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

Montica - Tarragindi

With the start of the new year upon us, it seems that the theme of 2026 seems to be shaping up as the year for pizza. Last year there was a flurry of KBBQ openings which have since ceased. We now have the opening of quite a few high quality pizza joints. One which caught my attention for its popularity was Montica Pizza. What makes it unique is the fact that it is run out of a food truck and so its location shifts every day. Being located on the inner southside of Brisbane, I visited them when they were parked at Tarragindi on a Thursday evening. I arrived fairly early at 5.30pm. It was lucky I did as they sold out less than one hour later.

The menu was found on the side of the truck. It was brief and simple with eight savoury options and two dessert pizzas. Notably, prices were fairly similar to restaurant standards these days. Ordering three to go, it took around 20 minutes for my order to be ready.

After a brief 10 minute drive, I was home with the goods.

As usual, I ordered one red and one white. This was the carnivore, topped with salami, proscuitto and Italian sausage. I also added burrata for good measure. As far as pizzas go, this was fairly good. The base was light and fluffy and the toppings worked well together and were generous. Perhaps it had to do with my eating it after the drive home but I found it to be a bit on the wetter side and a bit chewier than I would have liked it if it had come straight out of the oven. 

For our white pizza, we had the Tartufo. This was topped with fior di latte, prosciutto, onion and truffle oil. This was interesting insofar as tartufo pizzas usually do not come with onion and this added a level of sweetness that I enjoyed. Again the crust came off as a little bit steamed, probably from the car ride home.

Following on from the pistachio craze of 2025, I couldn't resist the pistachio pizza for dessert. This was the weakest of the three and was basically pistachio papi on a pizza base with pistachio pieces. It wasn't bad per se but it was a tad dry as a dessert and I would easily have been satisfied by one or two pieces rather than half a pizza.

In summary, we did have a fairly good experience at Montica. I would say currently it isn't as good as the offerings at Corner Pizza at Sunnybank, but for an option close by, it's very decent and I'd go back to try their other pizzas.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 8/10
Value: 6/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: N/A 

Mistaboo - Brisbane CBD

On my last working day of 2025, I decided for once not to pack my lunch and instead head out to see what was available as a small reward for myself finishing the year. Without too much planning, I ambled on the new-ish branch of Mistaboo on Edward Street. Always keen for sushi, I was interested to see how they compare to Sushi Edo on Elizabeth St, so went to try it out.

Arriving just past 11 on a fairly quiet workday, it had a few tables of customers. The ambience was modern and casual, however I really don't enjoy the fluorescent purple lights.

The train was very well stocked despite the time of year. Items appeared fresh and I appreciate the additional plastic cover on top, noting other diners comments on google reviews about flies. As usual though, most of my ordering was done by way of ipad with only a few additional add ons from the train. 

As an end of year celebration, I ordered a serve of sake. This was fairly cute and well priced at $11 for the bottle. It was crisp and fruity.

Service was fast. It didn't take long until all my orders had arrived.

Starting with the scallop nigiri and salmon ship with lobster salad. Both were reasonable. The scallop and salmon were fresh but could have been a bit thicker. The lobster salad ship was falling apart which was a bit disappointing as the salmon could have been a bit bigger. The biggest letdown for me though was the rice which was strongly undercooked with an overly hard centre and a bit underseasoned.

Same applies to the crab salad salmon ship. The salmon was small, the rice was hard but at least the seafood salad was well seasoned and had a generous amount of mayonnaise.

The salmon avocado nigiri was also just fine. More or less the same as what you would get at sushi edo except for the overly firm rice. The avocado was also under ripe and a bit too firm.

 

My comments follow through for the salmon tobiko ship and the ika. The ika, whilst fresh and delicious was paper thin and left me wanting more. There was a generous amount of rice with the soft shell crab hand roll and not too much crab. It was however freshly made and the seaweed was very crispy.

Rounding off with an unagi nigiri, this too was a lot thinner than I am used to, although the copious amount of sauce made up for any lack of flavour. 

I didn't mind my meal at Mistaboo. I would say that it is notably worse than Sushi Edo, despite being 30c cheaper per dish currently as the quality really falls short. Given the option nearby, I don't think I'll be back anytime soon.

Price Range: $4.50 per plate

Taste: 5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 6/10