Fika - Brisbane CBD

It's been a short while since I've been quite excited about an opening, but I was absolutely thrilled to see the completion of Inter/Section on Charlotte Street. Comprised of Coffee Anthology, The Whisk and Fika, I've already gone there a couple of times for the croissants but waited for an opportunity to have their food. Luckily for me, I had the company of fellow foodie, Yenny who came out to the city to catch up on her day off.

We were navigated to a booth quickly upon arriving and given a menu. This comprised of food and drink from all three shops. I liked the highly specialised drink options as well as the asian fusion cafe food from fika and pastries from the Whisk.

 

I had a cold brew and Yenny had a mocha. Both were well received. Having already enjoyed a milk based coffee earlier in the day, this was a refreshing change. Cool and crisp without being too bitter or acidic, it was very smooth and definitely hit the spot.

I ordered the Tuna salad “nicoise” which came with torched tuna, green beans, potato and some fried dough. I liked the tuna which was fresh and generously cut. Although the salad wasn't particularly big, it was wholesome and didn't leave me hungry, largely because of the generous amount of potato in the dish. I liked the fried dough, which was quite flakey but not too light either. 

Yenny had the lamb gnocchi which I was lucky enough to try. Again the portions weren't too big. If I were more hungry, I think it would go well with a pastry from Whisk. Anyway the gnocchi was pillowy soft and soaked up the lamb juices well. The lamb was also tender and not gamey. I would probably rate it higher if there was more and if there was more lamb to go with the gnocchi. 

We had a really good time at Inter/Section and I'll definitely back for both mid morning snacks as well as their main meals.  

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10

Oche - Fortitude Valley

Sunday night out with some friends and we checked out Oche, a darts bar which had opened up in the valley in 2020. I've seen quite a few reviews and had been curious to try it for some time now. With an invite having been extended to our friend, we were very fortunate to be able to tag along for the experience last week.

Arriving at our pre arranged time, our table was set with a complementary bucket of popcorn. Fresh and fragrant, it was appetising and fun.

 

There was a food and drink menu provided. The food was largely finger food so that you could eat and play at the same time. There was a large assortment of cocktails and other drinks. We ordered via the friendly waitress.

 

Amusing ourselves with a few rounds of darts first, it wasn't long before our drinks started to arrive.

 

I had an espresso martini whilst Dr L had a pornstar martini. Mine was strong and rich whilst his was cheerful and fruity, served with a side of prosecco. Both were very potent and next time I would definitely be keen to have his drink. I found it pleasantly surprising to have such a strong drink in a games venue where other places usually serve very weak drinks.

 

It didn't take all that long for our food to come. 

Our pizza was the Cubano, topped with orange and coriander marinated pork mince, mortadella, mozzarella, pickles and mustard. The flavours were definitely not our usual with the unique toppings but they complemented each other really well. The crust was a bit thick but it wasn't tough or too dense and I really enjoyed the tangy twist of the pork mince.

This was the Oche popcorn chicken with Korean sticky sauce. Given the size of the chicken, I initially thought that it was actually karaage chicken instead of popcorn. The chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and the sauce was very spicy too. It was definitely a stand out for the meal.

This was the Bacon & Mozzarella Croquettes with smoky tomato salsa, it wasn't as exciting as the chicken but potato croquettes were always fluffy and comforting. I didn't get much of a mozzarella and bacon taste from them, but they were crisp and comforting nonetheless.

Next to arrive were the Vietnamese pork and lemongrass skewers. These were meaty but a little dry. I enjoyed the lemongrass taste and appreciate the dipping sauce which added a bit of moisture to the dish.

Our last savoury dish was the Mexican style fried cheese with guava dipping sauce. I was expecting something akin to deep fried mozzarella with a stringy pull but it was more like cottage cheese with a crumble instead.

Our second round drinks came at this point. I had the Manhattan, again it was strong and very smooth. The additional cherry garnish on top was also great.

 

Our dessert, the Smoked Jaffa Ice Cream was very theatrical. It came encased in a glass case with smoke inside it. Each cone was small but it was packed with smokey vanilla ice cream and topped with diced strawberries. Super delicious and a wonderful way to end the night out. Will be back with some friends to try their other snacks and other games later!

Price Range: $35 - $50pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 9/10

Falalalah - South Brisbane

Last Friday had a girls night out and caught up over some fusion Italian Korean food at Falalalah at South Brisbane, near the main intersection of the entertainment district. 

We made a booking because we had expected a full house but it turns out that it was relatively empty on the night which was quite a surprise. I thought it would be quite popular.

 

With two pages of menus they were listed under headings of pizza and pasta but also had a selection of Korean Fried Chicken. In order to try out more, we had one dish from each section to try.

It took a while for us to get the attention of waitstaff but our food didn't take very long to come out. The Spaghetti Bolognese was first to arrive and it was quite underwhelming. The portions were small for one main and we had around one bite each when shared between three. The sauce was very sweet and a bit watery without containing all that much meat. The pasta tasted like the dried store bought variety and I didn't enjoy it much.

We had a full size serve of boneless snow chicken. Having tried it previously in other Korean chains I was expecting the standard type of boneless chicken with a dusting of cheese powder (hence snow). What arrived was far from. There was some boneless fried chicken, but there was more onion than chicken and it was slathered in a sour cream herb sauce. There was no powdered cheese in sight and portions were a bit lacking especially for a main. The chicken was adequately crunchy although not very flavoursome, but given the situation with the onions and sauce, I couldn't recommend this dish.

Our last dish was the Bulgogi beef pizza which was the most fusion of our selections. The pizza base was the thinnest and most crispy I've experienced and it was almost biscuit like. Obviously this didnt help much when we already found the other mains to be lacking in portion. The amount of bulgogi wasn't too generous as you can see it bunched in the middle of the pizza. Other toppings were also few and far between. As for the beef, it was a bit coarse and dry with an overly sweet soy marinade. Completing a three out of three underwhelming mains, I definitely won't be in a rush to come back.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 4/10

Value: 4/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 7/10 

Phuc Deli Viet - South Brisbane

Friday night we ran a few errands with a friend which took a bit longer than expected and we ended up wandering around West End looking for a bite to eat at around 7.30pm which was a bit later than usual. With all our usual places completely booked out we decided to try Phuc Deli-Viet which was surprisingly empty despite everywhere else being packed.

We grabbed a seat inside and was provided with menus and water promptly.

Despite being a self proclaimed Vietnamese restaurant the menu was unforseeably diverse. Other than Vietnamese noodle and rice dishes, they also did other pan asian dishes like Pad Thai, Singapore Noodles, Hainan Chicken and Curry. 

Having eaten Pho every day for the last several weeks, Dr L opted for something different so he had the chicken curry. The curry came in a separate dish to the rice which was curiously served on a plate rather than a bowl. The portions were adequate and there was a bit more vegetables than there was chicken and it was quite sweet for a curry for him to have found it enjoyable.

Unlike him, I had the Pho. Rather than just containing rare beef, it also had slices of beef brisket which I enjoyed. The bowl wasn't too small and there was an ample amount of beef to go with the noodles which were fresh and soft. The let down for this dish was definitely the soup which was nowhere near as flavoursome as other places but it was sufficient in it's purpose. Given the other Vietnamese options nearby, I can't say that I would recommend this place.

 

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

Cheeky Poke - Greenslopes

First week back in the office after yet another lockdown scare and I decided it would be nice to try out something new whilst supporting local businesses. Ended up getting Cheeky Poke delivered from Greenslopes, something I had been meaning to try for a very long time. Service was always fast, especially given the difficulties of finding parking near my office building.

One of the reasons why it had taken me so long to order at a Poke Bar was because I was always afraid that the quantity wouldn't be too much and it would hardly suffice for a meal. This was definitely disproven. My salmon bowl was huge and heavy with ingredients.

So I had a salmon bowl with glass noodles, lettuce and a bunch of extras. For toppings, I chose everything except for chilli and unfortunately my bowl did come with chilli, which I had to pick out. The quantity of ingredients was generous, my bowl alone was very filling. The toppings were also fresh and crunchy without having much water at the bottom of the bowl. Will definitely be something that I come back to fairly soon.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 9/10

Environment: N/A