Dough Craft - Brisbane CBD

How much would you pay for a coffee, a pastry and a sandwich? How much is reasonable? I thought I had an understanding in my mind but I was recently taken aback at my lunch at Dough Craft last week. Having seen on social media that they had a newly opened branch out on Mary Street, I arranged a catch up with a friend there for a mid lunch.

Arriving just past 12 on a Thursday, the place was bustling but not full. There was an assortment of pastries and sandwich on order at the counter (notably with no price tags) and QR codes on the table for other items. I was taken aback when told the price, which in turn lead to fairly high expectations for my meal.

After ordering, we found our own seats and sourced our own water and serviettes. 

My fig pastry and long black was first to arrive. The long black was fairly standard in size and in taste, I wouldn't say it was particularly smooth, but it definitely gave me enough caffeine to power through the afternoon, and didn't come with an excess of ice.

 

I also had the Victoria sandwich containing ham, mushroom as well as some greens (spinach if I remember correctly). Being a bakery, I had high hopes for the bread. This turned out to be very hard, crunchy and dry. My companion made the same remarks about her sandwich too. As for the fillings, the flavours worked well to complement one another, however there definitely could have been more filling when the sandwich alone cost almost $16.

We also shared the daily special, fig danish. It was fairly pretty with a fair amount of fig, atop a generous amount of fresh cream. In spite of what one of my friends had said, I quite enjoyed the flaky pastry of the danish, and the sweet yet tart fig. Having said that, the layering was not as buttery or as indulgent as the not too far away Lune. Although I would say I liked this danish, I have to say it wasn't worth the $10.50 price tag.

So back to my question at the start. How much would you pay for a coffee, a pastry and a danish? It's fair to say that $32 total is still a fairly shocking price (to me) in this day and age and it goes to show why Doughcraft probably don't put prices on their signs. Lesson learned for next time and I'll definitely be going to Lune instead. At least I satisfied my curiosity.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 6/10

Value: 2/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 8/10
 

Lert Rod - Sunnybank

Exploring the fairly newly opened second storey to the open air part of Market Square, we noted the opening of Lert Rod, sister store of Doodee Boran in the city. We finally don't need to sort out city parking to get authentic thai food. 

Arriving at 6pm on a Sunday night, the place was packed and we almost weren't able to get a table without making a reservation. I suspect that Fridays and Saturdays would be even harder.

The menu was very substantial, with a large assortment of dishes. It was very lucky that we had a relatively large group to share more dishes.

First to arrive was the combination beef noodles. This was allegedly large size but it wasn't particularly big. The dish was very shallow and didn't contain too many noodles. There was a generous amount of toppings though and the soup was wholesome but reminded me of a sweeter version of pho.

This was the duck red curry. It didn't come with rice so we had to order rice on the side. There wasn't too much duck but there was a lot of curry and the curry was fairly delicious. The duck was also well marinated and tender, I just wish there was more meat. 

The only dish that came with rice was the piggy rice. This was served with roasted pork and bbq pork with a side of clear broth. It was well seasoned with delicious bbq sauce, the roast pork was very crispy and I liked the soup. I found the portion size to be very reasonable for this dish. 

This was the grilled chicken som tum. It was very well received in the table and provided a good variety of textures and flavours in one dish. The chicken was moist and zingy with a light bitter to the charred edges. I really enjoyed the crunchy tangy papaya salad as well as the fresh crispy lettuce. I only wish the portion was larger.

On portions, our beef pad thai was also somewhat disappointing as it was so small it didn't even fill half the plate it was served on. What it lacked in size, it made up for in flavour though and we really enjoyed the intense lime flavours infused with the tender beef and the chewy rice noodles.

Onto one of their specialties, this was the ox tongue. I had enjoyed this previously and it is definitely a must order at Lert Rod. Each cube of meat is grilled to a charred perfection with a tender chewy inside. Coupled with the sauce, it made for a wonderful dish to go with rice or on its own.

Another dish we had to have again was the sirloin steak, this was fairly thinly sliced and came with a chilli dipping sauce. Although not as delectable as the ox tongue it was still a crowd pleaser and went well with rice.

We had two types of rice to share, coconut and sticky rice. Both were executed well and I particularly enjoyed the fragrant coconut rice which complimented the curry wonderfully. 

Like with Doodee Boran, I found the portion sizes to be underwhelming at Lert Rod, however the taste of the food really does make up for this and I am keen to come back and try more dishes off their menu.

Price Range: $30 - $40pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 8/10 
Environment: 7/10