Aunty - Fortitude Valley

My readers will be aware that as a matter of principle, I do not go seeking restaurant invitations, so when the instagram hype starts up for new restaurants, often I sit back and wait for the wave to pass before going on a self funded venture. However in the case of Aunty, we were graciously invited to dine and try out their set menu, which we keenly accepted.

 

 

As with all Tassis ventures, the banquets were the main event, with three tiers to choose from. We opted for the Eat More Banquet which was priced at $88pp. Other than the banquets we also were able to try their happy hour menu which offered good deals on a few bar snacks and drinks.

Starting off with drinks from the happy hour menu, this was the Mando Spritz. It was fruity and very potent. We really liked how refreshing it was and how much there was, allowing us to enjoy the beverage throughout our meal.

Also from the bar menu was the lobster rolls. Usually they sell for $26 each but during happy hour it is reduced to $12. The lobster salad is reminiscent of the Taiwanese iteration I often have which is mixed with mayonnaise and tobiko. For the happy hour price, it was a generous serving with quite a lot of lobster in the fluffy bread roll.

Moving onto items from the banquet, this was the prawn toast. It was served straight from the fryer and garnished with spring onion. Like the lobster roll, there was a generous amount of prawn paste that was well seasoned and had adequate bounce when you bit into it.

 

Second course was the wagyu tartare. This wasn't particularly asian fusion except it was served with lotus chips rather than the usual bread or crisps. It was topped with smoked duck egg yolk for added umami. Although not really an asian dish by my estimate, I do enjoy tartare and this was an enjoyable iteration.

This was the golden sand calamari, also coming with a generous dusting of salty egg yolk and served with a side of aioli. The portion was fairly big and more than enough to share between two. I enjoyed the crispiness but did find the batter to be on the thicker side.

 

This was the cauliflower and mushroom eggplant served with a side of miso dipping sauce. The vegetarian filling made for a far lighter dish compared to your usual pork mince spring roll. The mushrooms offered umami which was then amplified further by the miso dip. 

Our mains came in three parts. First of which was the chilli crab shanghai noodles. This was probably the least impressive of the meal. I'm fairly certain a whole crab did not get mixed into the dish, given there wasn't too much crab meat in the dish. That aside, the noodles were done well, tender but not overly soft and the crab butter bisque was tasty.

In contrast the highlight of my meal was the pork neck char siu. This came with the perfect cut, partially fatty and partially lean. It was well marinated with flavours absorbing deep into the meat. It was probably as good as or even better than anything I could get from the butchers at Sunnybank.

To balance our mains was of course a dish of greens. This was done well and seasoned with ample amounts of oyster sauce. The portion was fairly large and went well with our noodles and char siu.

Dessert was the creative five spice caramel crunch bar. Each piece was but one bite but the five spice scent definitely dominated the morsel with the sweetness of caramel and chocolate coming through after the spicy hit. It was unique and I'd be interested in trying out their other desserts.

Although I was skeptical to try fusion Asian food, Aunty has proven herself to be capable of surprises. Although hardly traditional, each dish was executed with precision and we had an enjoyable evening that I wouldn't mind returning for.

Espresso and Matcha were invited guests of Aunty, but as always, our opinions are solely our own.

Price: $100 - $120pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10 

Chef Jon Pizzeria - Kenmore

 

It was only a couple months ago that I declared Corner Pizzeria at Sunnybank to be my favourite pizza place. Since then, the openings have not stopped and I have continued on my gastronomical journey. We recently saw some posts about Chef Jon Pizzeria in Kenmore. Having developed an ability to gauge the quality of food by photos posted on google, it had me very interested and keen. We finally got to try it last Sunday night after a busy week.

Given the rain, we were seated inside close to the pizza oven. The seating inside was limited and booking is fairly essential as it filled up quickly after we showed up.

The menu largely comprised of pizzas, which is what we were there for. Prices are notably higher than competitors in the market, but allegedly the quality makes up for it, so we each picked one to share. There were also some appetizers, mains and desserts.

To start, we had the Calabrese Burrata, comprising of  nduja spreadable spicy salami, fresh burrata cheese, extra virgin olive oil, black sea salt. We were not expecting it to be served with bread, instead hoping for the cheese to be a good addition to the pizza crusts but it was. The cheese was light but creamy and contrast well with the tangy tomato whilst the nduja gave it an extra hot kick.

Our pizzas came very quickly after our entrees. This was the Pizza Con Affettati Misti, topped with  salami, pancetta, pork sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, and smoky BBQ sauce. Toppings were very generous and I enjoyed every meaty element, particularly the pork sausage which was very umami and crumbly. The stand out for me though was undoubtedly the pizza crust with just the right amount of char and an unbelievably fluffy edge, possibly the fluffiest I've ever had.

Next up was the Diavola Pizza. topped with fior di latte mozzarella, spicy salami, olives, red onion on a tomato base, parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil. Although spicy pizza isn't usually something I would pick, the heat wasn't uncomfortable and  I liked the crunch of the red onions. 

My favourite of the night was the Salami and Truffle Pizza, topped with sopressa salami, truffle puree, fior di latte mozzarella, and pecorino romano on a white pizza base. The truffle was very intense and rich. I enjoyed this compared to the usual fungi due to the added meaty sopressa salami, adding a savoury meaty texture to the dish.

I was so curious to try the most expensive pizza on the menu, so for $47 we ordered the Wagyu Bresaola and Porcini Pizza. It was topped with dry aged Wagyu bresaola served with porcini mushrooms and gorgonzola and fior di latte mozzarella. Although definitely on the expensive side for pizza, the price was definitely warranted given the amount of wagyu bresaola on top of the pizza. We really enjoyed this and you definitely can't get this anywhere else in Brisbane (short of making it at home yourself).

Although we were already super full by the end of the meal, we shared a serve of tiramisu between the four of us. It was a fairly large slice for $20, even a quarter piece gave me two solid bites. The mascarpone was whipped to a light texture and the sponge had ample amounts of coffee liquor. It made for the perfect ending to a fairly faultless meal.

We had a stellar time at Chef Jon Pizzeria. I was very taken aback by the quality of their pizza. Although pricey, you definitely get value in what you pay and I cannot wait to be back to try some more.

Price Range: $45 - $55pp

Taste: 9.5/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10 

Momoto - Upper Mt Gravatt

As a fairly keen sushi fan, I'm always on the look out for new options. I was quite interested when I first saw the opening of Momoto in Garden City, promising a more upmarket rendition of kaiten sushi with premium prices to match. However, I decided to sit it out a bit when I noted a slew of sponsored content, I decided to wait a bit to see some genuine reviews before going. So it languished on my list for a while until they made their way onto eatclub. With Dr L running an errand nearby, we finally tried it out.

It was fairly busy when we went and we grabbed a corner seat, just outside the kitchen. The train was fairly well stocked but we opted to order on the ipad. Per my usual reviews of kaiten sushi stores, my descriptions will be brief due to the number of dishes.

Starting off with the scallop, these were fairly ordinary. They were moderately fresh but not overly sweet. I wouldn't consider it particularly different to the offerings at other kaiten sushi. 

Ika was a bit better. With a generous thick cut that was sliced with a chewy and sticky texture, this was quite enjoyable

Lobster salad and salmon wasn't particularly outstanding. Lobster salad was of the variety you would get at an asian grocery store. I could probably recreate this at home without too much difficulty.

We had two salmon belly and avocado takosu. These are all the rage now, standing in for a more traditional temaki. Portions were small for the price ($8.60 each) and decidedly underwhelming. Quality of ingredients was fairly standard.

The anago was a more unique find on their menu. Each portion came with only one piece. Toppings were generous and the anago was fine, but it was considerably expensive for what was provided.

At least the unagi came with two pieces. This was also fairly standard and doesn't stand out from the competition when the prices are higher.

We had a serve of grilled wagyu. This was decidedly a let down, being overcooked and quite tough.

Not sure I was necessarily expecting anything different but we ordered the crab stick with avocado and it was exactly as we envisaged and nothing more.

Noting another unique piece, we ordered the jack mackerel. This was the stand out for me, thick cut, fresh and garnished with ginger and some spring onions it was a delicious mouthful. 

Salmon tobiko was also fine. Nothing wrong with it but nothing that stood out either. Salmon was adequately cut but not really thick.

Rounding out our meal we had the trusty avocado salmon. The portion of avocado was a bit less than I would have liked. Salmon was very standard and didn't impress.

Overall I would say I was glad to finally have tried out momoto to satisfy my curiosity. Having said that, our final bill for two was approx $100 even with a 25% eat club discount and no drinks so it was definitely not cheap. On average, I would say some dishes were better than sushi edo quality, but prices were nearly double. If you want particular unique pieces of fish that you couldn't get at sushi edo or sushi train then maybe come here, otherwise it's not worth the value propositoin at all. 

Price range: $45 - $55pp

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 5/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

Udon Kompira - Brisbane CBD

Readers may be aware of my change of employment at the end of last year. With that comes a change of office and an opportunity to closely explore new venues. Being now located above post office square, that makes it the idea location to start. My commencement also coincided with the opening of Udon Kompira, so I went to try it out.

The setup was akin to Jiro Udon at Southport or Udonya at Sunnybank Plaza. You pick your udon/rice base, get a plate and pick up some tempura sides and pay at the counter. Being an udon specialty store, both times I went, I ordered udon.

The fried food on offer was neatly lined up and not dissimilar to the offerings at udonya with a few vegetable options, prawn, chicken and fish cake. I can't be sure but from memory it was a bit more expensive than Sunnybank.

Udon Kompira sets itself apart from its competition by making its noodles in house. When I asked how much a regular vs a large was, I expected to be told something akin one noodle or one and a half noodles but was instead given grams as the unit of description. Each noodle was cooked fresh to order.

On my first instance I ordered the large kake udon and had an assortment of sides. The udon was unlike udonya or jiro. Although thick and chewy, it lacked the squishy bite that you would find at those places and was instead a lot more firm, and hard to bite through, akin to shanghai la mian instead. Looking into this a bit further, it probably has to do with the protein content in the flour they used. The soup was light and fragrant and I liked the tempura egg with its runny interior. I found the zucchini to be a bit odd as it was so big and would have enjoyed a smaller piece with a bit more batter. 

On my second instance, I ordered the beef udon, this came topped with an onsen egg and wakame seaweed. The texture was the same as last time. Sides were also enjoyable, the prawn was a bit bigger this time than my first. 

Clearly, given my return visit, I didn't mind my meal at Udon Kompira. Service was fast and I was able to obtain my food and finish my meal within 20 minutes which is pretty admirable for a quick work lunch. Despite the noodles being hand made, I do prefer the noodles from udonya. Having said that, I will definitely be back because of the convenience factor.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10