K and K Austrian Coffee House and Bakery

K and K Austrian Coffee House and Bakery
http://www.kandk.com.au/



I heard about this place from a couple of friends and when I lived in Mount Ommaney, it was just around the corner. Of course it makes perfect sense (sarcasm, guys) that I choose to go once I've moved to the other end of Brisbane.





Byron and I went with my grandparents and boy, was it a long drive. Many GPS references later, we finally got there. The restaurant didn't look that exciting from the outside. Having never been to K and K before, my expectations were based on the website. We've spent many nights drooling at the menu. Most of the items aren't in English and have descriptions involving such glorious terms as 'bacon', 'fried', 'dumpling', 'smoked' and 'creamy'. So we were thinking it would be something like this. Instead, it just seemed like a normal restaurant?

There were no seats inside so we sat out in the blistering cold. It was windy and freezing. They had one outdoor heater facing another table of guests who were eating outside. We switched tables to be adjacent to them so we could share the heating.
Mulled wine

In another effort to battle the cold, we ordered some mulled wine. I'm not a wine fan and I especially dislike red and I ESPECIALLY dislike warm wine but this stuff was soothing, rich, spicy, fruity and smooth. Oh, and perfectly warming.

Cheese kransky - served with pickles, mustard and bread

To start and to accompany the wine, we ordered a cheese kransky to share. It was served with bread, mustard and an assortment of pickles. It's not really supposed to be shared because the serving is quite small. The components were nice but nothing beyond what you'd get from a gourmet deli for cheaper.

Kaiser schnitzel - pan-fried with lemon and caper cream sauce with rice

I had being eying schnitzel on the menu since I first say they had an entire schnitzel section. The one I chose was served on rice with a creamy caper sauce. It wasn't what I expected because it wasn't crumbed. I didn't mind that much since it was still very tender and the sauce was delicious. For some inexplicable reason, I found the rice irresistibly tasty too. Byron was, however, very offended by how misleading the menu was. I think he was looking forward to a true crunchy schnitzel.

Krautfleisch - pork goulash combined with sauerkraut and bread

Byron himself chose the pork goulash. I had a taste and thought it was unremarkable. It was served with normal bread and had sauerkraut stirred through it. The serving also seamed smaller than the rest.

Stout-braised lamb shanks - with rosemary potatoes

My grandparents chose from the Winter special's menu. Grandad went for the lamb shanks. They were huge. The lamb was quite tender but I didn't think much of a flavor and it seemed to require a sauce. The potatoes were tasty with a strong rosemary flavor.

Pork belly - with dumpling and sauerkraut

Grandma chose the pork belly. Again, a large serving but nothing standout about the food. Boring pork. There was a huge dumpling.... we were discussing what 'dumpling' means in German food. It's very different to what think of it in Chinese cooking. I have decided that a German dumpling is like herby, bread dough that is boiled or steamed. Grandma didn't like it but I kinda did. The pickled cabbage and sauerkraut was meh.

You could probably detect from my post so far that I don't have an outstanding impression of K and K. The owner was very friendly but the waitstaff were a bit snobby and not that 'warm'. More importantly though, the food was underwhelming. We wanted warm, hearty, rustic and full of flavor. The only thing that really ticked the box was quantity. We tasted a reasonable selection from the menu but nothing made it past mediocre.