you’d be amazed what it can taste like with good seasoning. The polenta we had in Little Larder was crispy and I can safely say that it’s almost as yummie as a hash brown!! The dill mayo is just awesome with everything and the only complaint I have was that the avocado has these sad dotted brown spots all over it.
On such a hot day, I also had a watermelon, mint and apple juice- which not only cools you down but invigorates.
I still want to try Au Cirque just because I haven’t tried it before, but Little Larder is definitely a good choice if you’re hanging around New Farm. 7/10
Tags: The Buffalo Club
Cuisine: Molecular Gastronomy
Level 1, Cnr Wickham & Brunswick Sts
Fortitude Valley
Ph: 07 3216 1323
I knew it would make our wallets lighter, so while I have been curious about the goings on at the Buffalo Club I have let it lie on my “to eat” list for quite some time, much to the joy of my husband whose happiness is inversely correlated to the amount of money I spend. But as you can tell, since I am writing this and you are reading it, that we have made a visit, handed over our money and feasted. Thanks for this opportunity goes to the Doctor who invited us there to celebrate his birthday (Happy Birthday!).
The dining room sits perched over the centre of the valley with a floor to ceiling window giving you a view of the bottom of the Brunswick Street Mall. Bookings are essential and so is a good 2 to 3 hours spare to enjoy the many courses put before you. The menu changes even day to day and once you are seated you will find it in a crisp envelope before you containing the evening’s menu (for us, a 13 course degustation with a few extras in between).
It made me feel like we were all about to embark on a secret mission and sealed within were our instructions, for our eyes only and maybe they would even self-destruct soon. Maybe I am about to break the first rule of Buffalo Club, but here it is, what we ate.
Appertif – Something to get your taste buds going and your appetite ready and wanting.
Taster – This was made of Manchego cheese but had the texture of a prawn cracker. I could have eaten a whole bowl of these.
Hickory – Wild Rice, Garlic, Tomato, Onion, Shallots, Basil, Pollen
I could smell the pollen as soon as this was put in front of me. I loved the texture of the puffed rice and the thin slices of garlic and onion. The flavours went together so well as we found with pretty much every course.
Smoked Beef Jerky – Lime, Chili, Cilantro, Onion, Peppers, Avocado
Upon pieces of smoky beef jerky was lime, chili, cilantro, onion, peppers and avocado in either gel, paste or powder form. As I took bite after bite I was getting a different flavour each time. Do not underestimate the tiny drop of lime gel which packs a lovely citrusy punch.
Opah – Soy, Honey
Very thinly cut slices of Opah (a kind of fish) are shallow fried and then dotted with dabs of soy gel and honey. The mix of salty and sweet really complement the crispy pieces of fish.
Ocean Trout – Nasturtium, Smoked Roe, Fennel, Kettles, Onion, Yolk
A beautiful piece of fresh ocean trout is surrounded by ingredients in various forms again. I loved the crispy bits of onion and the tiny kettles (little potato chips, yes like kettle chips). I really loved the fish and I know there are 13 or so courses, but I could have eaten more of this.
Evidenced by the end result:
Long before we’d ordered the food or our drinks, the word Iberico on the menu excited more than one person at our table (though there was an obvious Iberico lover in our presence). And while I loved every course and we all knew going in that the food would be of the molecular variety, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for our dear friend when his beloved Iberico came out in dust form. So I guess it was just a lesson in realising that not everything is going to be as expected when experiencing this kind of dining.
Iberico – Olive, Treviso, Walnut, Pawpaw, Endive, Beetroot, Sunchoke, Roquette
As the night progressed I would try to taste each individual component on it’s own first before combining flavours.
Foie – Marshmallow, Cello, Tamari, Almonds
The almonds were coated in tamari and nice and salty.
Calotte – Black Truffle, Gnocchi, Artichoke
A tender cut of beef with the most amazing gnocchi. The gnocchi were the size of a bean and sadly there were only 3 on the plate. This plate was all but licked clean.
Duck – Honeydew, Mandarin, Cashew, Aubergine, Yuzu
Yes, that is a honeydew jelly cube on the left in green.
Rib – Celeriac, Vanilla, Pumpkin, Pinenut, Pea
The meat was very tender and contrasted nicely with the crunch of the pinenuts and peas. The vanilla custard somehow worked with everything. I think we were all very happy that this delicious piece of meat was not made into a dust.
Time to cleanse the palate.
Palate cleanser – Passionfruit foam, papaya sorbet, grape, grapefruit and blood orange frozen in liquid nitrogen
Manchego – Quince, Porchini, Cress, Garlic, Brioche
A cheese course, beneath the crispy piece of Manchego cheese was more cheese.
Goats Curd – Strawberry, Goats Milk, Pistachio, Millet, Olive Oil
Buffalo Yoghurt – Date, Citrus Rind, Apricot, Sour Meyer, Carrot
Coconut – Chocolate, Caramel, Custard
In a heavy glass bowl came one of my favourite dishes and the last of the evening. These things combined, make one great dessert. If I could have, I would have happily licked this one clean.
This was not just chefs freezing and liquifying different ingredients because they can and throwing it on a plate with a $145 price tag. Each dish had flavours that were matched and complementing sometimes even combining to create a different taste sensation all together on your palate. The ingredients on paper seem so simple but on your tongue it’s another story.
This is not just a meal, it is an experience. You may or may not visit more than once. I would go back if there was an occassion for it and a bit of money to spare. I will always remember this meal and the adventure of textures and flavours that it was. Bring good company with you, eat everything and savour every mouthful.
And just to finish the night off, some chocolate stamped with the Buffalo Club logo and edible sachets of Campari sherbert.
My new hubby and I were wandering the streets of Byron Bay on our honeymoon looking for a good coffee and yummy breakfast to start the day. Not being very familiar with the area I picked a nice little cafe that looked busy and popular, hoping that was a sign of good things to come. This has been in my book for a while as a good way to pick a place to eat. If there is a busy restaurant and a deserted one, pick the busy one. It sits next to the rule that if there are two Chinese restaurants and one is filled with Chinese diners and in the other there isn’t one in sight, pick the one the Chinese are eating at. Following my own advice turned out to be a great decision.
The tables outside sit on a little raised deck. We found a cosy table in the corner, with the warm winter sun smiling upon our backs. We were presented with Mohka’s “Egg Book” listing all our choices for breakfast. I was happy to find at the bottom of one of the pages, the perfect breakfast for me. The ‘Breakfast Tapas’ with a little bit of everything I like.
The Breakfast Tapas
Free range poached egg, grilled haloumi, spinach, avocado, springs smoked salmon and organic sour dough toast.
Plus, I couldn’t resist adding a side of fried potatoes to my meal, and yes it is even more delicious than it looks.
This was my favourite breakfast during our week at Byron. I wish I had made time to go back again. The potatoes had lovely crispy bits, a nice naughty treat with my breakfast (I was on holidays after all, and no more having to make sure I can fit into the wedding dress). The sour dough was nicely toasted and a good thickness. As I sat there making different combinations of food for each mouthful I enjoyed telling myself that the avocado and spinach was balancing out the fact that I was eating haloumi for breakfast. Such a happy start to the morning.
My newly wedded husband chose a Spanish omelette for his breakfast. There were lots of delicious bits of chorizo, potato and onion and topped with more of that tasty sour dough bread and a bit of tomato relish. Even after eating my own breakfast I still couldn’t resist stealing some of his.
It was a lovely little place to have breakfast and breakfast service was at a good pace, though if you are down in Byron hopefully it means you are taking a nice laid back break and are enjoying a relaxing pace. The beach is only a few minutes walk away too, very convenient for taking a lovely stroll to walk off breakfast. I can’t wait to go back.
Virgin Blue/Pacific Blue plane food
Just so you can lose your appetite, I think Virgin Blue/Pacific Blue is aiming for the Italian flag look but managed to make the edge look like an exploding diarrhea (Sorry Mr Branson! Love your brand but hate ur food!)
Sorry, you probably can’t guess what this poo-like explosion is. It’s actually their lamb shank with mash potato. The lamb shank is way too salty, I valiantly tried working my way through it with the help of the very bland beans on the side. The mash potato was the standard, plane (‘cuse my pun) fare and a third of my way through it, I can’t stand it anymore and had to give it to my hubby who is picky about most other food but plane food. It’s $9, it’s plane food, I suppose I can’t expect much.
I’ve also had the “pleasure” of trying their caesar salad wrap thing, horrible bland wrap with a strand of black hair/wool inside. I think their Cup Noodles is by far the nicer, cheaper and safer option ($4), the taste is OK only, but at least you won’t discover anything explosive or hairy.
There’s this one time I’ve taken a Jetstar flight from Phuket and I brought this BEAUTIFUL stirfry takeaway onto the plane. It’s by far the best “plane food” I’ve ever eaten.