Big Roddys - Fortitude Valley

Friday night we had dinner with some friends after work. Being situated in the Valley, we wandered around nearby and decided to grab some dinner at Big Roddy's, their second venture after their original at West End. Having not been for a couple of years, I was keen to get another taste of their food.

Having made a reservation shortly before, we were quickly seated. Gone were the days of Madame Rouge, the moody French Bistro and it appears that only the bar remains. The vibe was a lot more upbeat and casual with considerable view of the street. The menu was fairly standard of American style BBQs, with an assortments of ribs, burgers and sides. We ordered at the counter.

All four of us are huge fans of beef ribs, so we had two servings of double bone beef ribs to ensure one rib each. They came with a side each, we had the corn and the coleslaw. These were fairly big portions and the meat easily fell off the bone. Basting was sweet and sticky whilst the meat was soft but a bit stringy. The servings of sides were also generous, I really liked the charred toasty flavours of the corn on the cob and the refreshing balance that the coleslaw brought.

We had a few extra sides to share, this was the buffalo wings. They were unbeleivably spicy and I wasn't really able to eat it without the ranch sauce on the side. These were also sticky, but I could barely taste much by way of flavours in the chicken under the spice.

 

Other sides we tried were the poutine and the jalapeno poppers. The poutine was of course my favourite, with wholesome gravy and cheese curds, it made for the ultimate comfort food. The jalapeno poppers were surprisingly not spicy at all and filled with mac and cheese. The batter was fairly thick and also packed a crunch. Overall the food was quite good at Big Roddy's, next time I'll be back to try the pork ribs.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10 

Bibimbop - Garden City

Caught up with one of Dr L's good friends over the weekend and he happens to be the biggest fan of Korean food. Asking where his favourite place was, I had expected one of the larger institutions in Runcorn or Sunnybank, but was surprisingly told that he prefers the food at Bibimbop at 8 Street, Garden City, which is why we decided to head over there for some lunch and chats.

Given the small shopfront in the hawker style laneway, it was understandable that there would be a limited number of food options. These largely revolved around rice, noodles and soup with a few snack options. Prices were quite reasonable and service was efficient.

Dr L had the combination udon. It had a generous size almost filling up the whole bowl. Noodles were tender and flavoursome and there was a generous amount of toppings given the portion of noodles and he really enjoyed it.

Wanting to have some of their signature bibimbap, I had their raw beef one. It came out very quickly with a generous assortment of toppings to rice. The stone pot was very hot and cooked the beef as I mixed it all in whilst the fresh yolk on top kept some moisture amongst the crispy toasted rice grains. Definitely was one of the better bibimbaps I've had lately and would definitely not hesitate to recommend.

Price Range: $10 - $20pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 8.5/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10

Wara Wara - Brisbane CBD

Wara wara has long been an establishment in the Korean food scene in Brisbane. The last time I had eaten here was at least over five years ago and the food was moderately disappointing, which is why I had never been back, especially because Madtongsan was so close by. Last Friday though, I decided that it would be time to give it another shot, so we headed upstairs for some dinner. 

 

Waitstaff were friendly but the online ordering system was definitely not user friendly and there were a number of technical difficulties in ordering and missing food items that we had paid for (in addition to having an undisclosed surcharge). Nevertheless, staff were gracious and apologetic for this, which I appreciated.

 

Our soju took around half an hour to show up and took us chasing it down twice until it arrived. Our sides took a while to come but they were fairly standard with some creamy pasta, kimchi and seasoned seaweed. 

Our mains though were all very delicious. The first one was the Marinated Raw Salmon Rice Bowl. This came with an egg yolk and salad atop a small bowl of rice. The salmon was wonderfully seasoned with soy and sesame. The texture was firm and it went well with the rice. I only wish that there was a bit more for me to enjoy.

We also shared a dish of Sizzling Karaage chicken. It came on a hot plate and the chicken was fresh out of the fryer. Served super crisp, it was very delicious with a juicy moist interior. Kewpie mayonnaise is always a win when it comes to accompaniments too. Again there wasn't too much rice, but it was adequate and at least there was a fairly generous amount of chicken to go with it.

Our Kimchi Pancake came last, the ordering system conveniently forgot to put our order through, so it took close to an hour before it arrived at our table. Despite the delays, this was a really delicious pancake with a crispy exterior and just the right amount of spice in the kimchi filling. I really enjoyed the food here and if the online ordering system improves, I will definitely be back here more frequently.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 7/10

My Pho House - Southbank

Another week at the office means another day of food deliveries. This week I decided to try the Rare Beef Pho at My Pho House from Southbank. Unlike other Vietnamese restaurants I've eaten at lately, they didn't take special requests. Delivery was fast and smooth though.

Even without special requests, the soup was served separate from the noodles and there was also an extra serve of hoi sin sauce on the side. Both arrived very hot.

Without the option of special conditions, I was unable to ask for my noodles to be served without sprouts, and much to my chagrin they were mixed in with the noodles. There weren't too many noodles in the bowl as it had been bulked up with the sprouts but they were still quite soft and smooth. There was a good amount of beef in the bowl but this was definitely not rare, nor was it too tender. Being unable to ask for special conditions, it also had a decent amount of chillis which I had to pick out of the bowl before eating. Given the other options available via delivery, this is one that I will not be circling back to. 

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 5/10

Value: 5/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: N/A

Hunter and Scout - Graceville

One of the first brunches of the year and some friends decided to go check out Hunter and Scout at Graceville. This was a long time coming as we had heard a lot about the brunch offerings at Graceville, but being limited by travel hadn't had the opportunity to go. It was lucky we did though. 

As an immensely popular cafe, the wait was substantial but at least we got seating inside. There was a drinks menu, a breakfast menu and a lunch menu filled with options that we would really enjoy. Service was friendly but food and drinks did take a very long time (over 40 mins) to come out.

 

Having already enjoyed a morning coffee prior, I enjoyed the Red Ruby with watermelon, apple, strawberries and lemon. It was lightly sweet and very much thirst quenching during the hot summer's day. Dr L had the Chocolate Oreo Cookie Milkshake because he is obsessed with chocolate, especially oreos. Trying some myself, it was not too sweet but very rich and chocolate-y. 

He had the Scrambled Eggs with Spanner Crab Croissant. I had half because it was so delicious. With a generous amount of deshelled spanner crab mixed with egg and scrambled it was flavoursome and rich without being too heavy. The seafood flavours were light but still flavoursome and the croissant was toasted to a crunchy flaky perfection. 

I had the cheddar cheese and chive hash brown benedict with salmon. Although the dish appeared quite small, the hash was dense and substantial. The hollandaise was rich and creamy whilst the portion of salmon was also very generous. The only thing was that the eggs were a little overdone, but this could easily be rectified. I definitely enjoyed this dish and will be back to try others.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 7/10 

Friday's - Brisbane CBD

Haven't had a good happy hour deal for a while and we had heard of the deal at Fridays in the early evening during January, so we decided to book a table and check it out. Was definitely busy due to this promotion and we were lucky to have booked ahead of time.

Ordering a round of drinks first, our rose and beer were fast and satisfying after a long week of work. Ordering was done via the app and service was fast.

As expected, Dr L had the fish and chips. This was a steal with the discount. Comprising of two fish fillets, ample chips and a salad, there is hardly any better value for money in the city. Sadly though, both the chips and salad came unsalted, which I expect was an omission, but it still made a huge difference. With how busy the restaurant was, we were also unable to flag down a waiter to fix this. Other than this though, the fish and chips were crisp and the salad was fresh and he found it quite satisfying.

My main was the chicken parmigiana. It came with napoli sauce atop a deep fried chicken breast and was topped with mozzarella. The chicken was crunchy but the batter was fairly thick and underneath it was moderately dry, the napoli sauce was also dry and didn't add much by way of moisture either. The chips were fairly standard, as was the salad. The value was good but I definitely have had better elsewhere.

Interluding with drinks, these required a bit more manual labour to create, so they took a bit longer than expected.

Dr L said that he was fairly hungry so we had a serve or karage chicken as a side as well. Again these were fairly light on the salt and the batter was very thick.. At least it came with some kewpie for us to dip it into and the portions were very generous. The side salad was really enjoyable too.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 6/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10
 

Mad Burger - West End

Caught up with Iron Fist over the weekend and we decided to hit up a beer brewery for lunch. Food wasn't served on the day so we had to source our own and we decided to grab some from Mad Burger at West End.

He had the cheeseburger whilst I had the MAD burger. Given that this was the more basic of the two, it was fairly large and executed well. Iron Fist really enjoyed it.

I opted for the signature Mad Burger. This came with a double patty, cheese and chips. Having had smash patties for the last couple of instances in which I had burgers, this was a pleasant change. Although the patties were all cooked through completely, they weren't overly dry but quite mince-y and quite well seasoned. Salads were fresh and overall I quite enjoyed the burger especially the potato chips.

Speaking of chips, we had a trio of chips to share. This included fries, sweet potato chips and onion rings. They were surprisingly dry and crisp and still warm despite the ride. All were lightly seasoned with salt and would have been more enjoyable with herbs or some form of dip, but I still really enjoyed them.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: N/A