Jia Ba Way - Brisbane CBD

For those who know me personally, my second favourite cuisine of choice (after Japanese) would undoubtedly be Taiwanese. Having traveled extensively throughout the country, I can truly say that whilst my physical form has returned to Australia, my heart will forever remain in Taiwan (munching fried chicken in the night markets of Shilin). Sadly, there is a defined shortage of Taiwanese food (read as NONE AT ALL) in the Brisbane CBD area. With the closure of Re PIT in Elizabeth Arcade a few years back, I've been constantly left with unsatisfied cravings that have had to wait for my weekend trips to Sunnybank, so when I heard about the opening of Jia Ba Way, literally, are you full yet? from the highly respected Brisvegustation, I ran, not walked, all the way over to their lodgings on Elizabeth Street to get my fix.

As the name and signage suggests, they serve authentic Taiwanese food and drink. I was getting super hyped.

Heading in, it was order via counter service. The menu comprised of some classic traditional rice and noodle options, with my favourite deep fried side dishes.

Getting a number, I headed inside. The shop was surprisingly big, but filled up extremely fast, being full by the time I finished my meal.

My meal came out fairly quickly after. Yes, I ate this all by myself, because I couldn't bare to share it with anyone.

First up was the watermelon juice. As the drink to accompany my meal, it was sweet, refreshing and delicious. Having suffered the misfortune before of drinking watered down watermelon juice, I was thankful that this drink was 100% the real thing.

As a side, I ordered the deep fried king oyster mushrooms. These were lightly battered in tempura coating, and fried to a golden brown. Mushrooms inside remained juicy whilst the coating was wonderfully crisp. Portion size was also good value.

Last was my fried chicken noodle.

Compared to the mushroom as a side portion, the chicken was unquestionably small. WIth only four strips to the piece, it was a far cry from my beloved Hot Star. As with most Taiwanese Chicken, it was coated with potato starch before frying, resulting in a piece of fried chicken that tastes like its coated in potato chips, all the while retaining a juicy interior. Despite the size, I found the chicken to be very tasty, but would have preferred it larger.

When ordering noodles, I was expecting soup noodles, but they were actually dry noodles topped with pork mince, fresh veges, pickled veges and a tea egg. The noodles were tender, and mixed thoroughly with a soy based sauce which was highly enjoyable. The egg was thoroughly marinated with even the yolk infused with flavour and the vegies were also fresh. I really enjoyed the meal and will need to calm myself down from this hype and come back again with friends.

Price Range: $10 - $20pp

Taste: 9/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10

La Famiglia - Woolloongabba

Friday night after work. Nothing better than to catch up with the girlfriends for a therapeutic dinner after work. Having heard some wonderful things about La Famiglia at the gabba, it made for a great riverside walk after work to get to the restaurant. Am also grateful for my friend the Rice Queen who made a reservation beforehand, allowing us to secure a table, as the restaurant was fully booked out that night.

Checking out the menu, it contained all you would have expected from an Italian restaurant with entrees and mains with a strong focus on pasta. The manager was very friendly and inviting throughout our dining experience.

We commenced our meal with three drinks.

  

My first companion had the house white wine, she enjoyed this thoroughly. Another had the immensely fruity Bellini with its strong peachy tones throughout the Prosecco. Being as irresponsible as I always am, I had my dessert first and got the Tiramisu Martini (having been very close to ordering the Nutella Martini). It was quite sweet with a strong dash of espresso and heavy vanilla tones, just what I needed that evening.

Starting off our meal, we had a shared entree of Eggplant Parmigiana, it was topped with fior di latte and kale. The dish was an intensely tangy entree with the tomato cutting through the mild eggplant which really whet our appetite.

My first companion ordered the La Porchetta, an oven roasted pork belly that was served with spinach and carrots on a bed of polenta. Trying some for myself, the crackling was delicious and crispy. Polenta was rich and creamy, almost like mashed potatoes and the carrots were very tender.

Another companion ordered the Lasagna Della Mama. It was served with perfectly melted cheese. The pasta was wonderfully tender and the meaty sauce was a delight. I wish I had ordered one myself.

My dish for the evening was probably one of the less ideal choices of the night. Wanting to have ordered the critically acclaimed ravioli, I was saddened to see it not on the menu, so I ordered the Strozzapreti ai Funghi Porcini instead. Being served with Porcini Mushrooms, Chilli and Truffle Peccorino, I was definitely expecting a flavour hit, but my dish was in fact quite bland and the pasta a tad harder than I would have liked it. The truffle taste was quite light, and the black specs on the photo were actually from the ground pepper on top rather than truffle as indicated on the menu. I definitely should have ordered the lasagna instead.

After our mains, we ordered a dessert board to share. This was definitely a highlight for us, comprising of super fresh super hot doughnut balls, nutella canelloni, cheesecake and a puff, we loved the dessert board and wished we could have had more of those doughnuts.

Price Range: $20 - $40pp

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

Three Blue Ducks - Brisbane CBD

For those who keep up with social media, especially the foodie side of things, there is little doubt that you would have heard of the newest Three Blue Ducks, which recently opened its doors in the beautiful W Brisbane. Having a girls night out, we decided to finally go and check it out.

Far away from their other store at The Farm on Byron, this restaurant exuded elegance, but still with a homey rustic charm.

If you're lucky enough to book a window seat (which we didn't), the view is quite spectacular too.

Menus were provide upon seating. Comprising of one page only, it encapsulates the concept of having a small menu, filled with things that you can do to a very high standard. We almost ordered one of everything.

  

Starting off with drinks that evening, one companion had a white wine, one had the wonderfully fragrant "The Humble Fig" cocktail, all of which were well enjoyed. I especially found the three ducks on the wine glass to be super cute.

Our meal arrived before long, and the spread was as impressive as you would expect.

The main event for us was the Lamb Shoulder. It was a group sized portion to be shared amongst 2-3 people. Breaking up the shoulder, the meat literally just fell off the bone. It was amazingly tender, apparently cooked in a two stage process with the first stage taking 8 hours. The flavour of the herbs were absorbed deep into the meat, making for a very tasty meal. 

As a side to the lamb, this was the  pea, zucchini, squash, red onion, mint with lemon dressing. This was both refreshing and sharp in taste to balance out the heavy lamb. The lemon and mint really cut through and the spice of spanish onion really made it stand out.

My favourite of the night was the humble roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes. With their crispy exterior, they were almost giant oversized wedges. I love the strong garlic taste and wonderfully fragrant rosemary.

We also had two other small dishes, first of which was the raw fish, paw paw, red onion, chilli & ginger. That evening, fish of the day was kingfish. I found the dish a little sweet for my palate, with an abundance of pawpaw. I found the generous toppings of onion, chilli and ginger did detract from my appreciation of the freshness of the fish, which was undoubtedly completely overpowered.

Our second side was the Duck's cauliflower cheese. It was a grilled cauliflower dish with considerable melted cheese and breadcrumbs for texture. I found the dish warm and comforting, but could have had a bit more by way of depth of flavour.

For some reason, our starting bread came after all the other dishes. This was the organic sourdough bread with cultured butter. Whilst late, the bread was also untoasted, which was disappointing, as it meant the delicious cultured butter was unable to melt upon my bread. Had it been toasted, I would have had no doubt it would have been very enjoyable.

Our desserts came not long after we finished our mains. They were like works of art.

This was the Ducks cheese board, lavosh, figs & honey. The three cheeses on offer that day comprised of Blue Cheese, Camembert and Espresso Cheddar. The cheeses were tasty and generous in portion, the espresso cheddar was a particularly fascinating in its contrasting flavours. I liked the sweet fig jelly, and the crumbly honeycomb that it was served with too.

Next we had the Chocolate parfait, almond crumb, pickled blueberries sprinkled with matcha. Surprisingly, I found this dish to be a little overwhelming in its sweetness, with a very sugary and not very chocolaty. This was partially redeemed by the sour pickled blueberries, cutting sharply through the sweetness. I was initially very excited by the matcha, but this too was overpowered by the chocolate.

Last dessert of the night was the Sea salt meringue served with berries, yoghurt ice cream, lemon curd and macadamia crunch. I was initially expecting this to be the sweeter of the desserts, but it wasn't as sweet as the chocolate parfait. In fact the yoghurt was quite fairly light and creamy, the meringue was balanced by the sea salt and the berries and macadamia gave it quite a good texture.

Price Range: $60 - $80pp

Taste: 6/10 (very hit and miss with some dishes amazing, some disappointing, very inconsistent)
Value: 6/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10