Hwaro92 - Springwood

After the recent opening of the highly controversial Seoul Garden, another contender for Korean BBQ in the broader Brisbane area has opened with Hwaro92 (originally situated in Robina and doing a la carte) opening a second store in Springwood and offering a KBBQ that offers more or less the same thing as Seoul Garden with a lot less drama. We made a reservation to go with a couple of friends not long after their grand opening.

Parking was fairly straightforward and simple. Prices are notably $2 more than Seoul Garden for all meals and the time limit remains the same. There were a couple of notable differences though which made for a significantly more pleasant experience. Firstly they were willing to entertain bookings of two, secondly they asked that you pay upon entry and unless you left an egregious amount of food, you wouldn't be threated with with extra charges. Finally, as with most authentic Korean restaurants, there is a 5% discount for cash payment. 

After being seated, we went out quickly to forage for food. Queues were nowhere near as insane as Seoul Garden and I was able to comfortably browse without wasting too much time. Firstly there was a selection of salads and other cold fruits and veggies.

There was 15 different types of meat on offer. Notably including some delicious garlic prawns. Meats were divided into marinated and umarinated.

Selections of hot food included stews, rice and noodles. 

As always, fried chicken wings were on offer with original and glazed variations.

Noodle bars seem to be all the rage these days and they also offer an inexpensive option to fill customers stomachs so there was definitely one here also.

Rice and two soups were available.

There were also a few other selections of fried foods like mozzarella sticks as well as some kimbap and inari.

Desserts were notably lacking compared to Seoul Garden though, comprising of ice blocks, taiyaki, sweet dumplings and warabimochi.

It didn't take long for us to load up and the table was blissfully full.

Starting off with the negatives, I would say that the grill was surprisingly small for a table for four. It would have been adequate for two but we struggled to fit everything on it to share for our group. The heating was also oddly un-centred with the heating elements leaning towards the edge, leading to meats placed in the centre cooking slower. The biggest red flag for me was the non stick coating from the grill that was noticably flaking off. Other than that though, the meat quality was significantly better than Seoul Garden. It was fresh, the marinates were delicious and authentic. I also liked that the cuts were high quality, not overly fatty and not overly chewy. Compared to other buffet options available I think that only Yido would surpass the quality provided by Hwaro and that comes at a price of $10 more.

Sides were equally as impressive, we enjoyed the fresh and clean lettuce for wrapping, the crunchy spicy kimchi and wholesome mashed pumpkin. 

As with all kbbq buffets, the meat was of course my main focus but I sampled a bit of their cooked dishes to get a gauge on their quality which was overall good. The inari was my fav of the cooked food, rice had a really enjoyable texture that was not too soft but just bouncy enough with a generous amount of toppings. Seafood pancake was unexpectedly crunchy. Chicken wings were hot and crunchy. Mozzarella stick had batter that was too thick for my liking but I also think that's the way they were intended.

 

As mentioned, the dessert options weren't anywhere close to what you can get at Seoul Garden, but I found it to be adequate. Dr L really rated the sweet dumplings and ate quite a few of them. I had a selection of the warabimochi which weren't too sweet but also weren't intense in flavour. Ice blocks were fairly standard.

Overall, we had a fairly stellar time at Hwaro92. If we compare food quality in a vacuum, Yido would probably win out because of the quality of wagyu they use. If you consider the more comfortable (and clean) dining area, I would say you would get a better experience at Hwaro. Staff were friendly and helpful, and when you compare to being herded around and pressured like we were at Seoul Garden, I can comfortably say that I have absolutely no need to return to Seoul Garden anymore. At $52pp, I don't think anything else in Brisbane can beat out Hwaro as a dining experience and this will probably be our go to from now on.

Price Range: $52.90pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 9/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10 

Fresh Alo - West End

Some of my readers may have heard my gripe about the state of (western) social media lately. Authentic posts are increasingly hard to come by and my feed has now largely become dominated by advertisements, sponsored posts or posts with otherwise undisclosed conflicts of interest. This has in turn made it quite difficult for me to discern which places are actually good and which places are bad but hyped up. Interestingly enough, it appears that Chinese social media (at least in Brisbane) has yet to become corrupted to that level, and I've recently been able to find some fairly stellar recommendations as well as some particularly spicy, savage reviews. 

One place that came highly recommended was Fresh Alo, a store that originally had a more fusion focus which had next to no social media presence on western platforms. I'm not sure if it's a change of management or a change of strategy, but they have lately taken a turn specialise in Harbin style malatang and fried skewers.

 

What sets this malatang apart from other stores is that there is no DIY option for you to grab your own ingredients. Instead all you have three options only, deluxe, standard and vegetarian with all ingredients pre-packed with no alterations. Only noodle type can be customised. There was also a selection of fried skewers. Prices were very impressive when considering the going rates at Sunnybank these days. Service was also particularly warm and welcoming (if you can speak Chinese).

As with other malatang stores, there was a small selection of sauces for you to DIY. Notably garlic is available, so I was happy.

It didn't take long for my standard malatang to arrive. At $20 for 600g, this was a very reasonable price for this this day and age. There was a generous assortment of beef slices and spam accompanying the noodles, veggies and tofu. Although I would have gone harder on the meat if I was picking my own ingredients, I was pretty happy with this bowl. The soup was not as creamy and rich as David's Masterpot but I consider it to be better than the average.

It took a bit longer for our deep fried skewers to arrive but this was definitely worth it. This plate cost roughly $20 and it was completely loaded with all assortments of protein, enoki and crab sticks. I was especially impressed with the fried chicken cutlet that was priced at $5. All items came dusted with a spicy cumin powder that was unbelievably addictive. I would come back for the skewers alone.

Rounding off our meal we had some deep fried mantou served with condensed milk. At $3 for 4 pieces it was also a good deal. This was likely storebought and then deep fried and I have no issue with this. Light and fluffy with a crispy shell, it was a comforting way to conclude our meal.

In total, our diner for two cost just $46 and we had so much food we had to get takeaway and containers were complimentary. Overall we had a very positive experience at Fresh Alo, it is definitely an underrated spot and we can't wait to come back for more.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 9/10
Service: 9/10

Environment: 7/10

Orange tea - South Brisbane

Brisbane One in South Brisbane is a moderately new block of apartments. Although it took a little bit of time to get their commercial occupancies filled, recent years have bought with it quite a few exciting openings that make me wish that I lived on site. Recently Orange Tea took up lodgings on the ground floor, sharing the space with Sam's Chicken. 

Given the prices of bubble tea these days, we were happy to line up on opening weekend for their buy one get one free promotion. Whilst in line, we were then further enticed with buy one get one free vouchers in exchange for five star reviews on google.

The menu was pretty much the same as their Sunnybank store, offering interesting options like gelato tea and of course their signature orange tea. Service was fast and efficient, especially given it was opening day.

The first time we went, I had an orange tea and Dr L had the lychee oolong tea which was one of the limited free drinks.

 

Compared to other bubble tea stores, orange tea actually offers one whole orange in its fragrant green tea while other shops just mix in orange juice. The result is a far fresher and crisper experience which stands out to me as a must order. Dr L also remarked that his lychee oolong was fresh but mellow, making for a delicious beverage. The dedication to plastic straws is also a definite selling point.

Wanting to utilise our vouchers, we returned twice within quick succession. The next time we enjoyed our drinks with dinner from Sam's Chicken. Dr L had a taro milk tea and I had a smoky oolong tea with smoky oolong gelato. Dr L was particularly impressed that the taro was made with fresh paste and that they were very generous with the portions. The tea was fragrant and the milk was creamy, definitely one of the better taro milk teas around. My smoky oolong with gelato was unique as it was delicious, the smoky flavours definitely came through and I was pleased that the drink was sweet enough with just the ice cream in unsweetened tea. 

 

In fact I enjoyed my gelato tea so much that on our last visit, I had the black tea with a scoop of earl grey gelato, this time infusing some floral scents into my beverage. Dr L opted for papaya milk which was unique to this chain, we don't think we've seen it anywhere else in Brisbane. I was really impressed with the generous chunk of papaya that they blended into Maleny milk. Both drinks were again well received. Given how close this store is from home, I have no doubts we will be back in no time.

Price Range: Less than $10pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

 

Chatty Beans - Kangaroo Point

Always love trying out new cafes for brunch and earlier on we were kindly invited to try out the food at Chatty Beans, a fairly new cafe that opened at Kangaroo Point last November. Situated along Baines St opposite the Pineapple Hotel, parking was surprisingly easy during the weekend. 

 

Created by the owners of Raw Specialty Coffee in the Gabba, they were well versed in the art of coffee and are currently running a short menu of classic brunch dishes with a couple of weekly specials. Seating is entirely outdoors, making it a bit of a struggle during the summer months. Prices are very reasonable for brunch given the recent years of inflation.

Service is available at the counter and it didn't take too long for our food and drinks to arrive.

Dr L had his standard iced chocolate. This came with whipped cream and a generous amount of chocolate sauce in a mason jar. I had a large cappuccino with skim milk this was served in a fairly tall mug. Beans came from bear bones and the boldness was definitely distinct and the caffeine hit was exactly what I needed.

This was the big brekky, comprising of avocado, bacon, eggs, spinach, tomatoes and toast. For the price of $21.50 it was definitely a good deal when you consider that other brunch places charge at least mid do late 20s for a big breakfast. Each element was executed well, the eggs were poached with a runny interior. Avocado was ripe and well seasoned whilst the avocado was reasonably browned. The toast was a large generous slice and the tomato was also reasonably charred. All in all a solid rendition of a big breakky. The only thing missing is arguably a hash brown.

Our other dish was an avo toast with scrambled eggs. It was more or less the big breakfast without the bacon and spinach but with a larger portion avocado. To shake things up I asked for the eggs scrambled and these were fairly well done, being smooth and creamy without being too overdone. As with the big breaky, this was a solid effort and executed well. We enjoyed our breakfast at Chatty Beans and definitely look forward to seeing what specials they decide to put out next.

Espresso and Matcha dined as guests of Chatty Beans but as always our opinions are our own.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 8.5/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 6/10 

Pick a Cake - Hamilton

It's been a little while since I've had breakfast out but when our foodie friend Mr J had his birthday celebration, we headed over to Pick a Cake at Hamilton for a catch up. Being located on Park Road, it was inevitably super busy and parking was very difficult. 

 

There were a few seats inside and a few more outside but the store was undoubtedly quite small. Menus were provided with a selection of drinks and desserts. Options were very extensive.

If the menu options didn't give you enough decision paralysis, there were also three display cabinets of cakes, cookies and pastries to choose from. 

As usual, Dr L had an iced chocolate. This was a bit on the petite side but he said it was rich and chocolate-y. There was a notable absence of ice cream but given the price, it was a very reasonable serve.

Spying a Thai Milk Tea Latte on the menu, I opted for it instead of my usual cappuccino. Expecting an intense tea hit, I was surprised that it was very weak. The milk was frothy and the size was good but I would definitely have enjoyed a stronger tea. 

Dr L had two small desserts for brunch as I am not a huge fan of sweet brunches. Both were petite and cute but also inexpensive.

For the particularly indecisive, this was the half half cookie. Comprising of half choc chip cookie and half red velvet cookie, it was a steal for $6 (by commercial standards).  He said it was very decadent and enjoyable with high quality ingredients and a good choc chip to cookie ratio.

Dr L also had a salty egg yolk taro tart. This was warmed up and the salty egg yolk was served runny. It had a generous portion of taro, a flaky pastry base and delicious salty egg yolk. It was definitely a highlight of his meal and inexpensive for what it was. Something to definitely come back for next time we are back.

We didn't order anything on their paper menu but this was their special mango sticky rice. It was really well received and came highly recommended from our foodie friend.

It would hardly be a birthday without birthday cake. We ordered this adorable cake from their chiffon selection. This was outstanding. The three flavours we had, pandan, taro and thai milk tea were fantastic and each cake was infused with respective flavours. My highlight was the pandan cake which was fragrant and fluffy. It was delicious and I would definitely come back for more cake, probably not for brunch but perhaps as an afternoon tea.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10