More Bits and Pieces in CBD [On The Road: Brisbane]

The dingo ate your baby!

Elaine Benes (Seinfeld episode “The Stranded”)

I still have some posts from Brisbane I want to share. Similar to my previous take on bits and pieces this is quick highlight with hits and misses in my restaurant excursions.

The one Public

Oh my god! Public is amazing! One of my favourite spots in CBD. Sincerely I could write a long post as everything I tried was absolutely fantastic. Great décor, alternative place, the menu is based on dishes to share, great musical ambience not too loud not silence, high ceilings giving a sensation of space. Top marks, a must go. Awarded one chef hat by Australian Good Food Guide.

Public Bunny

The must try are the KFD, great excellent seasoning the herbs of the battered Duck just brilliant. The prawn and chorizo, the sauce is to die for and a really nice combination. Wagyu just awesome. Ribs are Chinese style, nice flavour just like the ones I used to have back home, however, still they lacked something, probably not marinated enough to develop flavour. Toast and duck egg amazing, this is a must seriously, great flavour, the runny egg perfectly cooked. The skins were actually wedges, so if you are from Texas be aware.

Toast and duck egg

Fried Duck

Public
T: +61 7 3210 2288
Modern European
Approx Damage: AU$70pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane

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The one by the River

Alchemy is a posh dinning, dim lights, nice view of the river. We were a big group but the service was all over the place. We got starters and don't order mains, they started to pour wine and then halfway through they stopped without any reason. Food recommended. Two chef hats by AGFG.

Alchemy

Highlights are the scallops with foie gras and Jerusalem artichoke foam, perfectly cooked nice balance, the artichoke foam was lovely. Fresh natural oyster and sautéed chorizo with tarragon tomato vinaigrette, nice and fresh. Veal blanquette with morel velouté herb gnocchi and truffle glaze, awesome perfectly cooked excellent balance great flavours. Finally the liquid nitrogen nibbles, Tuscan ice tea, honey crumbs, apple and cinnamon, great and fun to watch.

Liquid Nitrogen time

Frozen nibbles

Alchemy
T: +61 7 3229 3175
Modern Australian
Approx Damage: AU$90pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: Alchemy_Bris

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The one Famiglia

Pane e Vino is a friendly, noisy, and simple family style busy Italian in CBD. It was conveniently located at the corner of my hotel. Food was nice, tasty, and good value.

Pane Dining

Try the zucchini fritters, excellent flavour, nicely battered, the tomato sauce was homemade. The gnocchi gorgonzola was excellent, full of flavour. I would avoid the calamari, not my favourite, flavour ok, battered not consistent.

Squid ink risotto

Pane e Vino
T: +61 7 3220 0044
Italian Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$40pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: paneevinobris

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The one with all the Fish

Jellyfish, as you imagine a seafood place. Busy, noisy, hectic, but the food is spectacular. This place was favourite with most of my colleagues, more than 8 daily different fresh fish, you can choose your fish, tell them how to cook it, and then the sauce or sides. They also had an offer on Friday to try small portions of five different fishes. One chef hat by AGFG

Jellyfish

As starter the calamari with chorizo and jalapeños was superb, perfectly cooked, and the flavours were spot on. The scallops are lovely and the boconcini with tomato and pesto was nice, fresh, and a great pesto. I got a sword fish perfectly cooked and the recommended sauce was brilliant.

Swordfish

Jellyfish
T: +61 7 3220 2202
Seafood
Approx Damage: AU$55pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: JellyfishRest

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The one in the Euro

The Euro a really lovely place a bit relax, part of a series of restaurants under the same kitchen and roof including a bar Laneway and a fine dining Urbane. European influences as you can imagine, great service and outstanding food. Two chef hats by AGFG.

Euro

The Moreton bay bug chowder with brioche fennel and tarragon was a piece of art, presentation was spot on, flavours all there, creamy and crunchy textures, the bugs were amazing, the buttered toasted bread created a perfect balance, an explosion of flavours, it is the best chowder I have ever had. Pumpkin ravioli with sage amaretti crumble, and goats cheese was awesome, the pumpkin ravioli outstanding, the sauce a type of purée just great, the crumble gave crunchiness, and the cheese a nice contrast to the sweetness of the dish. Mackerel and chorizo croquettes were full of flavour, work perfectly with the tomato sauce, the fennel seeds, and chilli to die for. Spaner crab linguini with Parmesan, rocket, and lemon, delicate combination, spicy notes from chillies, pasta al dente, lovely.

Bug Chowder

Pumpkin ravioli

The Euro
T: +61 7 3229 3686
Modern European
Approx Damage: AU$80pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: TheEuroBrisbane

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The one fancy Italian

Il Centro is a bright white Italian restaurant, good beer and wine selection, the beer I got was ice cold just how I was used to have it before moving to England. The owner Marcia Georges is Greek by heritage but Italian by heart you can have her ebook for free. The daily specials were in an old fashion blackboard with the waiter taking it to the table. Two chef hats by AGFG

Specials

My favourite their signature the sand crab lasagne, it was brilliant. Nice flavours, a huge portion for a starter. The scaloppine di vitello with carbonara fettucini was a nice dish, I loved the combination of meat with pasta, the carbonara was perfect, the scaloppine not as good as the pasta, the parmesan bread crust was nice, but overall a bit bland they didn't offer Parmesan cheese for the pasta which is a no-no for me. I wouldn't mind a bit more of pasta as it was superb.

Lasagna

Odd enough the starter was a bit oversize then the main was normal size, so both dishes were quite similar in size.

Il Centro
T: +61 7 3231 6090
Italian Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$70pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: IlCentroRest

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The one Belgian [Closed]

The Belgian Beer Café, a classic Belgian style pub, old memorabilia, posters of Belgian beers, great selection of artisanal and boutique beers. I got a quack, just the glass where is served is worth try it. The pink elephant much better, the wine aged one didn't like it not my kind of flavour.

BBC

Moules and fries it is the way to go. Fresh and pretty good ones, I got the Roquefort combination, not too overpowering the flavour, fries nicely done.

Kwak time

Moules

Belgian Beer Cafe
T: +61 7 3221 0199
European Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$50pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane

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Bits and Pieces in Brisvegas [On The Road:Brisbane]

You know those people, you know they're mentally disturbed. They should be sent to Australia 

Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld episode “The Good Samaritan”) 

My backlog of post is continuously increasing, and sincerely I see no way to catch up with some of the post properly. As a result, I decided to give you at least a quick highlight of some of my favourite and not so favourite experience in Brisbane. 

The Spanish Posh Place 

Ortiga it’s a nice relax place, quite atmosphere, looks anything but Spanish. However, the menu is quite regional. Two levels, tapas on the top one, and full dining on the bottom one. Owner Simon Hill bet has giving him three chef hats by the Australian Good Food Guide. 

Spanish cured cuts

The highlights, the San Simon cheese from Galicia, a creamy cow milk slightly smoked, delicious. Also the Valdeon blue was superb, a cow milk spicy cheese, wrapped in sycamore leaves from Castilla y Leon. The Iberico is quite good, even I usually don’t like to eat Jamon outside Spain as disappointments are a common denominator. The chargrilled marinated chicken wings were awesome, I loved them, the marinated was extremely good sadly not too Spanish. You can also try La guilda, it was the first pintxo ever, an olive, anchovy, and pickled chilli. Quite strong flavours, good acidity, the olive flavour really nice with the salty anchovy. I would avoid the potatoes as the sauces were terrible. We ended having Armagnac excellent strong aromas while you drinking. 

Iberico time 

La Guilda

Armagnac

Ortiga

T: +61 7 3852 1155

Spanish Cuisine

Approx Damage: AU$50pp 

Area: Fortitude Valley
Brisbane

Twitter: ortigawine

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The Italian One 

Tartufo is a modern Italian place from chef Tony Percuoco. The place was packed so I sat by the bar which was some sort of American diner style boots and tables but with a European twist, probably similar to a French Brassiere style. Dark oak with crimson red boots, dim lights (terrible for food bloggers), noisy place, Buena Vista Social Club as musical ambience. Two hats from Australian Good Food Guide. 

Tartufo's bar

I started with Calzoni fritti, so some sort of Panzerotti, small fried handmade calzone filled with ricotta, salami, provola mozzarella, and white pepper, topped with basil tomato and Parmesan. Amazing flavour that's what we call a Pastelito back in Venezuela. I think it needed a bit more in the fryer as the dough was underdone/tough, but the flavour was great the cheese with ricotta the basil and tomato punch really nice, good balance of flavours, wouldn’t mind a bit more of the salami. My main a cotoletta alla valdostana. Veal rack filled with fontina cheese, sage, and prosciutto, coated in almond and breadcrumbs. Amazing the flavour was great, perfectly cooked, the melted cheese superb. As a side a rocket salad, simple but perfect. I can eat in places like Tartufo every day. 

Panzerotti

Cotoletta

Tartufo
T: +61 7 3852 1500
Italian Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$ 73pp
Area: Fortitude Valley
Brisbane
Twitter: TartufoBrisbane 

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The Other Spanish Place 

Moda is another Mediterranean restaurant. One chef hat by AGFG. Al fresco sitting, nice and quiet atmosphere. The menu under chef Javier Codina based on rustic cuisine. It only had a couple tables when my visit for diner. 

Moda

The place

I got a Manolete chorizo sausage with pimientos. Great flavour, a spicy notch, and the beautiful pimientos cooked on the grilled with a smoky flavour, sea salt, and olive oil drizzle. Great dish. 

Chorizo and pimientos

The zucchini flowers with goat cheese, and sweet corn salsa, oh my god! It's a volcano of flavours, I love it. The corn salsa is great, tomato, red onions, watercress, corn, just beautiful, and when you cut the flower the creamy goat cheese explosion in perfect balance of acidity and sweetness punch. Superb dish. 

Zucchini flower

Finally, Angel hair pasta with scallops, calamari, prawn, and aioli. This is the rustic cuisine that characterise the place. A heavy dish, dense, well-seasoned, the aioli makes it lighter, seafood was cooked perfectly, great flavour and excellent to share. 

Angel Pasta

Moda
T: +61 7 3221 7655
Mediterranean Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$65pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: modarestaurant

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The Greek Transatlantic 

George's Paragon serves Mediterranean cuisine in a traditional style. White and blue atmosphere with an outstanding view of the river and story bridge. No chef hats for the place. Seafood oriented menu. 

The place

The view

The attraction is the Seafood platter. A huge platter full with king prawns, BBQ bugs, smoked salmon, mixed oysters, BBQ prawns, garlic prawns, battered prawns, fish, calamari, lobster, also add rice, fries, and fruits. It was humongous. Seafood nicely cooked, the lobster was superb, the oyster with bacon was to die for, closely followed by the garlic prawns. 

The Platter

George's Paragon
T: +61 7 3211 8111
Mediterranean Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$80pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane

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The Modern Australian 

Tank is a Modern Australian cuisine awarded with one chef hat by AGFG. Intimate space inside, while outside a laneway bar with U shape tables. The menu is a combination of mod oz cuisine with Italian. 

The place

Special

I got a burger but that's in another post what I want to talk here is about the 7 spices calamari, it was the highlight, beautiful, perfectly cooked, great seasoning, and an amazing homemade mayo. Really nice, I will come back only for that calamari. 

Calamari

Tank
T: +61 7 3003 1993
Modern Australian
Approx Damage: AU$45pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: TankRestaurant 

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The Hotel Steakhouse 

Vintaged a modern and luxurious restaurant located at the lobby of the Hilton. Minimalistic style, relax, not too busy. Classic steakhouse menu, no hats for Vintaged. 

Vintaged

I got another burger here but my starter was a pork belly with black pudding. It was amazing, the flavour of the belly with the saltiness and punch of the black pudding. Just great, nice combination, great balance, perfectly accomplished. 

Pork Belly time

Vintaged
T: +61 7 3231 3265
Steakhouse
Approx Damage: AU$35pp
Area: CBD
Brisbane
Twitter: VintagedGrill

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The French Bistro 

Montrachet is a lovely and classic French cuisine under the command of Chef Thierry Galichet. The place is like getting into a bistro in Paris. French décor, small tables in single line, and a big marble bar for more sporadic clientele. Well lit the white brick wall gave intensity and atmosphere. Menu changes every couple months. 

Montrachet

I have to say (Spoiler alert) I loved the place and went in many occasions. Everything I had was amazing. Jamon tostade, a prosciutto with tomato, and a boiled quail egg over toasted bread. Really nice. The classic steak tartare, they presented the ingredients before prepare it, so you're sure is made from scratch. Beautifully executed classic. If they have Bouillabaisse in the menu it’s a must. The broth is intense, seafood perfectly cooked, the garlic toasted bread and aioli everything worked together. The Roquefort brulee is lovely, great idea. Other amazing dishes are the scallops, out of this world, perfectly cooked, a delicate filo pastry and hollandaise combination, perfect. Finally, the sand crab soufflé, quite lovely, nice seafood sauce, perfectly done, puffy, nice flavour. 

Jamon tostade

Steak tartare

Scallops

Bouillabaisse

As a plus the service was great, probably the best I found in Brisbane and the food is simply excellent.

Montrachet
T: +61 7 3367 0030
French Cuisine
Approx Damage: AU$115pp
Area: Paddington
Brisbane

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