2018 Regional Flavours - Southbank

Long time readers will no doubt be aware, July is always an exceptionally busy, albeit fun month for me. With the numerous events happening for Good Food Month and a number of other food festivals, every weekend has been packed. Like the last several years, I attended Regional Flavours out at Southbank last Saturday. As usual, this post will comprise largely of photos of the event with brief commentary about the food.

 

 

Kicking off our lunch, we grabbed some calamari and arancini balls from Mister Paganini. The calamari was very fresh, super tender and juicy, but the batter wasn't awfully crispy, which was a slight letdown. The arancini were flavoursome and filling. The highlight for me was the lamb and haloumi skewer from La Cuicina, which we apparently had back in 2015. The lamb was very tender and the haloumi wasn't overly salty. It was perfectly chargrilled and really hit the spot.

 

 

Having seen it on TV a couple days ago, I was somewhat skeptical, but the it food this year does appear to be without a doubt, camel. With camel cheeses, milk and meat available for sampling, I tried some of the cheese and milk. It tasted quite like goats cheese and milk, but for $21 a litre, considerably more expensive.

Kombucha, whilst largely popular, seems to also have gained even more ground lately, filling the market gap for a fizzy drink with reduced sugar.

 

 

Future food was a surprisingly very enjoyable pavillion, we got to try out samples of new foods. We especially enjoyed the freeze dried strawberries. 

 

We wrapped up the afternoon with a jug of pimms from river quay. Was refreshing and relaxing to chill in the warm winter sun with it. Can't wait for next year!

Malay House - Underwood

Been seeing quite a few photos on insta about the newly opened Malay House, over in the increasingly bustling shopping hub that is Underwood Marketplace. Having read Brisvegustation's detailed post about the restaurant, I decided to go for an early lunch while their opening specials were still on.

Arriving just past 11.30am on a Saturday, I was pleased to get a table without waiting, especially as a queue formed roughly 15 minutes after we were seated. Having said that, the restaurant was definitely quite small and could probably not accommodate more than 30~40 people.

 

Menus were provided. They were really quite short, but contained all essential elements we were looking for, with rice and noodle dishes, as well as a short selection of drinks.

Taking advantage of the opening special, we got free drinks with each main purchased. They came out fairly quickly after ordering.

  

I ordered the hot white coffee, which was quite strong, very smooth, but also very sweet. Will definitely have to ask for a sugar reduced option next time. My companion ordered the soya cincau, being soy milk with chopped up grass jelly. She found it mild and refreshing, having ordered it without ice, it was cool enough for the middle of winter. With the cincau having been chopped up, it was small enough to go up the standard straw, which she appreciated.

After a not insignificant wait of about half an hour from ordering, our mains came.

My companion had the Nasi Lemak with prawns. She found the coconut rice to be strongly flavoured and very fragrant. Prawns were well seasoned in a tangy sauce and the anchovies on the side gave it an extra kick of flavour. Only improvement is that there could have been more prawns in the dish, which was dominated by sauce.

I ordered my standard Wat Tan Hor, The dish looked deceptively small but the stir fried rice noodles were densely packed under the rich and smooth egg gravy. In fact there was so much rice noodle, there ended up not being enough topping to go with the dish. Nevertheless I loved how the caramelised noodles were pan fried to a perfect texture which complimented the sauce well. Toppings of fish cake, fish ball and prawns were ample but fairly standard.

Price Range: $10 - $20pp

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

Little Black Pug - Mt Gravatt

Scrolling through my endless food feed on insta, I've been seeing quite a trend lately of  posts from the highly popular Little Black Pug Cafe which had opened in the last couple of months on the bustling Logan Road in Mt Gravatt. Entering the highly saturated brunch market, it is of course important to differentiate yourself in the market to set yourself apart from your competitors. Without a doubt, Little Black Pug does this by being a dog themed cafe, with the owners bringing their pet doggies, the titular little black pugs to the cafe once a week to meet customers. 

Arriving on Saturday morning, I was lucky enough to meet the super cute, utterly adorable Bowie and Mate at the Cafe. 

The cafe was absolutely bustling by about 10.30am and the only seats we could get happened to be outside, along the main road, which wasn't really ideal for an indoors girl like me, but we made do with what we had, given it was peak hour. 

 

Menus were quickly provided, it consisted of two pages, one for food one for drink. Having arrived at 10.30am meant that the lunch menu was available with the all day breakfast menu.

Further to the standard drinks menu, there were also a few specials on the board which I only noticed when I went to make my order.

Heading inside I also understood why it was so difficult for us to get an inside table as seating indoors was few and far between with a few small tables and one long bar only.

Ordering at the counter, there were also a selection of doggie treats which could be purchased.

We got a number upon ordering and awaited our food.

My two companions ordered a latte each. They were relatively frothy and rich, my companions quite appreciated it. I especially liked their initiative to be environmentally friendly by offering 50 cents off all coffee purchases had in house rather than with a disposable take away cup.

I got the special Yuen Yeung, a Hong Kong style concoction of tea mixed in with coffee. It was served with milk on the side. The drink was wonderfully fragrant and smelled of fresh ceylon tea which complimented the coffee wonderfully.

Our food came soon after, much to the delight of the table.

My first companion ordered the Paw Licker which contained Korean fried chicken, pickled cucumber, kimchi, fried egg and mayo on a brioche bun with chips on the side and truffle mayo. The bun was warm and toasty with a fluffy interior which my companion really enjoyed. The chicken was fresh and hot but could have been crispier. The pickles and kimchi were slightly sour and quite refreshing without being overbearing. The chips were also freshly fried and super crispy, and coupled with the truffle mayo, it made for a super fragrant and delicious side for the burger.

My other companion ordered the omnivore, a brioche bun burger containing a beef patty, pickled onion, cheese, spinach and truffle mayo. Again the bun was toasty and fluffy. the swiss cheese melted perfectly on the caramelised patty which was balanced out on the onions and bed of fresh spinach. She also quite enjoyed her burger.

Wanting something more in line with the brunchy options, I opted for the Dog's Breakfast. It contained bacon, mushroom, haloumi, spinach, tomato, eggs and sourdough. My brunch was really quite wonderful. The eggs were perfectly poached with a delicious runny centre, the bacon had a good crispy edge and the haloumi was also fried to perfection. Having said that, the toast was slightly underdone, but the mushrooms were super buttery and well seasoned though. 

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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

Jacob's Ladder - Runcorn

Having gone around inner city suburbs for brunch, I found myself wanting to go somewhere closer to home on my day off last week, and doing some research found out about Jacobs Ladder at Runcorn, which happened to be a quick 15 minutes drive from home. Getting there at 10am on a Thursday morning, I was surprised at the fact that it was more than half full. Being situated in a shopping strip along Compton road, parking was relatively easy, which already impressed me as being more convenient than having to struggle every Saturday at New Farm or at Bulimba.

 

Grabbing a seat inside, it was again, counter service. Whilst the food menu was pretty standard, the drinks menu was really quite substantial and had a large selection of offerings. As the cafe was small, it wasn't necessary for us to get a number when we ordered, as staff were able to deliver food on facial recognition alone.

Unconventionally, our food came before our coffees, which still took a while to get here.

My companion ordered the triple cheesy toast. The three cheeses comprised of Mozarella, Swiss and Parmesan. For the price of $5.50, it was a fair value for a delicious cheesy snack on crusty sourdough. My companion noted that it had a good ratio of cheese to bread and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Being quite hungry, I opted for the Big Morning, which comprised of two pieces of sourdough, the efirst one was topped with poached eggs, spinach and smashed avocado with a side of dukka. The second piece was topped with haloumi and speck with a side of grilled tomato. Again the sourdough was quite crusty and delicious, I also enjoyed how the eggs were cooked perfectly and how the haloumi and speck were well caramelised. Having said that, I found avocado and spinach to be a very odd combination that was bland and not very flavoursome, despite the balsamic glaze.

My companion ordered the latte, which was served in a tall and elegant glass and served on a long wooden platter with a glass of water. She noted how creamy and frothy the drink was, but commented that it could have been a little stronger.

Wanting something different, I ordered the Pour Over. That day I was given the Tolima Organic blend from Columbia. It also came on a serving board with sparkling water, and I had a side of milk. It was smooth and rich with strong hints of chocolate which I really enjoyed.

Price Range: $10 - $25pp

Taste: 7.5/10
Value: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Environment: 7.5/10