Two Peck - Toowong

Although I do love Korean Fried Chicken, my all time favourite iteration of fried chicken will always be Taiwanese Fried Chicken. Whilst not as popular as KFC, there have been a few openings in Brisbane over the last several years. Most recently, Two Peck opened in Toowong Village. Some people on red note have suggested that it is the best Taiwanese Fried Chicken in town, so we had to go try it out and see for ourselves.

 

The shopfront was small. There was probably only one or two staff working that evening and a sign was clearly placed asking us to order on the screen rather than at the counter. The menu was definitely small and pretty much every item was fried. Ordering was easy enough though.

Those who read reviews online may note that the complaints largely revolve around how long it takes for the food to be prepared. Indeed I was able to compare three bubble tea shops, order and collect and come back to a further 5 minute wait before our order from Two Peck was ready.

Without designated seating, we took our food to the nearby food court to enjoy our spread. Our dinner comprised of two chicken fillets and three sides to share between the two of us. At $55 for the lot, it was market value when you consider what the competitors are charging but on the other hand it was also a bit steep for a bunch of fried things of not particularly high value.

 

Starting off with the fried chicken fillet. what sets two peck apart from the other stores is that it gives you the option of chicken breast fillet with bone or chicken thigh fillet without bones. Dr L hates bones in his food so he had the thigh fillet whilst I had the breast fillet. We expected the pieces to be small but they were quite large. We speculated that perhaps they smashed two patties together to form one big fillet, but we weren't sure. The thigh fillet was as you would expect, moist and juicy. The breast fillet was also moist and juicy, much to my delight. The batter was probably corn starch or some other low protein flour that made it similar to a tempura batter. I much prefer the traditional potato start that is used in Sam's Chicken for the balls of puffed goodness on the outside. Either way, this was pretty delicious and had just the right amount of salt and pepper.

Our three sides were a hit and miss though. Starting with what went well, the oyster mushrooms were perfectly fried with the light tempura batter. Crisp and crunchy on the outside with just the right amount of seasoning, taste wise it was faultless. It was however small for the price paid.

On the other hand, the calamari tentacles left a lot to be desired. Even though they were fried, somehow they batter was falling off the tentacles and it came out like a hot mess. I'm really surprised that they thought it was ok to serve them like this. Taste wise it was good enough though but again the portion was small, particularly given we paid almost $10 for this serve.

Final side of the night was tofu. Portions were small but in this case it had next to no batter on it so it wasn't even crisp, but rather had a weird oily coating where it should have been fried. I love tofu so generally I'd eat it no matter what, but this was definitely not up to standard as a fried tofu.

Overall, we had a mixed experience at Two Peck. The chicken was enjoyable enough but not the best in Brisbane. The sides were disappointing except for the mushroom. Although I didn't hate the experience, next time I am definitely going to Sam's Chicken for my fix instead.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: N/A

Good Looking Rooster - Albion

Life for the modern day woman is pretty unforgiving. Society expects you to do a full time job on top of what is pretty much a full time job at home. Covid lockdownd gave me a bit of reprieve by allowing for work from home, saving me 2 hours of commute per day. Unfortunately with hybrid work, days working in the office often mean that we don't get to enjoy dinner until close to 9pm. Luckily for me, these days there are healthier options for dinner that don't involve loading up Dr L with unhealthy fast food.

I had recently been to Good Looking Rooster at Albion for a quick and healthy lunch, after which I received an invite from their PR company asking us to sample their dinner spread. We happily obliged and decided on an office day where cooking after work would have been a struggle.

The menu was fairly concise, comprising of chicken, hot sides, salads along with burgers and wraps. There were a few value combos to choose from as well. Service was friendly. When I went during lunch, it was fairly busy so there was a considerable wait for food. When I went during dinner, it was very quick and efficient.

The chickens were huge compared to the usual I get from Woolies. I daresay roughly double the size. We picked two from the display cabinet.

The combo we ordered included roast veggies as well as chips. Our chips came fresh out of the fryer.

We also had one large salad. I chose half greek salad and half caesar salad. Sauces were thoughtfully served on the side.

It took about 20 mins to get home but everything was well packed. Nothing spilled and w were able to keep the hot foods separated from the cold.

The chicken was of course the main event. This was well done. Large and juicy wit a delicious roast skin. My only critique would be that given its size, the flavours were not able to get all the way into the very big chicken breast. This was sufficiently addressed by the addition of wholesome gravy. Regarding the size, usually Dr L and I easily polish off half a chicken from the supermarket, these were huge and a quarter was already enough for a meal. Compared to Chargrill Charlies though, they are definitely less flavoursome.

Hot sides were generously packed and didn't get too steamed and moist during the ride home.

I was curious to try their wings, given they focus on roast chicken. The wings were surprisingly good. The batter was reminiscent of korean fried chicken, light and crunchy with a light salt and pepper coating. It was served with three sauces for variety, my favourite was definitely the ranch sauce, but I appreciated the wings even without sauce.

Roast veggies were generous in size and had a good variety of ingredients such as sweet potato, zucchini, carrots, pumpkin, corn and peas. On its own, it was a little bland but elevated with the gravy, it made for a very delicious side.

Chips were also generous in size. They came generously seasoned with chicken salt and we enjoyed them with the dipping sauces from the chicken wings. These arrived home still very hot and crisp and were well received by all, particularly for their rustic skin on texture. 

Although the salad was in a large container, there really wasn't too much in it on the basis of how much space the lettuce took up. Regardless, they were fresh and crunchy, offering a cool refreshing change to the rest of the meal. 

Although this was a sponsored meal, I can wholeheartedly recommend Good Looking Rooster. Other than the chips which are always a guilty pleasure for me, the meal was wholesome and balanced. If they were open closer to home, I would most definitely come back regularly on those busy days when I can't easily cook after dinner. 

Price Range: $20 - $25pp

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: N/A 

Clarence - South Brisbane

Readers may remember my previous fairly positive dining experience at Clarence when they were located in at Woolloongabba. Since then they have moved to new lodgings at South Brisbane, at he entrance to Fish Lane. Their menu has become a bit more refined and reviews have been stellar. It is with this in mind that I made a reservation to go for a birthday dinner.

 

We were seated promptly and our service that evening was without a doubt the best service I have had in a long time. Our waitress had just the right amount of charm and humour and was an absolute delight the entire evening. We were provided two menus, an a la carte menu and a banquet menu. I had heard good things about the banquet menu so that's what we settled on but with an upgrade of dessert to the apple tarte tatin at an extra charge of $10pp.

Our meal started off with some bread, pickles and butter. This was quite rustic and wholesome. The bread rolls were lightly toasted and I liked the smooth exterior but fluffy interior. Pickles were just tart enough to not overpower the flavours of the vegetables.

Starting with shared entrees, this was the confit duck terrine served with soy pickled eggplant and shiso, this was a portion for two to share. The duck terrine was fantastic, it had a fantastic amount of duck mixed among the veggies. The portion was generous and the soy pickled eggplant and shiso was a fantastic addendum, adding umami and richness to the dish.

Second starter was the Hervey bay scallop crudo, tiger milk dressing, pickled celery. This was a serve for the four of us. The scallop was fresh and sweet, the tiger milk dressing was creamy and tangy and I really enjoyed the fragrance of the added chives on top.

The last of our starters was the tomatoes, cherries, stracciatella and fig leaf. We were quite surprised but the cherries went exceptionally well with the tomatoes, providing for a sweet but tangy mixture. The stracciatella provided the much needed creaminess to balance out the tartness.

It didn't take long after our mains for our sides to come out. Dr L and I picked the duck and the lamb to share. This was the dry aged duck, cherry, zucchini, yuzu kosho. The duck was fantastic, with a rich meaty flavour. The skin wasn't crispy but it also wasn't meant to be, rather more akin to a roast. The yuzu gave it some much needed tang to lighten up the dish. Although there were only two pieces of duck breast, each piece was huge and definitely filling.

Our other main was the Margra lamb saddle, it came served with a caramelised onion tart with asparagus and pickled shittake. Although lamb saddle isn't usually a cut of lamb that I often order, I couldn't deny that it was executed exceptionally well. Although lean and erring on the chewy side, the meat texture was smooth and palatable whilst not being all that chewy. The tart was crispy an very umami despite it comprising of only vegetables. 

Each pair of diners also had a serve of chips and salad to share. The chips were perfectly fried and faultless. The greens were also leafy, fresh and doused with a light vinegarette. No complaints from me and we were already super full by the time we finished this.

My one complaint of the night would have been in relation to the Apple tarte tatin. Not the taste of it, which was excellent, but because the four of us paid an extra $10pp, totalling $40 when the item itself only cost $38 on the menu. That means that for the extra price, we should have retained our original dessert and added this on for $2 worth of savings. The tart itself was buttery and flakey whilst the apple was also sweet and had just the right texture. It was a good portion to share between four, two would have been a bit too much.

Overall, our experience at Clarence was definitely a memorable one. Service was on point, food was thoughtfully executed and brought out the highlights of each ingredient. I highly recommend the experience and would definitely return for another meal.

Price Range: $88pp set menu + $10 for dessert upgrade

Taste: 9/10

Value: 7.5/10

Service: 9.5/10

Environment: 8/10

Meetfresh - Sunnybank

Meet Fresh is a fairly popular Taiwanese dessert store. Well over a decade ago, they had a shop at Sunnybank Plaza, they didn't last long and eventually closed. Meanwhile they had a number of successful stores across other states and even New Zealand. It was only at the end of 2025 that they finally re-opened a Brisbane store, this time across the road at Market Square. Since opening, I don't think that they have had a quiet day. I waited until mid January before going and even arriving at 9.30pm, queues were out the door.

Being situated at the corner store above Yuens, it was shockingly large. It took about 20 minutes for us to put in our order and it took another 20 minutes for us to get our food. Given the sheer number of tables, the turnover was high enough that everyone managed to get one after they queued to order.

We picked up our food from the counter and it was lucky we had a relatively larger group of four to share in our order. Portions were huge.

 

My companions had the taro and red bean fresh milk whilst I opted for the jasmine green tea. My tea was excellent. Fragrant and crisp with a lingering aftertaste that remained refreshing. It was definitely higher quality than the usual Brisbane standard.

Wanting to try something that is representative of their store, we had the icy grass jelly signature. It was a tad expensive at almost $15 for a serve but the portions were big and sufficient for at least two people to share. The grass jelly had a strong herbal taste, tempered by the added milk. Their signature taro balls were squishy as usual.

I was most keen on the mango berry shaved ice. This came out as tall as a mountain and given the price was almost $30, it also definitely requires a group effort to finish. The menu was unclear between the two ice options. It turns out that shaved ice was the chunkier, coarser ice whereas shaved ice was more delicate snowflake type. I was a little concerned with shaved ice as usually it runs out of flavour by the time you get to the end, but this was well infused with ample flavouring. The mango and strawberries were fresh and sweet. It was worth the price given the size and I would not recommend a group smaller than 4 people taking this on.

All in all, we had a good time at meet fresh. Prices were a bit steep but portions are big and the quality was quite impressive. I can't wait to come back and try out their waffles once its in stock.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10