Barolo Ristorante - Toowong

Having been to the iconic Mariosarti not too long ago, I was quite disappointed when I heard it had closed down. But before long, a new venture by the name of Barolos had established itself in their old lodgings. Also specialising in Italian, I was super keen to try it out, and luckily for me, I had the pleasure of being invited to try it out for dinner last Saturday, naturally, I brought my favourite instagram celebrity who has now been downgraded to my lighting accessory, FoodieAdam. 

Arriving at 6 for our reservation, the restaurant was starting to fill, and was near capacity by the time we left. I really liked the dim moody lighting, which really added to the ambiance. 

As before, there is a private fucntioni room that is available for 

  

Our friendly and engaging waiter soon came and provided menus. There was an extensive range of entrees, but to lessen our indecisiveness, we were only required to select mains and drinks. 

To start off, we had a pair of espresso martinis, because what can better than caffeinated alcohol to kick start a great night? Both were delightfully smooth, sweet and gave us just the right hit of caffeine to really start up our appetites.

Before long, our assorted entrees arrived, and our table was completely filled up.

The main platter comprised of almost all the entrees on the menu, not limited to Arancini, Prosciutto wrapped scallops, cold cuts, baby octopus and atlantic squid. I loved the texture clash that the prosciutto and scallops provided. The calamari was also unbelievably tender with a wonderfully crispy exterior that we really enjoyed, but our favourite of the whole dish was without a doubt the Arancini balls which were super crunchy on the outside with a fluffy rice interior, unfortunately though Adam was halfway through the second one by the time I realised, and so I only had half.

In addition to the platter, we had the Scamorza, a wood smoked white Mozzarella lightly grilled with lemon smoked sea salt.  Like an Italian take on Haloumi, I found the cheese to be wonderfully carmelised outside with a soft chewy centre. As always, the lemon gave it some much needed tang and balance.

We also had some Grilled King Prawns, which were juicy, firm and seasoned lightly with salt, definitely enjoyable.

Of course, we also shared a small basket of bread. In this instance, we had the garlic bread. With a nice crisp toasty exterior and a soft fluffy interior and just the right amount of garlic.

Between courses, we had a brief Champagne interlude. Bubbly and refreshing, I loved every last drop.

Being an avid meat eater, I could not go past the rib fillet. Cooked rare and served with tomatoes and truffle mash. The flavours of the pepper, tomato and truffle were all spot on and executed wonderfully. The only improvement that I would suggest is that it was a little chewier than expected and texture could have a slight improvement. 

As if one steak wasn't enough, Adam decided that our second main should also be the linguine con bistecca funghi. Comprising of  seared wagyu, sautéed forest mushroom in a light creamy sauce finished with truffle parmesan and fresh Italian herbs. Compared with the rib fillet, the wagyu was far richer and smoother in texture, with delicious charred edges which I loved. The pasta was cooked al dente and truffle made it all the more wonderful.

To ensure our veggie quota was met for the day, we also shared a bowl of Insalata di Rucola, comprising of wild rocket, mint orange and fennel salad, White Balsamic. It was refreshing and light, making a great accompaniment to our hearty steak and pasta dishes.

No meal with Adam is complete without dessert, and there was no doubt what caught my eye from the menu.

Of course, this was the Tiramisu with raspberry and brownie dust. The ladyfingers were delectably light and sprinkled with espresso (espresso to start and to finish the night), and the marscapone was lightly sugared as I prefer whilst the raspberry added hits of fruitiness. Without a doubt, this was an ideal way to round off a fantastic dinner.

Espresso and Matcha were invited guests of Barolo Ristorante, but as always, our opinions are solely our own.

Price Range: $50 - $70pp

Taste: 8.5/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 9/10
Environment: 9/10

Blackmarket Bar and Grill - Brisbane CBD

Since the massive powerhub that is 1 William Street got built, I have long wanted to explore it, especially for the food options that have opened to satisfy the sheer population of the building. With a small food court down on the ground level, there is variety to satisfy almost everyone. Last Wednesday though, I was lucky enough to be invited to try out Black Market Bar and Grill for lunch, with the most famous instagram food celebrity FoodieAdam.

Blackmarket is situated above their sister cafe, Market Cart, accessible via internal stairs.

I loved the relaxed wooden theme with the indoor greenery. No doubt a relaxing experience after after a long day's work. They also have a rooftop bar, which is always great for after work drinks.

The menu consisted of quite a number of steak options along with some seafood options, starters, desserts and drinks. A major feature of Blackmarket is that they source almost all their ingredients from within 100km, which means that they are bound to be fresh whilst supporting local produce, a win win if you ask me.

Giving our friendly waitress our order, drinks arrived promptly after. 

Not one to ever resist an Espresso Martini, I got one to try. It was cool and sweet and, a kick of alcoholic caffeine, just the way I like it.

I thought that my drink would have been the more exciting of the two, but it turns out the deconstructed iced coffee was amazing. Having read online so much about freezing coffee into ice cubes rather than using water cubes that dilute the coffee taste, this was the first time I had seen it executed in real life. The coffee cubes were served with a side shot of espresso (naturally), in addition to cold milk and sugar to add as needed. Of course, I constructed the coffee whilst Adam was taking his action shots, and I got to sneak a taste and loved how strong it was.

Food came as we were finishing our drinks off.

For our starters, we had a shared plate of semolina crusted calamari served with preserved lemon aioli. It was crunchy and tender with the sharp lemon bringing balance to the dish. We both really enjoyed this.

Starting off with our shared mains, this was the Oktoberfest pork chop. Comprising of an ethically sourced pork chop, slow cooked then grilled, it is served with house made pickle, sauerkraut and mash. We enjoyed the nice caramelisation on the pork, but the interior was a little dry for my tastes. This was however, easily rectified by the moist saucy mash, pickles and sauerkraut. The sauerkraut and pickles had just the right amount of sourness to it, while the mash was warm and homey, satisfying Adam's constant potato craving.

Our other main was the rib fillet, as my readers know, I always love steak. It was served with a side of salt and rosemary chips, and house slaw. Normally I would have preferred my steak to be cooked rare, but at the recommendation from the chef, we had it cooked medium rare. Like the pork it was a little on the chewy side, but it wasn't too dry. The chips were crisp and fragrant which I really enjoyed, and the house slaw was really amazing. It was crunchy and so very creamy, with the fragrance of spring onion, a rare find in coleslaw, which I really liked.

Our dessert was almost just as interactive as the iced coffee. With citrus pie being out of stock, we had an affogato to share. The scoop of macadamia ice cream was served with a shot of hot fresh espresso to the side. Mixing together produced a sweet concoction of smooth ice cream, crunchy macadamia nut with a hint of bitterness from the affogato. Adam was so excited he even spilled some on the table (tsk tsk can't take him anywhere). As for me, I loved this dessert for its contrasting textures. It was a wonderful way to round off the meal before going back to work.

Espresso and Matcha were invited guests of Blackmarket Bar and Grill, but as always, our opinions are solely our own.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

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

French Bistrot - West End

I'm sure you would all know when I speak of friends that you hold dear to your heart, do not see too frequently, but when you do, it's like you were never apart. I recently had the pleasure of catching up with such a friend lately pending his long forthcoming nuptials. Where better to do so than to try out the food at the somewhat controversial French Bistrot at West End, where reviews are quite mixed, some people like it, a good amount of people seem to hate it, but it has been operating for a relatively long period of time. So, of course it piqued my curiosity. We booked a table for a weekday dinner and walked there after work.

Our table was set pending our arrival, and the restaurant was half full. The vibe was somewhat bohemian, with both modern and vintage touches as well as varying furniture. 

The menu was also somewhat confusing. Despite the name of French Bistrot, there were a considerable number of pasta dishes and even an all day breakfast. Needless to say, we stayed within the starters and grilled section.

Ours starters came after not too long a wait. I had the steak tartare, and my companion had the baguette.

My companion's baguette was served warm, but not too hot. It was crusty and quite dense, but the temperature was insufficient to melt the butter on the side.

I had the steak tartare, which unbeknownst to me, came with a side bowl of chips, in addition to salad and little pieces of crostine and some pickled onion. The steak tartare was quite well seasoned and the meat was not unfresh. I just found it to be overwhelmed by what should have been sides and accompaniments which vastly outnumbered it in quantity, almost as if marginalising it and making it merely an afterstatement. The salad itself was crisp and sharp, especially with the addition of Parmesan. Chips were generous in portion but largely tasted like the store bought variety. Herbs on top added some flavour but there wasn't much stand out.

Our mains came immediately after our entrees, literally within 30 seconds of our table being cleared, our mains were set. Each of our mains also came with a bowl of chips. Having already had a bowl of chips with our entree, three bowls of chips in one meal was definitely a chip overload.

My companion had the pork chop with pepper sauce. It was a bit drowned in sauce, but he said it tasted reasonable, but not particularly outstanding.

I opted for the rib fillet, cooked rare and also served with pepper sauce. Like my companion's it was almost swimming in sauce. The steak wasn't exceptional in any sense, although definitely rare, it was chewy and texture could have been better. The sauce, although abundant in pepper, was still bland and underwhelming. Thankfully the company that night made up for all the disappointment.

Price Range: $20 - $35pp

Taste: 4/10
Value: 5/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 6/10

Naim - Paddington

One good meal always leads to another, and last Tuesday I had the good fortune (yet again, YAY!), of tagging along as FoodieAdam's plus one to try out the dinner menu at highly popular, local icon, Naim, in Paddington. I had been super excited for this all week, heading there straight after a long day's work, we were early for our 6pm reservation.

We were promptly seated  by the super friendly staff. The setup hadn't really changed much from its Shouk days, which made sense as it was still a Middle Eastern inspired restaurant.

 

Menus were soon provided. One drinks menu with a bar menu on the back was provided along with a dinner menu. Options were concise but covered all essential proteins and also had a vegetarian option.

 

Our drinks were first to arrive. We shared both the Arabian Night and the Persian Sour. While the Arabian Night was sweet with a light hint of mint and very pretty, my favourite was the Persian Sour, as the pineapple juice really added some zing to the drink which in turn made it very appetising. 

The first of our food to arrive was a shared platter. We had originally ordered the duck pate board, but that was sold out. Chef Vince took that as the perfect opportunity to let us try his experimental beef brisket. It was served with tasty bread, sultana salad and a mustard sauce. We found it to be flavoursome and delicious, with sweet and spicy tones. The brisket was surprisingly firm, but still broke away with ease.

After our entrees, our mains soon came out. We had the beef and chicken that evening.

Iron Fist, who desperately wanted to come that evening and loves his middle eastern food, told me that no matter what, I had to try the Tabbouleh, which we did in the dish of Crispy Skin Chicken Breast. The tabbouleh was heavier than a normal salad, and not as crispy. Nevertheless, it provided the balance that only vegetables could give when paired with three gigantic pieces of chicken breast. I loved the firm but moist texture, contrasted with the crispy skin. 

Our other main was the Flat Iron Steak, served with Jerusalem Artichokes, Tomato Raisins and Smoked Jus. It was cooked medium rare by default, which was rare enough for me, any more well done wouldn't have been. I loved the smoky tomatoes which were fresh and light on the moist meaty texture of the tender beef. Coupled with the rich sour cream, it made for a very well balanced, delectable plate.

When the dessert menu came out, I could see Adam's eyes flash with glee. Always the dessert addict, he called the shots for dessert (subject to my approval of course).

First dessert was the Semifreddo made up of dark chocolate pie, roasted peanut crumble and halva. I found it to be quite an intense chocolate hit that wasn't excessively sweet. The frozen custard was as rich and creamy as you would expect, the shaved halva and peanut crumble added layers of texture to it.

Our second and final dessert was the Peaches n Cream Pavalova, which contained maple roasted peaches, Baharat Cream and Lemon Meringue on top of a bed of warm ricotta. Much lighter than the semifreddo, it was both sharp due to the lemon meringue as well as comforting from the warm ricotta. A dish of contrasts which went down very well.

Espresso and Matcha got to enjoy this complimentary meal by freeloading off FoodieAdam's invite. But as always, my opinions are solely my own.

Price Range: $50 - $70pp

Taste: 7.5/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 9/10
Environment: 8/10