Sushi Train - Cannon Hill

Being in the middle of a heatwave is quite uncomfortable. Although I know some people like the sweltering heat, I still do know quite a few who detest it. I fall into the latter category, and cannot stand the Brisbane summer. Having said that, living in Australia, the heat is unavoidable, so we do do what we can to stay cool, such as eating delicious sushi for dinner, and with the anniversary sale at Sushi Train, Cannon Hill Station, I couldn't resist.

Arriving at around 6.00, we waited for 20 minutes before getting a table. Due to the anniversary sale, we were advised that we were allowed only 40 minutes eating time, and whilst this doesnt seem much, it was more than sufficient for us, because we could literally sit down and start eating without the hassle of considering the menu, waiting for food to be cooked and served.

I liked the fact that they put a large assortment of sushi on the train, not merely the lower valued types, but also quite a few normally more expensive options. As always, they double stack their sushi on anniversary sale days to ensure food gets served as fast as possible. As usual, I had quite a few plates, so descriptions will be brief.

This is the Salmon Ikura ship. I like how it came as two pieces, despite the menu photo having reduced its portion down to one piece already. The added spot of wasabi on top was quite cute, and the generous amount of ikura was literally spilling out.

The avocado salad ship was also delightful, offering a creamy variation to the previous dish, but still came with sprinkles of crunchy tobiko.

The Aburi Scallop leaned toward the raw-er end of the spectrum, but was very large, which contributed to an excellent rice to topping ratio. The creamy mayonnaise on top was also appreciated. 

Salmon avocado nigiri was fresh, the salmon wasnt the thickest slice I've had, but decent. Same with avocado, it wasn't the most generous portion, but still very ample.

We observed quite a few unagi on the train, and they seemed to be extremely varied in the topping sizes. I picked a dish which had relatively consistent topping sizes, but was a little disappointed that it had already cooled from being on the train for so long.

Having gone to quite a few Sushi Train stores, I always find that I enjoy the Aburi Beef, which is always tender and melts in my mouth. Unfortunately for me, this one that I had was extremely overcooked, resulting in quite a coarse and dry texture. 

Only around halfway through my meal did our drinks arrive. Perhaps it was because of how busy the store was, but I did have to remind them several times before our green tea arrived.

This was the roast pork nigiri which came topped with some mustard seeds. It made for an interesting combo, but I'd probably decide to stick to my usuals next time, as the pork was a little dry for my liking.

The soft shell crab was quite crunchy and well seasoned, however I could swear that other branches seem to have more than two pieces in a serve. The onions and cucumber definitely also added to the crunch.

We finished off with a dish of Tuna Nigiri. It was relatively thick cut, and quite fresh, but having tried some fatty tuna at another store lately, this did disappoint me a little because it didn't have the melt in your mouth effect.

Whilst this isn't the best of the Sushi Train stations, I'd definitely say that Cannon Hill is well above the standard.

Price Range: $15 - $30pp

Taste: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Environment: 7/10

Momo Chicken and Beer - Brisbane CBD

Having just tried the fried chicken at Winner Winner, I couldn't resist trying out more fried chicken when I heard Momo Chicken and Beer had opened in the CBD. Their Runcorn store had long been on my list, but I still hadn't found time to go there. Being in the CBD really made it a lot more accessible to me. Being situated along Albert Street, near Izakaya Kotobuki, it was a short 10 minute walk for me to get there from work.

 

Opting for takeaway, I stood by the door and was granted the menu, whilst the focus was undoubtedly fried chicken, I appreciated the fact that it still had several non chicken options such as udon and rice. I ordered at the counter and awaited my food.

Seating was ample, and I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few people already there despite the only recent opening. The setup reminded me a lot of Nene Chicken, each table came with bone buckets.

My order came very quickly, within around 15 minutes of putting down my order, and I took it back to the office.

Even without opening the box, I was quite impressed with how much it bulged, as well as the strong scent of hot fried chicken.

For a half chicken, this was larger than I had expected. It came with a side of fresh chips, pickles and sauce. The chips were crispy, but still retained a little of the moisture in some of the thicker slices. The chicken was super crispy, but only lightly salted, and could do with a little more seasoning (or I could have chosen the other saucier flavours, next time I guess). I loved how the chicken would crunch when I bit into it, and how moist the chicken was, with an explosion of juices in my mouth. Needless to say, I will definitely be going back soon.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8.5/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10

Winner Winner - Paddington

Having read a couple of glowing reviews of Winner Winner, I decided to finally use my $10 Ubereats voucher and grab some fried chicken to satisfy my cravings. Again, I have the same issue with Ubereats not allowing me to specify when I would allow my food to be delivered (so that I can put down my order mid morning, to have the peace of mind that it will arrive at 12.30pm, rather than waiting until exactly 11.45am to make my order). So without any other options, I waited for 11.45am to put my order down. I ordered a take home pack and realised that the app didn't allow me to order the extra pieces of chicken, so I called in afterward to put in a phone order for some extras, but got them complimentary due to app technical issues, and for those who know me, little gestures like this make all the difference.

By now, dear reader, you would have noticed that the above photo actually is a Deliveroo bag. Apparently my Ubereats driver had run out of Ubereats bags, and so my meal came instead with Deliveroo packaging.

My food came around five minutes earlier than expected, and it was quite a spread.

This was the boneless box. Which contained four pieces of tenders, two thighs, some chicken bites and some bread and pickles.

For our sides, we had a serve of crinkle cut chips and coleslaw. For some reason, their eat in menu incorporated the option of shoesting fries, but we couldn't get that on uber.

Extras we ordered included one drumstick and one wing.

Before you wonder whether or not I ate all this on my own, let me go out and say an emphatic no. I shared the box with my neighbour and he also had the drumstick whilst I had the wing. He had the winner winner sauce, and I opted for the garlic aioli.

I'd start by saying that the chicken was seasoned marvelously. I ordered it with original level spiciness, and found it had just the right amount of hotness for me to still be able to appreciate the other flavours. The chicken tenders and the chicken bites were considerably drier than I would have expected, but considering they came without skin, I wasn't too surprised. The thigh and wings were substantially more moist and had a delightful crunch when I bit into it. I was slightly perplexed by the slice of bread that it came with (being used to brioche or dinner rolls), but was informed by Meatballs and Beef Cheeks that this is how Nashville Hot Chicken is usually served, with the bread under the chicken to soak up any oils and meat juices. The chips were slightly soggy from the condensation during their bike trip to the city, and I have no doubt it would have tasted better if I had it in store. The coleslaw was super generous, and even half of the portion resulted in a little mountain on my plate. It was undoubtedly fresh, but considerably warmed by the chicken (I do note that Foodora seems to be able to do this better by separating out their hot and cold foods during delivery). Garlic aioli was creamy and delightful. I tried the Winner winner sauce, which was a little vinegar-y and packed quite a zing.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8/10
Value: 6/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: N/A

Cafe Di Luna - Sunnybank

As most readers would have been aware, last weekend was Chinese New Year. Being quite a traditional HongKonger, I partook in quite a few of the festivities and feasts. In preparation of the events, my companion and I headed out to buy some last minute supplies and grabbed a snack at Cafe Di Luna whilst we were at it.

I hadn't been to this cafe for around 10 years (since high school), but mostly everything appeared the same. We were seated very promptly and given a table in the shade indoors.

Their menu was very extensive for a cafe, but we were only there for a mid morning snack.

Our coffees came within 10 minutes of ordering.

My companion ordered the Dutch Coffee. I have to say I had a bit of coffee envy at that point. Whilst online research seems to indicate that Dutch Coffee essentially means cold brew, this was basically a white Vienna coffee. Considering the significant amount of cream on top, he found it to be a very smooth and creamy drink, but as expected also, the coffee was somewhat weak.

As usual, I settled for the Cappuccino in a Mug. Whilst it did its job in giving me a caffeine kick that I needed, it didn't really have smooth rich milk like Mr Claude or Coop, nor did it have enough strength or body as Campos.

Trying not to ruin our appetites for lunch, we were good and shared one croissant between the two of us. We had the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Croissant. I really enjoyed how warm and flaky it was. The bacon was nice and crispy, and the cheese deliciously melted, but the egg was also cooked very thoroughly to the point where there was no runny yolk whatsoever, which was a slight letdown.

Price Range: $5 - $20

Taste: 6/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 6/10

Gusto Da Gianni - Hamilton

Last week, we planned a birthday party for a close friend of ours, for dinner, we were keen to try something Italian but also something new. Having been through Portside for both Eat Street Markets and Sono we had passed through Gusto Da Gianni and had wanted to try it out for some time now. Without much debate, we reached a unianimous decision to have our meal there. 

Having made a booking in advance, we arrived early and were rewarded with a stunning Brisbane sunset. 

The staff kindly seated us and offered us menus. To their credit Gusto Da Gianni had placed us indoors in the comfort and safety of much needed air conditioning. 

We noticed throughout the Italian themed decorations in the interior. While we ordered individually, we decided to also ordered some extras for the group to share. 

Despite the relatively large order, our food came quite promptly.

My companion had the Linguine allo Scoglio a mixed seafood linguine pasta served with olive oil, garlic, chilli, cherry tomatoes and parsley. He noted the linguine was served al dente and there was a generous portion and variety of seafood provided. There was a definite kick in the chilli and my friend was pleasantly surprised at the variety of seafood offered. This was definitely a pasta he enjoyed. 

I started my meal with the some antipasti, the Mozarella in Carozza. It was a deep fried ball of Mozarella wrapped in a delicious dough and served with napoli sauce. It was relatively light enough for us to enjoy other meals without being overly burdened by the cheesiness. I loved the light doughy texture of the wrapping, whilst  my friend enjoyed it so much she took the liberty of finishing all the sauce. 

Our next shared plate was the Pizza Gianni’s Favourite served with tomato, Mozzarella, rocket, Prosiutto and shavings of Reggiano cheese. We found the pizza to be heavy on the greens and the crust relatively light, but nicely burnt in the right places and balanced with the tomato base. My friend found the Prosiutto quite delicious and not overdone which definitely gave the pizza that extra dose of flavour. The Reggiano definitely gave the pizza some much needed sharpness. One thing I would have liked to see was some more Prosciutto in the pizza to balance out the amount of greens.

For my main, I had the Tagliolini alla Boscaiola which was served in homemade egg pasta with seasonal mushrooms, Italian sausage, a touch of cream and pecorino cheese. The pasta was also served al dente and went well with the spicy sausage, the mix of cream was and cheese, resulting in a very comforting and well flavoured dish. The sausage crumbled at the bite but at the same time was slighly chewy so that I could savour the meatiness. I really liked the spicy sausages as it added an extra kick to the otherwise creamy feel of the dish. It was definitely the highlight of my meal at Gusto Da Gianni and I really enjoyed this dish.

As a side we could not resist when we saw on the menu was offering Shoestring fries with Aioli. The fries were crispy and appropriately salted and the serving of aioli was a nice addition. Having said that I think my cravings got the better of me and there are more appropriate places for shoestring fries, and the side serving was definitely not worth ten dollars, but it was still a very tasty side. 

Overall we enjoyed the good food and service provided by Portside’s Gusto Da Gianni. With its generosity in ingredients and flavours I think it is well worth a visit for enthusiasts of Italian food.

Price Range: $25 - $40pp

Taste: 8/10
Value: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 8/10