Shinbashi Yakiniku - Underwood

In line with my passion for Japanese food, the only other Japanese style BBQ in Brisbane (as far as I am aware), is Shinbashi Yakiniku. For $35, you can order anything off their menu for a duration of 90 minutes. The selection is quite broad, and offers a number of meats as well as non bbq options.

After ordering, our salad came out rather quickly. Unfortunately, we found it to be quite bland, mainly being lettuce and sauce, with very little other things.

The first plate of wagyu that came out was nicely marbled and not too fatty. But I could not say the same for the plates following, which were very very fatty. I also think that the meats could have been marinated better. As you can see, they only had sesame on top of the beef, and nothing else. 

You can see here, the fat pretty much exceeded the meat content, which we didn't really like.

Other things we ordered included prawns, calamari, pumpkin and mushrooms.

Like Nonbei, the mushrooms and corn are served on little foil trays where you can cook the veges without fear of it slipping into the gaps of the bbq rack.

 

In terms of fried foods, we tried the takoyaki and the vegetable croquet. Both of which were very generous in portion and crispy.

To me, the highlight of the meal would have been their nabeyaki udon. For such a meaty (and oily) meal, this was a definite palate cleanser. Having lettuce and enoki mushrooms in a clear broth with udon, it was homey and comforting.

We finished off the meal with a Matcha Parfait and a Black Sesame Parfait, which is NOT included in the buffet, we considered it essential to cool off after the bbq. The ice cream was smooth, but I think it could be a bit more specialised than just having corn flakes at the bottom.

Overall, it was a relatively decent offering at Shinbashi. However, my opinion would still be that for $35, I would rather pay the extra $5 (or in my case, $15) and go to Nonbei instead. The service wasnt as horrible as some of the other reviews have mentioned, but I do think that their staff could serve food a bit faster, especially because it is a time limited buffet, it is very important not to give off a bad impression that you are holding up food to so people dont eat as much. Additionally, the buffet being only available on Monday and Tuesday is really quite limiting for those who might want to go on other days of the week.

Price Range: $35 per person (for buffet)

Taste: 6.5/10
Value: 6.5/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 7/10

Le Bon Choix (Edward St) - Brisbane CBD

Those who know me,will know without a doubt that I am a big fan of cake. Whilst I love the asian bakeries like any other HongKonger would, I am also a huge fan of Le Bon Choix.

A regular hangout of mine is their Queen Street branch, where I go to get autentic french pastries when I need the extra motivation and encouragement to cope with work. I was very excited when they opened a second branch on Edward Street, and went down there for tea one Friday afternoon.

Upon entering, we were greeted by the sound of a French 'Bonjour', and the sight of all the delectable little cakes on display. A word of warning for potential customers though, they tend to run out of cakes/bread at the end of the day so its probably best to go earlier if possible.

We ordered at the counter and found a table.

I found the decor to be very aesthetically pleasing and reminiscent of a Parisian Street. I particularly liked the added touch of the street lamp, which undoubtedly gave it an outdoor feel despite being indoors.

Our food arrived rather promptly, and we took a few minutes to take in all that was in front of us.

My friend ordered the Jocelyn, which was a coffee and chocolate mousse with ginger brulee. She ordered it because of the gold dusted sugar pieces, which she found intriguing. She said that she found the ginger brulee to be quite striking and unexpected.

I found my flat white to be quite comforting, especially in a mug. It wasnt the best coffee ever (Merlos), but it wasnt bad. The thing I really enjoy at Le Bon Choix though, are their Macarons. What stands out in their macarons, is their creme filling, which is better than any of the other ones I've had elsewhere. I highly recommend it.

In terms of my choice in cake, my usual preference is for the Miroula (chocolate macadamia mousse), but that was out of stock by the time i got there, so I ordered the Lenette, which was a white chocolate mouse with pear jelly. Usually, I avoid white chocolate, because it seems too sweet for my tastes, but the pear jelly definitely balanced it out for me. 

Price Range: $10 - $15 per person

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 8.5/10

Environment: 8.5/10

Ann Gyoza Bar - Fortitude Valley

In my ongoing quest to eat at all the Japanese places in Brisbane, I stopped by at Ann Gyoza bar today. Working in the CBD, it actually took me a while to work out where it was, within the Emporium. Indeed, I almost gave up before stumbling upon it.

The restaurant has a decidedly traditional wooden theme, with a large wooden plaque hanging outside, and a portion of outdoor seating. Not being an ourdoors type of person, I opted to sit indoors.

The inside was in line with the outside, being of traditional Japanese style. I found it particularly interesting that they decorated the interior with sake casks. Definitely unusual and interesting at the same time.

I was quite surprised at how full it was for a Thursday lunch hour. I had literally taken the last remaining free table. 

I was promptly seated and given a lunch menu. Lunch prices at Ann Gyoza Bar are significantly cheaper than dinner prices. 

I was very impressed with the water being served immediately after ordering.

Just after being impressed with the water, you can imagine how astounded I was when my bento arrived well within 5 minutes of my ordering. I spent several minutes seriously contemplating whether or not they had pre cooked all the bentos in anticipation of people ordering, to come to the later realisation that my bento was composed of rice, salad and salmon sashimi, none of which really required cooking (except the rice).

In terms of the salmon, I found it exceptionally fresh! It was also perfectly chilled, to the point where it didnt taste like it came straight out of the fridge, but didnt taste like it had been left out for too long. My only concern with it was the portion being a bit on the small side.

The salad was also fresh, like the salmon. It had a light and tangy sauce on it, and the lettuce thankfully did not have the blackened ends that some other salads do. There wasn't that much rice, which was good actually, because I did not have that much sashimi, but for those who do appreciate rice, they offer free extra rice.

The main thing I was anticipating though, was their Gyoza. I mean, how can you go to a gyoza bar and leave without trying their gyoza? So I ordered the pork gyoza to go with my tower bento. As you can see it was served on a hot plate, with sauce on the side, which you can add to your liking.

I found the juices to be very tasty, and complimented the dumpling filling well. What struck me was the how thin the dumpling skins were, but I would have liked it better if the bottoms of the dumplings had a bit more crunch to them.

Having been to a number of dumpling bars, I would consider Ann Gyoza Bar to be well above the average compared to the other offerings in Brisbane, but in the context of Japanese Gyoza, I still prefer Harajuku Gyoza.

Price Range: $12 - $20 per person (lunch prices)

Taste: 7/10
Value: 4/10 (rather expensive for a small portion)
Service: 8/10 (super quick and efficient)
Environment: 8/10

Pho City - Brisbane CBD

A couple of weeks ago, several friends and made a really last minute decision to watch a movie after work. Without much of a plan (which is really unusual for me), we found ourselves wandering around foraging for food. As our quest lead us to Elizabeth Arcade, one friend suggested that we try Pho City, which had opened in the arcade not so long ago, taking the spot of what used to be Himawari.

Whilst the restaurant was half full, we were promptly seated and given menus. The service was quite friendly.

What I particularly liked about the menu, is that it was made of plastic. I find crumpled paper menus with water/tea stains on them quite unpleasant.

This was the dry vermicelli salad with spring rolls. My companion didnt really like it though. It was served with the usual fish sauce, which you mix in at the point of eating.

My other companion got the combination broken rice with pork chop. He found the pork chop to be a bit small for the rice and also to be a bit toasted. Other than that, the rice and other sides were quite average.

As usual, at a Vietnamese restaurant, I ordered Pho. To be honest, I found it rather disappointing compared to other Pho I've had. As you can see from the photo, the soup was very cloudy, for Pho, that definitely rings alarm bells for me. I found the beef wasn't very fresh which actually made it a relief that it was rather overdone as well. Other than that, the noodles were quite enjoyable, but the portion was rather small, like the pork chop rice.

I had quite high hopes for Pho City, and was rather disappointed at the outcome. It has potential and maybe it will improve with time.

Price Range: $10 - $15 per person

Taste: 4/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10 

Tasty - Sunnybank

Tasty is one of the restaurants situated on the outside perimeter of Sunny Park. I had been rather intrigued since I saw the sign go up last year. The signs and decor were really captivating and made me wonder what kind of food they would be able to offer. With all the other places I had been going to at the start of the year, I gradually forgot about it. 

One lazy Saturday morning, when deciding where to go to lunch, I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten this place, so off we went.

Having been quite lazy recently, I hadnt had much of a chance to scour the weekly Chinese newspapers for ads. Due to this, I was pleasantly surprised to see lunch specials at an exceptionally cheap price of $5.90.

Upon entering, we found the restaurant to be rather empty. The decor was simple, and had a definite wooden theme to it. We were promptly seated, and the waiter rather casually threw the menu at our table. I could see that there was no malice to this, but could see that it would easily have offended patrons (especially the elderly). We ordered three of the lunch specials.

Water and cutlery were obtained on a DIY basis, and the food came out super quickly. By super quickly, I mean in around 5 minutes, which is really exceptionally fast.

The first thing to come out was the Hainan Chicken Rice. There are several things to note about this, being firstly that it didnt come with soup, which was a slight disappointment, but understandable for the price. Secondly, although there was no soup, it also came out with Veges, which ususally isnt provided. It was also only served with one sauce (sweet chili), whereas the usual comes with two or three sauces. The chicken was done relatively well, but we found the highlight of the meal to be the rice, which was deliciously infused with a light chicken flavour. We really enjoyed it.

The Chicken Laksa came next. I note that whilst the Laksa we usually have is comprised of Hokkien Noodles as well as Vermicelli, this version only comprised of Vermicelli. In terms of the soup, it definitely tasted authentic, but had less of a coconut milk base, but more of a a water base. It was also noteworthy that rather than shredded chicken, it had actual chicken pieces (not unlike what was in the Hainan Chicken). Overall, it was different from the other Laksa that we have had in other places, nevertheless, it was quite delicious and we liked it.

I ordered the Roast Duck Noodle Soup. Whilst I found the noodles weren't springy enough, I found the soup to be very light, and particularly enjoyed the fried onions that it was garnished with. The amount of duck was generous for the price, and while it was not crispy, the duck had quite a bit of flavour.

I found the food at Tasty to be quite yummy and for the price it was extraordinarily good value, in this day and age, you could not get a decent meal for that kind of price anywhere else.

Price Range: $5 - $20 per person

Taste: 7/10
Value: 9.5/10
Service: 6/10
Environment: 7.5/10