Meican - Brisbane CBD

Finally allowed to dine out again, we took the opportunity to catch up with some friends over a meal finally. With the restrictions of ten people per restaurant, it proved extremely difficult for us to get a seat without hours long waits in the city. Deciding to venture off the main roads a little bit, we stumbled across MeiCan, one of the newer venues in FudoDori and decided to give it a go.

 

The shopfront was small, but we were seated immediately and service was friendly and attentive. Although it is described as Chinese style Korean food, I feel that it was far more Korean with only the occasional hints of Chinese to the food. Prices were fair for the largely student customer base and we put our orders down fairly quickly.

The first dish we had to share was the signature Jajang Myeon, a Stir Fried Black Been Sauce Noodle with Pork and a Fried Egg. Although the appearance was fairly striking, the taste was fairly uncontroversial, though it is recommended that you do not wear light coloured clothing when you consume this. Taste wise it wasn't very strong in black bean taste, with greater hints of onion amongst the saucy pork. The noodles absorbed the sauces well and I liked the added texture that the egg yolk gave the dish. 

Our other dish was the Ulmyeon, noodles in thick broth. Although rather nondescript it came with the same noodles as the other dish in a hot bowl of thickened broth containing ample amounts of seafood and egg. It reminded me strongly of hot and sour noodle soup without being hot or sour, but lightly savoury instead. There were quite a few octopus in the dish and pipis, but I would definitely have preferred the flavour hit of hot and sour soup instead. Will have to try out other dishes next time.

Price Range: $15 - $20pp

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

Grill'd - Upper Mt Gravatt

Turns out I haven't had a meaningful burger since isolation started and ever since I had that realisation, I've been craving it all day every day. That's why we decided to stop by Grill'd at Garden City last week to pick up some dinner last week. With the lockdown starting to end, there were still quite a few social distancing measures in place although dining in was definitely an option. Getting our food to was easy enough, and it was ready within 15 minutes of us ordering.

Got home within 20 minutes. Really liked the cute annotations on the bag. 

These days Dr L usually gets me to order his food for him. L should really stand for Lazy in my opinion. Often I order my second preference when we share our food, but when it is for individual consumption, I order the same food to avoid having to give it any more consideration.

Which is why this time we both ended up with the Crispy Bacon burger on a Panini bun. Although it was a little steamed from the ride home, the bun was still quite dry and a little bit crisp. The cheese had thoroughly melted onto the beef patty which was chewy and crumbly. I enjoyed the fresh salad which had retained its crispiness and the added creaminess of herbed mayo.

Of course we also had some thick cut herbed chips to share. Thick cut and wonderfully well seasoned, they were of course less crunchy due to the ride home. The portion wasn't as big as I would have expected, given that this was already the larger option. Next time would definitely order with some dipping sauces.

Price Range: $15 - $20pp

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

Manok Park - Underwood

Quick weekend lunch at the (not so) recently opened Manok Park in Underwood. Having been recommended this place by quite a few food bloggers as well as reading some fairly stellar reviews from chefs, I was definitely curious and entered with some higher than average expectations. 

With a small number of seats inside, we were lucky to get one of the final tables. Menus were provided and I found it to be surprisingly short for a Korean restaurant, given that they are usually known for their abundance of options, it is also notable that the prices are a little bit more expensive than what you would expect from other Korean restaurants. Nevertheless, there were already quite a few things that I wanted to try from this list.

Usually I am not one to post much about cutlery, so long as it works, I don't really mind, but the bear chopstick rests were super cute so I couldn't resist taking a photo of them.

Complimentary barley tea was provided, light and fragrant, I really enjoyed it.

Our complimentary sides came after a short wait. This was one of the main highlights of Manok Park, where other places allow maybe three complimentary sides, they do five along with a tiny portion of pumpkin soup per person. The soup was served chilled and refreshing with little kernels of puffed corn in it. The side salads were also crisp and crunchy, the peach salad was exciting and novel for us, but my favourite would undoubtedly be the kimchi pancake. Although not very high in kimchi content, no doubt loaded with flour, the batter was extremely crisp and an absolute joy to eat, we had multiple servings of this.

Onto our mains, this was the Seafood Silken Tofu Stew. We asked that the soup was to be served with only a little spice, and it was definitely palatable for us. With a relatively light and clear broth, a generous portion of sand crabs. The tofu was also unbelievably smooth and delicious, it went really well with the rice.

We also had a Beef Rice Bowl. With a generous amount of grilled beef topped with an egg yolk. The beef was grilled to a delicious charred exterior without being tough or dry inside, it was also really well marinated and the egg yolk added an extra layer of smoothness to the dish which I really enjoyed. Coupled with the rice, this is definitely a dish I would come back for.

Final dish was the extremely photogenic Tonkatsu. With one piece of extremely thick cut crumbed pork, tonkatsu sauce, rice and a side of cabbage salad, it was a sight to behold. The pork batter itself was crisp and hot, but I realised that I preferred a thinner piece to have a better batter to meat ratio. Thick cut was enjoyable for the novelty, but not something I would be rushing to go back to.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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

Mica Brasserie - Newstead

Another opening during the pandemic lockdown. Mica Brasserie is one such venture, from the owners of King Street Bakery, it opened at Newstead, along Breakfast Creek. Iron Fist and I decided to check it out for breakfast the other day. Arriving at 9AM on Saturday meant it was peak hour for everyone who was keen to forage for breakfast. There was definitely an ample crowd, both waiting in line to order as well as to pick up their coffee.

As expected from a bakery, there were a very large assortment of savoury pies and quiches, sweet tarts and cakes as well as loaves of fresh bread. This was  basically baked good heaven and it definitely took us a little while to decide what we wanted.

The area outside the cafe was completely packed as you would have expected, so we took our prizes over with us across the road to enjoy it in the park. He had the iced long black whilst I had a cappuccino. Both were strong and fairly bitter. I would have enjoyed creamier milk in my coffee.

He had the ham and cheese croissant as well as a french hot dog. Both were really crisp, fresh and enjoyable. I had never seen a french hot dog before. Allegedly it is a sausage wrapped in puff pastry akin to a croissant. Will definitely have to try it next time.

 

Opting for sweets for once, I had a Coffee Eclair and a Pain au Chocolate. The Eclair was extremely fragrant but quite sweet, the pastry a little soggy from the cream and icing, I was glad to have eaten it earlier rather than take it home. The pain au chocolate was definitely far more dry and flaky, with crisp golden layers, it reminded me of the ones I had at Chouquette. The dark chocolate was deliciously bitter.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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

Ramen Danbo - Sunnybank Hills

Nothing better in winter than a steaming hot bowl of ramen. Was really pleased when I heard that Ramen Danbo decided to open in Sunnybank Hills, a quick 10 minute drive from my house, so we went to check it out. With a menu identical to their South Brisbane Store, I really liked the fact that you could customise your soup and noodles.

 

Ordering upon entry to the store, we were given a number and found ourselves a seat. Unfortunately the bar seats where you could enjoy ramen overlooking the kitchen were not available at that point in time. 

It took a little while for our food to arrive, despite the fact that there weren't too many customers in the store. My companion ordered the Classic Ramen with Nitamago, firm noodles and less oily soup. The bowl itself wasn't too big, but it was definitely hot and filling, the noodles were just the texture she had wanted but the eggs were a little overdone with the  yolks partially cooked through.

Wanting a bit of a change, I had the Se Abura Ramen with it's decadent pork back fat, standard noodles and soup. Again the eggs were a little overdone for my taste with a partially powdery yolk. The soup though was extremely rich and delightful with a lot of depth and flavour to it, although I was definitely quite thirsty afterwards. I also quite enjoyed the tender meat which broke up even as I lifted it with my chopsticks. Definitely a place to come back to soon!

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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

Kebab Palace - Upper Mt Gravatt

I may have mentioned before, since the lockdown started, the highlight of my week has been going on grocery runs while trying to find some restaurants to get take away from (when I'm finally sick of trying to cook). Last week we tried out Kebab Palace, which has long been on my radar, since we ran a couple of errands at Garden City. Situated in Palmdale, it was a stone's throw away from Garden City. Arriving at around 6pm, there was a fair amount of customers who had already placed their order and awaited food outside, as well as a considerable line inside. 

It took around 15 minutes for our food to be prepared, fairly quick given the number of orders before us. It also took every ounce of self control for us not to start touching the food before we got home with it. 

First up, this was the Mixed Shish. Comprising of both chicken and lamb skewer with Turkish bread, salad and rice, it was a whole meal on its own. I really liked how well the meats were seasoned, especially the flavoursome lamb, but I enjoyed the chicken more for its' moisture retention. The turkish bread was lighter and thinner than I had at other places but went well with the dipping sauces. I haven't had this kind of long grain rice before, but it was quite tender albeit coarse.

Next was the Cheese Pide, which I had heard quite a bit about. I was afraid that by the time we got home, it would no longer be stringy, but this was definitely unfounded. The bread was super soft and fluffy, almost like a warm and toasty cloud stuffed with melty cheese. It was everything I had hoped for and more.

Lastly, we couldn't resist getting the Lamb Halal Snack Pack. With a strong craving for chips, I was mildly surprised that over half the box was shaved lamb. Dr L was very pleased with this and it satisfied his love of lamb. I found the meat to be a little on the dry side, but this was rectified withi sauce, making for a delicious meaty snack.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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