Friday Italian @ Tartufo

This is the 3rd time I've been to this place and I still don't know what to make of it. It seems at times there's 2 kitchen or 2 cooks--some times the plates are plated like your contemporary modern restaurant and other times it's rustic home cooking (one whole spatchcock on a plate ). 

Mother in law was in mood for Italian though to be honest I'm not sure she knows what Italian food is beyond Dolmio pasta sauce. Sure we could have gone to Enotecca but Tartufo is easier to park and possibly more 'homely' in style and thus more acceptable incase she's not as in the mood for Italian as she thought. 

I'm not Italian, have not been to Italy so am not the best judge on authenticity. But, if showcasing flavour of produce is a pillar of Italian cooking then this place is definitely legit. None of the dishes are complicated (or at least appeared to be) but everything matched together on the plate. I couldn't speak for dishes that I didn't try i.e. the ocean trout and salmon (ordered by mother in law who once again went on a rant about too much protein, meat etc) but what I did have-- everything else pictured was fantastic--you get what you see--meaty beef, sharp parmesan cheese, bitterness from the rocket and generous generous olive oil. 

The special entree with the tomato etc may not seem like much but tomato was sweet without too much acidity, cheese was creamy and rich and the balsamic intense syrupy and very very balsamic. 

The scampi linguine had loads of butter and have the potential to be serious comfort food. Pasta was perfect-- nice spring, texture and not all strands identical--it's the imperfections that make it seem deliciously home made. 

That steak--cooked perfectly and I don't care what anyone says about ordering specials (how its the stuff they can't sell) , I would make this a regular menu item. Looking around, most tables had at least one steak. 

Staff have been trained well to clear tables, pour drinks , recommend wines, entertain, befriend. So although it was a busy night there was no lax in service. Our waiter was the highlight of my mother in law (and my night)--charmed her with his accent, devoted attention to her. Thanks mate, whoever you are, so I didn't have to deal with her. You deserve the $20 tip. 

It's easy to see why Tartufo has been one of the mainstays of the Emporium complex while so many of its neighbours moved on or gave up. 

carpaccio di manzo (beef carpaccio) 

Special of the night--mozarella like cheese (forgot name) with tomato and balsamic

crudo di trota (I think?) deep sea ocean trout filled with scallops

salmon all'insalata--gravalax of salmon and blood orange

special of the night--scotch villet with rocket salad 

scampi linguine 

tiramisu

cheese board

Prive 249 Recap

This week I have really been eating the week away, lots of posts to catch up on and lots of food experiences to share.

Prive249 is one of the restaurants located in Sofitel Brisbane. Normally we go there for the buffet but I wanted somewhere quiet and hopefully kinder to the waistline.

Tucked away in the back corner it is often forgotten and always seemed empty. Never heard much about it but it filled my one brief for the night and that was  somewhere quiet. Hotel food and restaurants don't always have a great rep, with the recent experiences I have this may have to change.

Plush seats and two dedicated staff made this seem like a more exclusive dining experience and of course because we eat early at 6pm, we were the only table.  The outlook over some buildings in the city is definitely a plus, coupled with black glass tables, dim lighting and the quiet surroundings--definitely a romantic place for dinner--for couples who are comfortable, not first dates or else there would be a lot of awkward long silences to fill.

Menu is French inspired as expected of Sofitel and slant towards classic more than modern. No issues there because everything as delicious, cooked well but more within the 'safe' territory.

Entree of the Forest Mushrooms stood out--great nutty flavour of the mushrooms, rich consommé and  rich egg yolk to bind it all together. Could have been more generous with the foie gras on the quail dish though.

Quail, foie gras, pumpkin, golden raisin

Forest Mushroom, consommé, yolk, truffle 

Size of the mains could have been a bit more generous and I really do not like foam and fish, or the cauliflower in buttery sauce which reminds me of the veggies you find in meals on wheels. While the Wagyu beef was cooked well, the crumbed bone marrow--to put in in hubby's blunt words was 'a complete waste of effort and time'. After such a generous amount of bone marrow at London Fields we were hoping for a bit more than a crumbed ball which dissolved into a mouthful of bland fat.

Potatoes were flavoursome but once again, generosity would have gone a long way.

Blue eye Cod, cauliflower, almond, bottarga

Wagyu sirloin, shallot, bone marrow (sort of)

side of roasted baby kipflers 

The Imperial dessert immediately caught my attention and it didn't disappoint. It doesn't quiet meet the presentation but is a worthwhile try, especially after some of the richer flavours of the main. Flavours could have been bolder and more pronounced but maybe subtlety was the aim.

Imperial 

Petite fours 

Prive249 won't make any waves on the culinary scene, it's on cruise control ,comfortable, on familiar grounds--just like the hotel Sofitel. 

Monday night date night @ Stokehouse

Who said romance has to be reserved for the weekend? Part and parcel of our 1st anniversary, typical of both of us we decide to use that as and excuse to indulge both on the weekend closest and the actual day. (More on that coming up)

Stokehouse is one of those places where we've heard about but never quite found. And it is hard to find (sort of) , there's no parking on site so make sure to park at South Bank Parklands and take a short walk. First I was resentful of that fact but once you walk in to the restaurant and see the full frontage of river and city views--all's forgiven.

the view from the table 

At first glance the menu appears your very run of the mill 'contemporary Australian' --I use this term loosely as I don't even really know what that implies. It's disappointing the specials board was set down by a waitress who really did not seem too keen to explain it. The board was set down against the glass window and it was difficult to see the last 2 dishes on it was blocked by the table--would have been thoughtful to maybe hold it for us while we perused? Especially since we were only 1 of 2 tables at the time.

Oysters were delicious--sweet, plump and tasting very fresh. The dressing --shallot, chives and vinigarette? (weren't sure as it wasn't explained to us) also went well but use sparingly.

The entrees we tried of the wagyu tartare and kingfish crudo was generous in size but but 2 things stuck in my mind:

1) The wagyu tartare came out looking like bibimbap with no rice and so close was the resemblance it's hard to stop thinking and expecting it to taste like it.

Wagyu tartare--or is it bibimbap?

2) There's no doubt on the quality of the ingredients yet there seems to be so much effort to pile things on that block the original flavour of the kingfish and beef. For example, the dressing not he kingfish while pleasant completely over rode any sweetness of the fish. The undressed alfalfa sprouts didn't do the beef any favours at all

Kingfish Crudo 

Mains were once again substantial and demonstrate restrained treatment of the ingredients with not too much fussing around. Standout was my grunter fish with its crispy skin and moist, flaky meat --it's proof that cook something well and it trumps any fancy foam.

Grunter with clams and mussels

While substantial and full of flavour, the brisket didn't really stand out --one of those 'nice ' but no surprises there dishes which you can locate at any bistro around town.

Brisket

A really nice baked potato 

Endive and cucumber salad . PS cucumber all down the bottom

Being our anniversary we have to go all out and go for the dessert. Couldn't go past the apple cannelloni and The Bombe on the menu. Who doesn't love a Bomba Alaska?
Well the Bombe didn't really go off-- while the parfait was deliciously smooth and the meringue fluffy, the strawberry coulis was disappointing and just reminiscent of the syrupy stuff you find at functions. The whole dessert was too sweet .

Apple cannelloni 

The apple cannelloni though sweet on it's own when combined with all the crumbs and bits and pieces on the plate the whole thing made sense. The candied walnuts were fantastic--could easily eat a whole packet on its own.

Not quite The Bombe

Stokehouse presents honest dishes undisguised by foams, gelatines, gels and the likes. Yet when there's simplicity there's very little room to  hide even the smallest flaws. It's tantalisingly close to being exceptional.

Nothing like Ramen for comfort food

Fine dining is fine and nice but there's always the comfort staples that one refers back to--after all, fine dining is only fine because it's a treat.

There's nothing like a hot bowl of ramen filled to the brim with umami, rich broth and topped with goodies like an egg with a gooey centre and fatty chewy pork. Best of all it's fast, its cheap and there's no decorum or waiting to be had. There's no insecurity with eating alone either though I rarely do now, but hubby did point out--it's perfectly acceptable to be eating a bowl of ramen by yourself (earphones in ) elbow to elbow with a stranger. Maybe that's a key to why there seems to be an increase in popularity for ramen places--lots of singles needing a place to eat out by themselves.

Regardless of the number of ramen places that's sprung up, Genkotsu is my go to place for ramen. This hole in the wall place serves a great variety including black garlic ramen and has great little bonuses you can order on the side like boiled egg, karrage other than the usual gyoza. You can even take him some broken down char siu for $1.00 incase you want more at home. Compared to some other places that serve just noodles with a few slices of meat (cough Hakataya) or anywhere you'd have to wait 20minutes plus for your meal (cough Ramen Champion) --it's a sure winner for a quick mid week meal.

Ramen (forgot which one) extra side of char is and eggs

Lunar Cuisine, Recycled food

I admit that I knowingly eat at some (typically asian) places knowing full well the food hygiene may not be 100%. However, I still like to be in my own cloud of denial and don't need to see open examples of possible (severe) breaches of food hygiene.

Lunar Cuisine or 'Old Neighbour' if you directly translate the Chinese name into English was one of the Sichuan cuisine restaurants that flooded the Brisbane scene along with its next door neighbour Fortune Well. Hubby and I used to frequent Lunar Cuisine with our families and there was consensus all round that this was a great Sichuan place even for haters of oil, chilli and almost all things delicious such as my mother in law.

Friday night we felt like some spicy food so hubby and I decided to revisit. We were told the inside was full so we were seated outside. A friend of ours walked by, saw us and came to say they will be eating next door as this place has gone down hill. If only we listened.

When my black bone chicken soup came out I was excited as this was one of my favourites from childhood. I opened the lid only to taste--radish and pork? Before I could ask the waiter still at my table another waiter appeared and set down --black bone chicken soup. So waiter number 1 delivered somebody else's pork soup to my table, this happens, I get it. What surprised me was that the pork soup was then taken back with the lid on, despite me informing the waiters that I have tasted it and yes there is most certainly traces of my saliva in it. Fine, maybe they tip it out the back or maybe they don't and it just winds up at the table next to ours in a remarkably short time.

Lot's of assumptions for what happened there but lets give them the benefit of the doubt. The next incident though there is no doubt in what happened. We did order 1 rice, but after all the mistaken plates somehow we had FOUR bowls of rice on the table. I have no idea how all of it got there-- most likely due to all the mistaken dishes that were delivered to us, the waiter then realising but still dropped off the rice.

Either way, while we had an abundance of rice on our table a nearby table to us had none. We hailed down a waiter (by hail I mean grabbed) and informed him of our abundance of rice but no dishes. On his way back to check our order he was also grabbed by another table to inform him of their lack of rice. This guy is a total genius--did a 180degree spin back to our table, grabbed 2 bowls of stone cold
possibly eaten rice and plonked it on to the other table. Fastest and cheapest way of solving a problem.

Hubby and I were lost for words--this guy was genius. Obviously he was 100% , without a doubt certain that hubby and I have been nowhere near those two bowls of rice in the past hour that we have been sitting in the cold waiting for food, plus of our disease free status. The receivers of those two possibly touched bowls of rice dug into them so fast--and barely a grumble about it being cold. Hey, I understand, if  they had been eating dishes that were as meagre,salty, oddly flavoured and oily as the ones we were soon to receive, I would be diving for rice too.

Husband and wife lungs a.k.a tripe and other cow parts in chilli oil . Possibly safest dish of the night 

Supposedly sticky and sweet beef ribs. There's plenty of rib/bone and it'll be served cold to ensure the sauce is coagulated sticky 

Stir fried pork strips with chilli sauce which is actually sour and not very much chilli 

If you were that couple, its ok, hubby and I are completely healthy.

This place goes on the avoid at all costs list--for health as well as your taste buds. Unless of course you're feeling adventurous and wanting to sample recycled food.

Flute-no longer fine-Food Coorparoo

Flute Coorparoo is a place that needs no introduction, especially for the locals of the area (which we used to be). We were excited to find out they opened another venue in the Woolworths complex in Coorparoo in addition to their old premises, hopefully means less waiting time and of course we always like to see businesses do well.

We decided to try it out with some friends for a Sunday brunch and clearly we weren't the only ones with that idea as there was  already a small crowd at 10am when we got there. Thankfully our friends were extra punctual and we had a spot on the end of the central communal table. We're used to cafes being echoey and just down right noise sometimes but the layout of the restaurant didn't seem to do any favours for the staff or customers. 

Constant 'excuse mes' and bumping into backs of chairs ( I wonder how many bruises the staff have getting around chairs) and it just seemed poor design (Greed) manifested itself and the whole place was designed to cram as many seats in as possible with the central communal table perhaps a bit too large for what it should be. 

Menu has not changed and I readied myself for some serious eating. Unfortunately when the meals came out they were shrunk just as much as the level of noise has grown. In a mad rush there remains none of the finesse or attention to detail that was present at the other Flute. 

Hubby's muesli desperately cried out for more yoghurt to make it seem less like supermarket cereal. 

Muesli with strawberries 

Avocado plate 

My avocado plate was about 10% (very uninspired, barely ripe) avocado and the tomato were basically chopped up sour tomatoes with a sprinkle of spice. 

Our friends ordered the big breakfast to share and left half of it as it was essentially a cold heap of grease. 

The nice big cup of coffee didn't really lift spirits much but hey at least it was something that remained unchanged. Hopefully we just caught this on a bad day--would hate to see a quality go down hill due to over expansion. 

 

Sunday Steak night at the Boatshed (Regatta Hotel) an early father's day

We decided to take my father in law out for a night, an early Father's Day celebration. The man is of few words and simple tastes--steak and steak.

Over the years we've taken him to sample everything from $100+ offerings to $10 pub counter meals. This time we decided to venture out-- away from the south side of Brisbane and try somewhere he'd least expect--The Regatta Hotel. 

Let's see, my last memory of the Regatta was stumbling home along Sylvan Rd at 1am or there about towards my dinky unit at the other end of Sylvan Road collecting a few twigs, leaves and other debris along the way. 

Recently when we drove past we noticed how nice the Boatshed looked and hubby and I are total suckers for presentation. So we booked online and took Dad way out of his comfort zone (the border of which is somewhere in Robertson). 

First impressions are definitely impressive-- especially considering my past memories. High ceilings decorated by rowing boats (Boatshed, I get it), splashes of green and a sparkly view across the river definitely gets you in the mood for some casual, relaxed and good feeling fare. 

Boatshed--get it? 

What impresses more is the open kitchen with the flames from the grill and a clever touch to push the dry aged beef by displaying it. Something I've seen done at higher priced menus like Moo Moos. This place is definitely winning over places such as the Norman and Morrison Hotel so far.

Open kitchen and grill 

Showing off the produce 

Menu offerings were pretty standard and what you'd expect at a steak house. We ordered the oysters, fried bugtails and heirloom tomato salad to start with.

I was hoping the food would stack up to the presentation of the restaurant and it was well...surprising.

Firstly the oysters... they were fine, sweet, fresh ... but was it really necessary to serve them on what look like ground up urinal cakes? That blue.. just toilet blue and the fact it was in crystalline form (for the record i know its salt). Yikes. 

Oysters and urinal pellets

Rest of the entrees were just meh--bug tails were overcooked and the thick coat of batter didn't help. Could have been prawns for all we know. The little coloured bits to the side was the salad that was described on the menu, a more adequate name may have been 'garnish'. Don't bother with the char siu? sauce in the middle, that's a sin for me already--char siu is restricted to meat only, not seafood, plus it wasn't really char siu just coagulated soy sauce with sugar and possibly vinegar.

Fried Bug Tails

The heirloom tomato salad was well, everything the menu said it was provided the definition of salad is very loose. Lucky my mother in law wasn't there or she would have gone on about how this was definitely not a 'salad'. You can't really go wrong with this flavour combination--sweet juicy non acidic heirloom tomato offset by crumbly feta and a sweet balsamic glaze. Though if you have a plate at home and is capable of cutting tomatoes in half, I think you have a good chance replicating this at home.

Heirloom tomato 'salad'

Finally we get to the steak. All 3 plates arrived at the same time and looked delicious, however was awhile before I could eat mine as 2 staff couldn't figure out which was the Wagyu Eye of  Rump (ordered by me) and which was the Sirloin (ordered by Dad). In the end we just assumed they placed the right piece of meat on the right plate (based on what sides were there) . At least they had hubby's order down pat--I mean the bone on the meat was a dead give away its the OP Rib on the bone.

 Sirloin? 

OP Rib on the bone 

Assuming I was eating the Wagyu Eye of Rump the meat was not as highly marbled as I expect but still juicy and lots of meaty flavour--cooked well too, a nice medium rare. Delighted to find only 1 bit of sinew in there though Dad couldn't say the same for his--had a bit of tough time chewing. Hubby's signature OP had quite a bit of gristle close to the bone but the flavour was there once again. 

As hubby put it 'as long as they cook it right it should be good'-- both of us agreed that the meat was definitely of good quality for the most part. 

Medium Rare 

Great sauces (we tried the pepper and whisky and the mushroom) --definitely didn't seem like it was mixed from a bag of Gravox like some places (cough Caxton). Chips were a hit with hubby but the potato was well, a potato--Morrison's potato is still the favourite. The salsa.. I just ate around that, wouldn't have cared if it was there or not. 

The Boatshed definitely makes an impression as moderately priced steak place.  However the entrees lack lustre and the fare just doesn't seem as generous as other similar venues such as the Morrison. But.. At the end of the day though, isn't it all about that piece of meat?