Dinner at Atalanta

Atalanta Bar and Greek Restaurant
http://atalanta.com.au/

Greek food is one of my favourites and although I can name a number of reliably delicious options in Brisbane (mostly around the West End area), it always excites me to see new additions to our dining scene. Atalanta opened a while back in Portside Wharf and at first I was wary because I heard some mixed reviews but then my friend Jenny said it was good and I trust her opinion more than anyone else's. We arranged to have a group dinner there last Saturday night.

The restaurant is large and quite easy to find. It's located near the entrance of Portside Wharf, directly opposite IGA. It was busy on a Saturday night and very, very noisy. A large portion of our night was spent yelling "hey? Sorry, what?" and smiling and pretending to hear what others were saying when all we (or at least, all I) could hear was the persistent drone of a very chatty crowd. As the night progressed this became slightly less of a problem, I think because we naturally got louder the more we drank.

Thai Terrace for Dinner

Thai Terrace
http://www.thaiterrace.com.au/

I was in a burger mood a couple of weeks ago and Marc suggested we try this burger place we saw that had just opened in Rosalie. When we got there, we realised it had already closed down and after lamenting over how fickle and competitive the hospitality industry is, we settled in for some Thai instead.

Thai Terrace is a restaurant I've walked past numerous times and always found inviting but never actually ventured into before. The external wall has these lit up pink window panels that I really like the look of. It's like... a classy lounge bar setting for Thai food.

Dinner at Halims

Halims Indian Taj Restaurant
http://www.halimsindiantaj.com.au/

I'm a bit surprised there isn't already a post about Halims on my blog. If I rewind back a few years, I can recall going to this Rosalie establishment fairly frequently. It left a really solid impression in my mind for tasty and affordable Indian food. Marc and I went for dinner a few weeks ago and so I can now give a recent review.

We arrived on a weeknight and it was quite busy at Halims. We managed to get a table out on the large front deck but later on, we noticed some other diners waiting for a table. The menu is your typical Aussie-Indian affair with special mention of biriyani that we didn't order but I'm curious to try one day.

Dinner at The Persian Restaurant

The Persian Restaurant
http://www.thepersianrestaurant.com/

I was surfing through the interwebs looking for dinner inspiration when I came across The Persian Restaurant in Bardon. Vague memories from my past started stirring. I'm pretty sure I visited a restaurant called 'The Persian Restaurant' many, many years ago but that one was in Coorparoo. It might even be by the same people because I notice the website mentions they are 'now' located in Bardon. Presumably it had a previous location. I tried to search my own blog for any previous reviews but couldn't find anything.

In any case, new location means new things to write about. We made a booking for dinner last Friday night at 8pm. It was quite busy when we got there so we were glad to have a booking. The restaurant is nice to look at with a dark interior, generically 'ethinic' decor features and pretty fairy lights across the outside windows. The lighting inside is dimmed but not so much that my poor eyes couldn't read the menu (which is my idea for uncomfortably dark).

Racecourse 63 for Lunch

Racecourse 63
63 Racecourse Rd, Hamilton

Another day another lot of wedding errands to be had... I'm pumping out these posts in haste because for obvious reasons I'll be busy in the coming days. Last weekend we had to make an emergency visit to the airport DFO to find Marc appropriate footwear. I hate outlet shopping because the crowds really stress me out so to make a painful event more bearable, I figured we'd have lunch at Racecourse Road on the way.

The original plan was to eat at Hosokawa but it was closed on the Sunday so we headed into nearby Racecourse 63 instead. It looked to be a happening cafe so I was confident we'd get some good food.

Dinner at Lutece

Lutece Bistro and Wine Bar
http://lutece.com.au/

I've been on something of a french cuisine rampage these past couple of weeks. As more reviews emerge, you'll see what I mean. The first of these was our visit to Lutece late last week. The skrimp in me is always excited when restaurants on my 'to do' list offer specials. When one popped up for Lutece, I couldn't book fast enough. The downside is we had to get there a lot earlier than we like to dine out but in exchange for discounted dishes, who's complaining?

The restaurant is located in a little complex opposite Mundo Churrasco. You want to have a reasonable idea of where you're going because we didn't, and we missed the entrance and ended up having to do a gigantic loop around the block. There is parking on site so as long as you don't miss the entrance, everything is sweet.

Dinner at Colle Rosso

Colle Rosso
http://www.collerosso.com.au/

I mentioned in my review of Locanda that it was a huge decision for me not to order a pasta dish. I had to bear the weight of that sacrifice for the remainder of the week by suffering relentless pasta cravings. Finally, I caved. I booked a table for 2 at the nearest Italian restaurant I could find on Urbanspoon that I hadn't already been to. This turned out to be Colle Rosso in Red Hill.

We got there just before 8pm on a Thursday and it was fairly quiet but with enough other diners that we didn't feel out of place. I normally like restaurants to be busy but Colle Rosso had a romantic vibe with its darkish interior, red accents and video of scenic Italian landscapes playing so it suits being less packed.

Dinner at Blue Raven

Blue Raven Restaurant
http://www.blueraven.com.au/

We can all see that Southern American style food has been HUGE throughout 2014. One would imagine that after the influx of that type of venue (Mighty Mighty, Southside Diner, Ribs and Burgers and Bread and Meat Co... just to name a few) that the novelty of yet another Southern style restaurant would barely stir any interest. In my eyes, there's simply no such thing as too much ribs, burgers or pulled meats. I was still just as enthusiastic as ever to first hear about, and then try the delicious offerings at Blue Raven.

I went there for a catchup dinner + drinks with my friend Pizza, who hasn't been mentioned on this blog much since I moved out of Toowoomba however long ago. I didn't make a booking because I assumed Wednesday night wouldn't be too busy. I was WRONG. This place is hot, hot, hot. We were given an estimated 30 minute wait and I left my mobile number. Conveniently for us, Deer Duck Bistro was just around the corner and whilst I've had dinner there before, I didn't realize there was such a cute bar area downstairs! We had some delicious cocktails and in a case of perfect timing, Blue Raven rang us just as we were finishing our last sips.

The restaurant is fairly small, which I'm sure is what partially contributed to the hot demand for seating. That and the fact that it's a spanking new joint, owned by ex-manager of Beccofino, one of Brisbane's iconic Italian restaurants. There was a lot of hype when Blue Raven opened up and I'm pleased to have been amongst it.

Vanilla Pod for Lunch and Sweet Treats

Vanilla Pod Cake and Deli Cafe
http://www.vanillapod.com.au/

I have a strong (and possibly irrational) fear of going to the Northside. I'm sure I've mentioned this on the blog before but it's what keeps me from venturing to certain food places that I would otherwise be all over. Vanilla Pod is a perfect example. When I first saw mention of this, I knew it was exactly my type of cafe. A focus on cute cakes and simple and fresh lunches sounded like the best combination. Even their website looks cute and appealing.

All the same, I stalled, unable to garner the courage to drive North just in case like all the other times I've tried, I got lost and have a panic attack. Luckily for me, one of the major perks of wedding planning is cake planning. To me, cake planning is the perfect opportunity to trial a large number of bakeries, taste different flavours, and be annoyingly indecisive until I've eaten my fair share. My first destination within project Death-From-Cake was Vanilla Pod Cafe. And I dragged dad along as driver.

DePascale for Pizza Lunch

DePascale Takeaway Pizza
http://www.depascale.com.au/

Having lived in the Southern suburbs of Brisbane my whole life, I have an innate fear and misunderstanding of the Northside. Every time I drive up that way, I get lost, stuck in traffic and frustrated. Because of this, I’m sure my blog reviews favour vendors in the Southside or CBD and surrounds. I know I must be missing out on a lot from the other half of Brisbane.

This weekend, Marc and I planned a family trip to Noosa with friends. I had to pick him up from work in Chermside so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to try a pizza place that many people have recommended to us. DePascale is located about a 5min walk from Westfield Chermside, in a building along Playfield Street. There are some street parks available but a lot of it is taken up by construction vehicles. I was lucky enough to nab a spot but it doesn’t matter if you can’t find a long term park because this place only does takeaway pizza. Ring up beforehand to place your order and send someone in to pick it up while you wait by the side of the road.

Il Locale for Dinner

Il Locale
http://www.illocaleitalian.com.au/

I was bored at home one afternoon when the mood for Italian food struck me hard. Marc and I weren't even planning on dining out that night but I researched and booked us a table within 30 minutes. When it comes to food and satisfying my cravings, I'm just that efficient. I came across Il Locale via my usual trusty online sources and the appealing online menu sealed the deal.

We arrived for dinner on a Thursday night just after 8pm. Il Locale is located in the little centre off Nash St in Rosalie that also contains Grill'd and Tomato Brothers. The restaurant itself is what I would call medium sized. We had a little table towards the back by the window, with a view into the open kitchen.

Moga Izakaya for Dinner

Moga Izakaya
http://www.moga.com.au/

I was getting frustrated by the lack of date nights so I booked Marc and myself in for dinner at Moga Izakaya last week. In a freak occurrence, we couldn't drive out of West End because every road we went onto was backed up with traffic. Mind you, this was lateish at night so there was no obvious explanation. After a few frustrating attempts, Marc and I headed home in a huff. I then got drunk, fell asleep and dreamt that I rescheduled the booking at Moga but when I woke up the next day I realised this wasn't the case.

Not one to be defeated, we ended up heading there Monday night for dinner. I was worried we couldn't get in without a booking (and I was too embarrassed to book again) but the restaurant is much bigger than I expected. It's located in Rosalie, opposite Gelataria Cremosa and it covers a big corner block.

Assorted Treats from Eat Street, Hamilton Harbour

Eat Street Markets
http://www.eatstreetmarkets.com/

Our friend Garthritis had the brilliant suggestion of checking out the Eat Street container market in Hamilton. Once upon a time, I was an individually whose finger was very much on the pulse of the Brisbane Dining scene but work, age, tiredness and poverty have gotten in the way and more often than not, I spend the weekends previously dedicated to documenting food to watching movies at home with takeaway pizza. I'm glad that Garthritis was there to inspire us to explore beyond our hovel and experience life as cultured human beings once again.

Eat Street is news to me but I had heard about it from a variety of sources. I believe that it has become a weekly occurance (every Friday and Saturday night from 4pm to 10pm) so if you're at a lost over what to do on the weekend, pencil a visit in. On the weekend that we went, there was also the Northshore Containervale, which finished up on the 16th of November but don't worry, the food stalls will remain. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially because the term 'Containervale' drew a blank in my mind. The concept is that old shipping containers (for those who, like me, are vague with this kind of thing, shipping containers are huge units used for transporting cargo, each about the size of a large caravan) are transformed into food and drink outlets. While we were there, we also got to see some interesting boutique clothing, art and accessory stores.

Banquet at ROUJ Restaurant

ROUJ Modern Lebanese Restaurant
http://www.rouj.com.au/ 

It was Marc's birthday last Friday and being the bad girlfriend that I am, I had nothing planned. As a last minute whim, I offered dinner out to any place of his choice on Thursday night. Being put on the spot, Marc got majorly confused about what he was in the mood for and nothing that I suggested seemed 'right'. With mounting desperation, I tossed up my last ideas of Turkish or Lebanese and they struck home. He decided that he definitely wanted something ethnic.

A quick search on Urbanspoon brought up Rouj Modern Lebanese as a likely candidate. It was located just a short drive away from us in Rosalie. We parked a fair distance away from the main strip of restaurants and walked over. Rouj is located in the same complex as Tomato Brothers, opposite Cold Rock.

Botanica for Takeaway Lunch

Botanica
http://www.botanicarealfood.com.au/

Being a food blogger must be associated with a stereotype of gluttony. I do admit I love food and get more excited reading about a slab of slow cooked ribs than any amount of designer clothing items on sale. However, I 'think' that during the week aka my time off from restauranting, I manage to stay relatively healthy. I've developed some kind of health quack reputation with my family where according to mum, every week I start preaching a new fad I've read, be it anti-fructose, Paleo, Atkins, blood type diet etc.

Whilst the notion of raw food, vegan and vegetarian might seem off-putting to most (especially the typical Aussie male), when I heard that was what was on offer at Botanica, it really sparked my interest. I read about the little eatery on The Urban List here. It seemed like a trendy joint and married my 2 interests of 'eating out' and 'clean food'. That's quite a rarity, considering the amount of butter/flour/sugar that goes into regular restaurant and cafe food.

Breakfast at Sassafras

Sassafras
http://sassafrasfoods.com.au/

I admit to going through phases with my blog. Whilst there are periods of up to months that I lose enthusiasm and reduce my writing, I've also had bouts of feverish, once-a-day post updates. These past few weeks, I've been very involved, filling my weekend food slots with new venues, and spending my weekdays writing new reviews. Overall, this blog has been my most consistent and enduring hobby throughout my entire life.

Last weekend, Kat and I caught up at a cafe of my choosing, Sassafras in Paddington. As is usual for me, I arrived early and due to a hiccup in her schedule, she got there a bit late. By the time Kat arrived, I was starving so I left her to peruse the menu and got up to order my food. When we swapped places for her to order, she ended up getting the same thing as me albeit with fried eggs on white toast rather than scrambled eggs on organic toast. I have a rule where I'd like to have at least 2 different food items to write a complete post. I made the executive decision that eggs done two ways wasn't different enough so I ended up returning to Sassafras for breakfast again the next day. A bit crazy, yes? But I like to think I'm dedicated:).

Lunch at Mario's at The Dining Room

Mario's at The Dining Room
http://www.thediningroom.com.au/

Marc and I were recently invited to have lunch at Mario's at The Dining Room in Hendra by none other than Mario himself. We were encouraged to peruse the menu online beforehand to get an idea of what was on offer. I hopped onto their website straight away and found tantalising descriptions a-plenty. Honing down to one or two dishes would be a challenge.

We chose a Friday for our lunch excursion and made our way over. As a Southside girl, I had never been to Hendra before. The suburb is dated but afluent. We found Mario's situated unsuspectingly amongst residential buildings in a rennovated cottage. The inside of the restaurant was charmingly fitted, and the resultant space was both comfortable and stylish.

Dinner at Hosokawa

Hosokawa
Shop 3, 53 Racecourse Road, Hamilton

In my old age, I've developed a taste for sashimi that I could have never predicted as a child. I used to balk at the thought of any type of fish, even the battered variety. Now, I can guzzle the raw stuff by the bucketful.

After I wrote about the ace sashimi sesh we had at Sakura in Runcorn, my pal Mochi recommended that I try Hosokawa. When she mentioned that it was on Racecourse Road, I recalled a small Japanese eatery there that I'd walked past many moons ago. I filed that away for future consideration.

A couple of weeks ago, we did make it to Hosokawa. The restaurant is easy to miss if you're not looking out for it because it is very small and understated. Regardless of that, it was nearly packed and we weren't able to get a table (the few empty ones left were reserved) but we were happy to sit perched up at the bar.

Deer Duck Bistro for Dinner

Deer Duck Bistro
http://deerduckbistro.com.au/

While I have my own list of places I want to eat at in Brisbane (and mind you, it seems unconquerable because new additions appear weekly), individual restaurants get a boost up the priority ladder if I hear multiple recommendations.

Deer Duck Bistro sky rocketed to the top of my list because my dear food soul twin Mochi personally requested that I go there "as a favor" because it was one of the places she really wanted to try before she moved to Melbourne. Well what can I say, I'll help a sister out. Especially if it involves eating out at a nice restaurant.

Marc and I headed to Deer Duck Bistro last Saturday night. It's a small restaurant and easy to miss if you're not looking out for it. The inside quaint with a sort of 16th century royalty theme, crossed with someone's antique attic. I liked it.

On the weekends, Deer Duck Bistro has a set price 3 course menu. Starters is a share plate and then you get to choose mains and desserts (or a cheese platter instead of dessert if you like). There's the option of sides for an additional cost. The restaurant is BYO at $10 a bottle so we broke open a bottle of red too.

Starter platter - with breads, cornichons, caper berries, bean spread, duck liver pate and sausages

Our starter plate was brought out fairly promptly. It was a large woodon slab adorned with cured meats, pickles, breads and spreads. I liked the duck liver pate but Marc found it to be too weird. The lavosh was perfectly crisp. I wasn't too keen on the bean spread. The brioche was soft and sweet.

I had a hard time selecting mains because there were a few that caught my eye. Fate intervened when I ordered the duck because the duck had apparently sold out. I went with the next best thing in following the restaurants namesake by chosing the deer.

Venison - with chocolate, jeruselum artichoke, sour cherry and rhubarb

When the mains were brought out, I was expecting beautiful, aesthetic dishes based on reviews I had read. I wasn't disappointed at all. The plating is just gorgeous. I thought the venison was perfectly cooked and as much as it sounded like a dessert on the menu, the sweet flavors did wonders to compliment the meat.

 Venison close-up

There were bits of what tasted like crunchy caramelized white chocolate in the sauce that were just amazing with the savory deer. Marc had never tried venison before so I gave him a piece. His verdict was that it was 'different'; unlike beef, or lamb or kangaroo but in a flavor zone of its own.

Yellowtail kingfish - with clams, scallop, beach bananas, parsnip and quinoa

Marc had chosen the kingfish as his main. On its own I thought the fish tasted too fishy. I asked him if he thought that sounded crazy but he agreed with me. The skin was nice and crispy though. The scallops on the plate were some of the largest we'd ever seen.

Green beans and broccolini

We also had a side of green beans and broccolini. Nothing special there. It was good to get some greens in I suppose.

Out of the dessert and cheese, it will come as a surprise to no one that I decided to get dessert. We went with one each of the two available.

Textures of carrots

I had been hesitant about the 'textures of carrots' dessert because it brought carrots to my mind and I don't love carrots at all. What I should have realized was that this would be a spin on carrot cake, which contrasting to its main ingredient is one of my favorite things to eat on the planet. The textures of carrots was a deconstructed carrot cake with ginger jelly, baby carrots and a carrot ice-cream. The cake component (which was crumbled across the plate) was delicious. It was extremely moist, with just the right amount of spice.

Apple and rhubarb crumble - with walnuts and green apple sorbet

Our other dessert was the apple and rhubarb crumble. This was a nice winter dessert and comprised of a small apple tart sitting on top of a bed of crumble and poached rhubarb. It also came with a tangy green apple sorbet to cut the sweetness.

I'd seen reviews talking about how the dishes looked good but the serving sizes were small. I think that they might appear small at first but after 3 courses, it is definitely enough to fill the belly. Overall I had a great time at Deer Duck Bistro. The dishes were pretty as a picture but tasted great too, which to me is more important. The service was lovely and I found the atmosphere to be relaxed and cosy.

Sono Japanese Restaurant Portside

Sono Japanese Restaurant Portside
http://www.sonorestaurant.com.au/



Last week was a significant milestone for me. I have officially been working full-time for over a year now! What better way to mark this anniversary than to take my family out for food? We decided on Sunday lunch and I booked Sono via Mochi's recommendations. With its flash location next to the water in Hamilton, I figured it'd be a nice day time dining spot.



The restaurant is located upstairs near the cinema. There's an expansive dining space with conventional table, sunken seats (to pretend that you're sitting on the floor) and some private rooms as well.