Hashtag Burger and Waffles - Fortitude Valley

Had some burger cravings last week and decided to take the opportunity to walk over to Hashtag Burgers and Waffles to try something new for lunch. Was a nice stroll down across Howard Smith Wharves and the burger place was very close to the lift near Bowen Terrace. 

As the name suggests, the focus was on burgers and waffles. There were also a selection of sides and drinks. Service was fast and friendly, water and condiments were available on a self serve basis.

Being the first order of the day, my food came out quickly. 

Unsure what to order, I went with the highly popular Pickle Me Elmo. It came with one beef patty, cheese, bacon, pickles and sauce. The patty had a nice crunchy edge to it although a little charred, I liked the sauce and the pickles which added quite a bit of tanginess to the burger and balanced it out well. The cheese melted on it in a way that also provided a nice glue to the patty. Was a fairly decent burger that I wouldn't mind coming back for.

The onion rings were undoubtedly a let down for the meal. My first couple of bites were alright as it had come fresh out of the frier but they were definitely extremely oily. It was so oily that every bite left my whole mouth coated with oil. Each ring was mostly batter and there wasn't too much onion in it at all. I could barely finish half the side and had to leave it. By then there was already a small pool of grease at the bottom of the paper, definitely going to avoid this in the future.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 5/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10  

Hi Five - Brisbane CBD

Had heard from a friend that there was a new Chinese restaurant situated under 55 Elizabeth St. Had a panicked 5 minutes where I thought that Jiabaway had closed down. Turns out the new place, Hi Five, had opened further along the strip and took up the spot beside Jackpot. With a lot of similarities to the menu at JiaBaWay, I was quite curious to go try it out and see how they could open something similar a mere couple of shopfronts away.

The main focus was a selection of rice and noodle dishes and some dumpling options. They had combo meals that came with a main, a side and a drink. In this day and age, it's pretty good value. I ordered at the counter and got a seat to await my food.

My spring rolls arrived first. Although they weren't evenly fried evenly, they were fresh and juicy albeit a little bit oily. It would have been nice with a bit of dipping sauce. The fillings were moist with juicy meat and veggies. I suspect that if I left it sitting for a while it would have been a bit soggy, still it was enjoyable when I had it.

The main was braised beef noodle. The bowl was quite big but the filling wasn't too much. The noodles erred on the softer side and the serving size was alright. In terms of beef though, it was tender and well seasoned but there was only a handful of small pieces at most. It's definitely not comparable to the ones you would be able to get at Sunnybank, but for the city it's definitely a decent option if I'm craving comfort food.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10  

Kurimu - Brisbane CBD

For those of you who walk past the Albert Street level of Myer Centre frequently, you may have noticed a small lineup of people out in front of the new Japanese Patisserie, Kurimu. Hailing from the same owners as Hokkaido Cheese Tart, they have re-branded and extended their range quite recently. I wandered over to get a few snacks to satisfy my curiosity a short while ago.

Their selection of cheese tarts are still available although no longer the main focus of their store.

They've incorporated a wide selection of sweet and savoury croissants. It appears that these are baked in house which is quite a feat given how small the shop appears to be.

They also had a some original choux, I expect more flavours will be added in the near future.

 

Getting to the top of the queue, there was a menu on the counter and prices were quite reasonable. Interestingly enough they only filled up the croissants and choux pastry once you order them to ensure their crunchiness.

This was the black charcoal croissant with custard filling. As mentioned the custard was freshly injected so the pastry wasn't soggy. Having said that it was quite dry and crumbly, making considerable mess when eating. The custard itself wasn't too sweet but other than the black charcoal exterior, it wasn't particularly outstanding and I've had better at other places.

This was the Mentaiko Croissant, I definitely enjoyed this more than the charcoal one. It was a bit more moist and had a light seafood flavour from the fish roe imbued into it. This is definitely one that I would come back for. 

Of course, I had to try their signature choux pastry. This was also freshly filled with custard cream and quite heavy. Again the custard wasn't too sweet but the choux was quite hard and biscuit like rather than being light and fluffy. I think I prefer the circular choux pastries from other places more.

Price Range: $5 - $15pp

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10  

Jocelyns Provisions - Brisbane CBD

Another day in the office and I decided it would be a good opportunity to try something different for a change and walked down to Eagle St to grab some pastries from Jocelyn's Provisions.

Although I arrived just before lunch, a lot of their pastries had already been sold out and there was only a small selection left, along with a vast array of cakes.

Other than that, hot food like pies and sausage rolls were hidden behind the counter, I had to really look for them to find it.

I ended up getting two items to go, a Lamb and Rosemary Pie along with the last Chocolate Croissant.

I had heard good things about the pies, but this definitely exceeded my expectations. The pastry was wonderfully flakey and the base wasn't overly dense. There was a good amount of mince and some chunks of meat within the filling and the gravy was one of the most flavoursome I've had for a while now. There was also some very tender carrot and potato in the pie which was great.

The croissant I had was also excellent. It was light and flakey without being oily or greasy. The chocolate filling inside was also a lot more generous than others I'd had before. It was a balanced dessert after the meaty pie that didn't leave me with too much guilt. This is definitely one of the best pastry shops I've been to lately.

 Price Range: $10 - $20pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10

Rabbit and Co - Coorparoo

Had brunch before an appointment on the weekend and decided to try out Rabbit and Co at Coorparooo which has long been popular with the locals. Noting how popular brunch places have been lately, we made a booking early on to ensure we didn't need to wait for a table.

 

Rather than being given physical menus, we had a QR code which enabled us to order and pay for it online. Notably both breakfast and lunch menus were available during brunch time and the selection was fairly mainstream. I do prefer ordering via the app as it allows me to take my time choosing and it also means that I dont need to flag down waitstaff to put down my order or to get the bill.

Drinks wise I had my usual skinny cappucino. I had it in large and it wasn't overly big but it was definitely strong and the milk was creamy. There wasn't too much chocolate on it, but the caffeine hit was what I needed.

On chocolate, Dr L obviously had his iced chocolate. It came with not one but two scoops of ice cream. The portion was quite big and it was quite sweet, just the way that he likes it. There was a generous amount of chocolate syrup around the cup as well and he really liked it.

Opting for the lunch menu, he had the fish and chips. It came with four sticks of fish, some chips and a serve of salad. Both the fish and chips were quite crispy and crunchy, however the fish had quite a fishy smell to it. Adding lemon juice to it helped a bit but tartare sauce would have been a better option than the mayonnaise. The chips were generous in portion and the salad was a good balance to the meal.

Those who know me know that I can't resist a customisable breakfast. Rabbit and Co has a dish of eggs on toast with three additional sides. I went with salmon, avocado and hash browns. The eggs were soft poached and had a sufficiently runny yolk. The sourdough was small and there was only one piece. I definitely had far more avocado than sourdough. The salmon was fairly generous and the hash brown was crisp. We had a good time and would be keen to come back soon to try the other offerings.

Price Range: $25 - $30pp

Taste: 8/10 

Value: 7/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 8/10
 

LR Sushi - Brisbane CBD

Another week and I was foraging for food near work. Stumbled on another branch of LR sushi in the CBD, conveniently situated near Eagle Street, and notably less people lined up outside compared to their Adelaide St branch. 

Due to the fact that there weren't too many customers, service was very fast. There was quite a large assortment of sushi rolls but prices appeared to be quite steep compared to other places.

I ended up getting four rolls to go, two salmon, one karaage chicken and one crumbed prawn. Compared to other stores, the rolls were quite small but the filling to rice ratio was pretty good. The salmon was firm but not overly fresh and there wasn't too much avocado. The fried foods were very crispy and I liked how moist the chicken was. I definitely wouldn't rate this one of my favourites but given the proximity of the place to my work I wouldn't rule out coming back for more.

Price Range: $15 - $20pp

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10 

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

Lucha Black - Brisbane CBD

Readers will remember that I went to Lucha in Fudo Dori not long after it opened. The food was quite mediocre, but I've since heard that there have been drastic improvements. Just as I was thinking of giving it another shot, I heard they opened a sister store, Lucha Black, in Albert Lane, next to Vapiano. Last weekend we made plans with a few friends to check it out.

 

It was really lucky we called ahead to make a reservation as the place was completely full. It seems to me that hospitality is really doing quite well given the number of places we have to go to that can't even accommodate walk ins anymore. Anyway, we were seated quickly and service was fast. We had pre ordered the duck as they needed an hour of prep time beforehand and we just added a couple of other dishes to share.

There was a good range of cocktails and drinks but only one friend opted for the beer.

 

Our duck was served over three courses, this was the peking duck with pancake. It was fresh and hot, the crispy skin was sliced off in front of us and there were a good number of pieces and it wasn't overly fatty. Unfortunately the pancakes took quite a while to come out and the skin had cooled significantly by the time we were able to have it.

Second course was the San Choy Bao, with stir fried duck meat with some veggies wrapped in a lettuce leaf. The meat was seasoned well with savoury dark soy and had a touch of spiciness from the peppers. The lettuce leaf was crispy and fresh. I could definitely have done with seconds.

Third course was the roast duck fried rice. The portion was a bit small and we only had a small bowl each, but at least there was a generous duck to rice ratio, there was still quite a bit of duck skin to go with the meat and it was also infused with a decent amount of duck fat to fry the rice. I quite enjoyed it.

We had a couple of other dishes to share. This was the signature Lucha Roast Chicken. It was the same as the one they have in their Fudo Dori store, however this time it was executed quite well. The chicken didn't have much of a crisp skin but the meat was well seasoned and infused with green tea flavour, the added dipping sauce provided good enhancement and it wasn't overly dry.

We also had a dish of stir fried pork intestines which a few of us really liked but didn't go down well with everyone else. I liked the chewy pork intestines with its distinct rubbery but meaty texture. The flavours of pepper and soy were strong, masking the porky flavours, it would have gone well with rice.

Our last dish was a crowd pleaser, Braised Tofu and Pork Belly. The decorative pot was very big but the portion wasn't. There was about a half half ratio of tofu and pork belly which suited us fine. It was doused in a light oyster sauce base with soy, the tofu was deep fried before braising and the pork belly was roasted. I definitely really enjoyed this dish. 

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10