Soora - Mt Gravatt East

Ever since my meal at Queen's Bapsang, I've been fairly obsessed with eating as many Korean set meals as I could find, preferably not too far from home. After a bit of research, I found out about the relatively low key Soora, located conveniently in Mt Gravatt East. With some dinner plans falling through, Brisvegustation and I hit it up for a quick weeknight dinner a few weeks ago.

Arriving at 6.15pm, the restaurant was fairly empty but filled up quickly throughout the evening. Although there weren't many customers when we arrived, service was a bit lacking from the singular waitress working that evening and it took a lot of effort for us to get her attention.

 

Ordering was done by way of QR code or via table service (once you got the attention of the waitress). There are a selection of meals and sides, prices are very reasonable by 2024 standards.

It didn't take long after ordering for our food to arrive.

Brisvegustation had the bulgogi beef bibimbap. This was served in a hot stone bowl with a selection of veggies and beef bulgogi above a bed of rice. Compared to the usual, he noted that the bowl was a bit wetter than usual and the rice didn't have as much crispiness as it could. The accompanying hot sauce was also not as hot as other places, erring towards being sweet more than spicy.

Mini Brisvegustation had a serve of Pork Cutlet rice. For the price point, it was a generous portion with a large slice of crispy pork chop. It came with a small assortment of banchan which was not refilled. He enjoyed the meal thoroughly and finished it all.

Mrs Brisvegustation had the Veggie Japchae. This came out curiously wet. There was a good amount of toppings to noodles. Again the portion was good considering the price but the amount of sauces with this dish made it less appealing.

I had a serve of the Bulgogi Beef Jungsik. It came with rice, miso soup and three side dishes, one of which was curiously potato gems. My set meal was executed to a high standard but didn't stand out compared to a home cooked meal. Nevertheless for the price of $25, I consider this to be a good value dinner. The potato gems were crispy, as was the tofu. The kimchi tasted store-bought and there was more than enough bulgogi for me to have with my rice.

We also had a serve of garlic chicken wings to share. This was freshly fried, served hot and crispy. I liked the fact that there wasn't too much sauce to overwhelm the crispyness of the chicken as well as the generous serve of garlic chips. 

All in all, a solid meal from Soora, even though there were a couple of misses, the value proposition means that I would not object to coming back later for another meal.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 5/10

Environment: 6/10 

Little K - West End

As the cafe and restaurant scene in Brisbane matures, it comes with a greater development in the sophistication of food offerings. I would say that nothing else has grown as much as the matcha offerings in the city. What was originally a very niche dessert and drink has now become mainstream and the quality has substantially improved to the point where there are at least a handful of matcha specialists in town. One such cafe is Little K, situated on Jane St in West End. 

Little K offers a selection of brunch options as well as sliced cake to enjoy on site or whole cakes to order. In my opinion the thing I hate the most is their limited opening hours, closing shop in the afternoon every day means that I definitely can't go for dessert runs after dinner. 

Anyway, service was available at the counter, and the cake display was impressive. It is a rare situation where I waned to order every single slice to try but only had to settle on one. They were on the expensive side but it was a price that I'm willing to pay for the promise of quality.

Water was provided soon after ordering and I was easily able to find a seat on the Saturday afternoon. The dining area was open though, so it can easily get extremely hot during summer.

It didn't take long for both my drink and cake to show up.

Ordering my usual matcha with a shot of espresso ! ~ (˵•̀ᴗ - ˵ ), it was served with the requisite vibrant green tinted with brown. The cup was fairly large and the latte art was on point. The beverage itself was definitely one of the better offerings in Brisbane, with neither the matcha nor the espresso overpowering each other. The skim milk was frothed in a way that it was reasonably creamy, overall making for quite a delicious beverage.

I made the bold choice of trying to demolish a slice of matcha basque cheesecake by myself. It was strong in matcha taste, and intensely rich and decadent, almost to a point where I struggled to finish it by myself. Next time I will definitely bring a friend to share it with and try another slice of cake.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 9/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10 

Elios - Carina

Red tablecloths and the smell of sugo. Probably the spawning point of everyone's favourite orange feline, Garfield. But instead of Indiana, it's located in the heart of Carina. I found Elios outside of the standard social media bubble of instagram, ironically on the Chinese social media app, Red Note, which I have been relying on more and more to get intel on new openings and good deals, free of biased or sponsored advertising. I had read about their Wednesday nights couples deal which appeared almost too good to be true, so we grabbed another couple of friends, put on our investigative journalist hats and went off to try it out for ourselves. 

Given their deal only happens on a Wednesday, the place was absolutely packed. If you attempt to go on a Wednesday, definitely book. There were less than a dozen tables inside and some out the back. There was air conditioning but it wasn't too strong. 

 

The standard menu was fairly extensive with a lot of options for pizza and pasta at around the $20 - $30 price point as well as a selection of mains and sides. As alluded to, we were there for the couples menu which conveniently allowed for customisation and upgrades to our mains (of which small sizes were included). 

It's also notable that there are size references up on the wall of the restaurant which saves you from having to ask the staff what size the items are. Wanting to make sure we were full, we opted to upgrade our mains from regular sized to main size for an extra cost of $6 per person.

 

It didn't take long for our entrees to come out. Each couple had one dish to share and I tried both the olives as well as the arancini. Although called an entree, the portions were very generous. Our truffle arancini had five pieces, each fairly large and infused with delicious mushrooms inside. It is lucky we had friends to share it with because five of these would have been exceptionally filling for the two of us. The olives were likewise generous in portion and served with three pieces of herbed crispbread. The olives struck me as surprisingly salty and definitely needed crispbread to wash it down.

As aforementioned, we decided to upsize our mains because we weren't sure how small they would be, but after spying on our dining neighbour's food come out, small was actually the perfect portion to be enjoying with the set menu. The full sized mains were far too much for us and we ended up taking home half a pizza. The pizza we ordered was the Quatro Carne, topped with beef, bacon, ham, pepperoni and bbq sauce. The pizza was far larger than what you would get at dominoes these days with probably double the amount of toppings. The base wasn't too thin but it also retained a fair bit of crunch and we particularly enjoyed the spicy pepperoni on top. This is definitely not comparable to Julius, but for the price, there are definitely no complaints from me.

Our pasta was the Fettucini chicken pesto. Again the portions were huge compared to what you could reasonably get at Vapianos. I found their pasta to be a bit less impressive compared to their pizza. The pasta was a little bit overcooked and on the softer side whilst the amount of chicken and pesto could have been a bit more generous. The quality reminded me fondly of the long gone fasta pasta. Nonetheless, it was tasty and I would be keen to try another pasta later down the track. For reference, our companions had the lamb pasta, which was topped with many slices of lamb.

We already couldn't finish our mains, and was therefore shocked by how big the dessert portions were. I ordered the tiramisu and it came in a fairly large bowl. Their tiramisu is described as saviordi biscuit, coffee, mascarpone, marsala and chocolate sauce. It was fairly different from what I make at home, with their mascarpone being thoroughly whipped to a foamy consistency. I appreciated the rich coffee flavours and delicious chocolate sauce and chocolate nibs on top. 

Dr L had the Zeppole, ricotta filled doughnuts, cinnamon, maple syrup with caramel sauce. It was served with a side of vanilla gelato. I really enjoyed this dessert even though I was stuffed. The doughnuts were fresh out of the fryer, the ricotta ensured that it wasn't overly decadent and the gelato offered a contrast to the temperature. I really recommend this and would order it again next time I'm back.

Although the set meal said that one coffee or tea was included, the majority of our table asked to swap our drink with a coke zero, given how hot it was. This request was graciously accommodated which meant that only one of our party had a latte. This was enjoyed with no complaints and given how serious their coffee setup was in store, I have no doubts that it was good. I will make a point to come back when it's cooler and enjoy the coffee then. 

For a price of $25pp ($31 with the upgraded mains), our dinner at Elios represents unparalleled value in this day and age. I also really like the fact that they are able to get substantial foot traffic without reliance on the perpetual social media machine. Needless to say, I highly recommend it and will be back soon to try out more of their food.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 9.5/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 6/10 

Goukai - Sunnybank

One thing I've noticed with the recent restaurant closures in Brisbane is that no one seems to be spared. Usually I can foresee closures by assessing a business's popularity and the quality of their product, but I was completely taken aback when one of my long time favourites, Oishii Sushi on Pinelands closed a couple months ago. Since then, I have been left with a sushi sized hole in my heart, yearning to be filled. We noticed the opening of Goukai on Level 2 of Market Square for some time now, but with prices on the expensive side and not too many glowing recommendations, we left it on our list for a rainy day. 

We arrived at 6.15pm on a weekday after a busy day at work. It was surprisingly empty when we showed up, contrasting with Seoul Garden nearby which was packed as usual. Having said this, the place did fill up fairly quickly as we dined.

The addition of a fishtank in the corner assured us that if we ordered a live lobster, it would definitely be fresh. Perhaps for next time.

Unlike other restaurants with their QR code, each table was given a tablet in which to order and request service. I found it to be a bit more customer friendly and enjoyable for there to be a designated device for this specific purpose. 

Dr L had already eaten a very substancial lunch that day, so we didn't go all out when we ordered. We started our meal with a serve of Chirashi Don. It was a feast for both the eyes and the palate, this sashimi donburi is a meticulously crafted bowl of culinary artistry topped with two pieces each of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, scallop and prawn, nestled atop a very generous bed of plain rice. The yellowtail on the left boasts a buttery texture and delicate marbling, while the tuna and salmon slices exude boldness and richness. The tobiko adds a pop of briny sweetness, complemented by the crisp cucumber ribbons and zesty wasabi. Although there were only two of each portion of fish, they were large and generously sliced. I only wish that there was more fish and less rice to balance out the rice to topping ratio.

Next up we had the soft shell crab roll. It was served with quite an attention to detail, plated with an artistic flair. I found the roll itself to be somewhat disappointing. The rice was not seasoned to the best of what I could discern and the roll was fairly small for what was charged. I did like the focus on crunchiness though, the crab, cucumber and tobiko all complimenting to it, but it is definitely not as good as sushi rolls you could get from other nearby Japanese restaurants.

The aburi salmon roll was slightly better in terms of taste, given it was doused in both mayonnaise as well as a sweet katsu sauce, however that came at a cost of the rice to topping ratio. Compared to the chirashi don, the salmon here was surprisingly thin sliced. Again the rice could be better seasoned.

Given the calibre of competition nearby, I was a little surprised at the quality at Goukai. They are a little bit more on the expensive side but with their regular 20% discount on eatclub, it is worth trying out. Having said that, there are definitely better options nearby and I'm in no huge rush to go back.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10

David's Masterpot - Brisbane CBD

 

For some reason nothing hits as hard as a hot pot craving. Even though traditionally it was more of a winter meal, I find myself craving it all year round (and cranking up the air con to the max). As a meal that ordinarily takes a couple of hours to slowly savour, it's hard to enjoy it thoroughly when you're pressed for time. Luckily Malatang was invented in the sichuan regions of China back in the 2010s, allowing those who are rushed to be able to experience the joys of hotpot whilst not spending huge amounts of time. With that in mind, I am a huge fan of Malatang, having sampled quite a few of the major chains in Brisbane. David's Masterpot, heralding from Melbourne, is top of my list, so it was with much joy that I got to tag along with Brisvegustation to celebrate the opening of their Brisbane City branch on Elizabeth Street. 

Their shop itself was fairly small, long and narrow. By the time we arrived on Sunday evening, it was entirely packed to the brim. 

 

By now, you should know the drill. Pick up a pot, a pair of tongs and grab whatever food you want. There was a huge assortment of ingredients, I am told over 100. We focused on proteins, mainly seafood and meats with some veggies and tofu.

Compared to their early days, David's has really expanded their soup options. Now there's four soups and two dry options. We opted for types we had previously not tried before.

Prices are pretty straight forward. $4.28 per 100g. Weighed up at the counter.

Sauces were provided as usual on a DIY basis, as was cutlery. 

It didn't take long at all for our table to be completely filled to the brim. 

As part of the opening celebrations, David's had asked that we sample a few of their snacks. I was really glad that I did. Between the three of us, we shared the crispy prawn spring rolls, sichuan style spicy beef and the salted egg yolk chinese donuts. These were surprisingly impressive. Even though I was completely stuffed by the end of the meal, the salted egg yolk donuts were fresh, chewy and crisp with the umami contrasting well with the delicious condensed milk it was served with. I also really liked the prawn spring rolls which were freshly fried. The sichuan beef was a bit superfluous to our meal though as we already had a considerable amount of beef in our malatang, but if you were having non spicy soup options, I could definitely see the appeal. 

Dr L had the golden pickled soup whilst I had the red soup. The malatang arrived steaming hot, an inviting bowl of red-tinged broth with a layer of chili oil that hinted at the spice to come. Packed with a mix of my favorite ingredients—silky tofu, crunchy chickpeas, tender beef slices, and the ever-satisfying seafood —it was a feast for the senses. At two chillis, the broth had just the right amount of heat, delivering a pleasant kick without overwhelming the flavors of the fresh vegetables and proteins. Each bite was deliciously comforting, with the numbing spice gradually building to a warm, tingly sensation that paired perfectly with the fragrant, savory undertones. Generous in portion and bold in flavor, it was everything I hoped for in a bowl of malatang—hearty, vibrant, and thoroughly satisfying. 

Topping off our meal, we had some ice jelly and plum juice. These were refreshing and icy cold but a little on the sweet side for my preferences. Nevertheless they complimented our meals well.

I always have a good time at David's Masterpot and this time was no different. Looking forward to coming back soon for more malatang, especially now they're so close to work!

Espresso and Matcha dined as guests of Brisvegustation and David's Masterpot but as always, our opinions are our own.

Price Range: $4.28/100g

Taste: 9/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10