Wagaya Brisbane

Wagaya Brisbane
315 Brunswick St, Tcb Centre, Fortitude Valley



I was real freakin' excited when I heard that Wagaya had opened up in Brisbane (tidbit of info courtesy of Mochi). The only time I'd experienced Wagaya was at Sydney, when I was young, with a hoard of friends, and the whole touch screen thing blew my mind.

I can't say I've changed much :).



The thing that drew me to try Wagaya Brisbane was still the touch screen menus. This time, it wasn't 'just' the novelty... after all, it wasn't anything I hadn't tried before. Since I'd had a taste of this concept in Sydney, whenever I was at a restaurant being ignored by waitstaff, I'd find myself fantasizing about there being a touch screen menu so I could order without the hassle of human contact.

L'Arte Cafe for Brunch

L'Arte Cafe
Shop 2, 185 Riding Road, Hawthorne



Mochi and I grew tired of gracing popular, in-demand brunch spots. Two weekends ago, we decided to try somewhere a bit more obscure. I don't know how she finds out about these places but L'Arte was suggested and I thought it sounded good.



Due to it being East of the CBD, I somehow got it in my head that Hawthorne was an 'Eastern Suburb' and therefore close to Carindale. Not at all... it's much more inner city than that. My car is still being repaired so I had to get mum and dad to weave their way through unfamiliar territory until we found the cafe.

The Vita-Wheat Lunch Slice Challenge!

The Vita-Wheat Lunch Slice Challenge!
Home Cooking



I was trawling through Twitter recently when I found 'The Cook's notebook' had announced a competition featuring new Vita-Wheat Lunch Slices. This unexpectedly planted a seed in my brain and I found myself craving Vita-Wheats all day. Come grocery time, I couldn't resist popping a packet of the Pumpkin, Sunflower and Canola variety into my trolley.



So whilst I wasn't originally planning to enter, I subconsciously started plotting ideas for toppings. When I came home for lunch today I rummaged through my fridge/pantry for all likely topping candidates and lined them up on my bench: salads, tuna, cheese, spreads... anyhow, this is what I've come up with and this is what I had for lunch today.

Sofra Turkish Cuisine in Toowoomba

Sofra Turkish Cuisine
164 Margaret St, Toowoomba



I've mentioned already that it's getting harder and harder for me to find new restaurants to try in Toowoomba. I'm slowly exhausting everything this town has on offer. This is why the opening of a brand spanking new restaurant will pull me in like a moth to flame.


Byron first mentioned Sofra to me while the space was still being fitted. By the time Mochi and I were planning a catch-up dinner, it was open to the public and ready to roll.

Chocolate Lace Cookies

Chocolate Lace Cookies
Home Cooking



A work mate of mine held a garden party at her property last weekend. The theme was 'Cocktails and nibblies' so I decided to bake something as a contribution. I flipped back and forth through our baking books and finally settled on these chocolate lace cookies from the 'Women's Weekly Bake' cookbook. The original recipe can be found here.

Mappen Menya Ramen

Mappen Menya Ramen
Shop 86, Sunnybank Plaza, Sunnybank



I heard rumours of a new ramen place in Sunnybank. First from Mork, then from Mochi. I thought they were talking about Hakataya but nope, I was behind on the goss as usual and there was actually another one that opened more recently.



After convincing mum and dad to try this place with me, we drove to Sunnybank plaza around lunchtime on a Sunday.

Olive Branch Lounge Bar and Restaurant

Olive Branch Lounge Bar and Restaurant
www.theolivebranch.com.au/



We were SO EXCITED to spy a Toowoomba restaurant we hadn't been to before. Mochi and I were having Thai one day and thought 'hey... what's that?'

Olive Branch looked like a bar slash cafe from the outside but when we decided to eat there one night, we discovered it was more like a fine dining restaurant.

Pourboy Espresso for Breakfast

Pourboy Espresso
http://www.pourboy.com.au/



A car accident on the weekend lead to an emotional breakdown, which lead to good ol' mum rescuing me from Toowoomba. I spend a day recuperating and regaining sanity in Brisbane before feeling sound enough to head home on Tuesday. No way would mum be making another round trip to Toowoomba to take me there, once was tedious enough, so I was sent to the city to catch the coach.


That gave me some time to kill around Brisbane CBD. I felt a bit tortured about what to do... on one hand, I was still too fragile to have much of an appetite. On the other, 2 hours spent doing nothing is a long 2 hours.

Amaretti Cookies

Amaretti Cookies
Home Cooking



This post is really dated but I figured the sooner I put it up, the less 'old' it'll ultimately become. I was going through a baking rampage one week and these cookies are a by-product of that fever. I love almond meal products and happened to have some so I started looking up almond meal recipes.


This recipe for amaretti cookies popped up in Mochi's 'Women's Weekly Bake' book. For those who haven't seen it, it's like a textbook-sized baking bible. There were plenty of recipes contending but I went along with the easiest.

Encores at the Empire in Toowoomba

Encores Restaurant
http://www.encores.com.au/



Ok. So. Byron and I started doing date night. After nearly 3 years of togetherness, we thought it'd be a good idea to introduce this to prevent the weeks from getting too monotonous. However, we soon realized that while our intentions were good, living in Toowoomba made things tricky. We are close to exhausting every single restaurant in Toowoomba.

... and then, Byron recalled Encores. He had a Christmas work function there last year and from what he could remember, the food was half decent.


We drove there after work on Friday and though I got dressed up and curled my hair, I felt more like a pensioner than girl on romantic dinner. It was 6pm and the sun was still in the sky. In theory, we could have left the house later but a routine of eating straight after work means your stomach objects to waiting that long. I'm ashamed to admit that Encores wasn't even open when we arrived but the waiter was kind enough to let us take a seat and start ordering drinks.