Kith n Chow - Mt Gravatt

After the coffee at Best Florist Espresso Bar, I awaited my table at the ever popular Kith n Chow. Having arrived at 9.30AM on a Saturday morning, I guess that was their peak hour. I was lucky to be second in line, with a considerable number of people arriving right after I got put on the waiting list.

 

After around 20 minutes, we got a table. The menu contained quite a few of the standdard breakfast options, including a bacon and egg stack, haloumi stack and waffles, but we were here for one thing and one thing only. 

Ordering at the truck, we were given a cute playing card number.

After a 15 minute wait, our food arrived. As alluded to, we ordered the infamous breakfast board for two. It came with a large assortment of food including four slices of sourdough, four rashers of bacon, two pieces of haloumi, two eggs, some smoked salmon, two bowls of yoghurt and a large amount of tomatoes and salad. I was really quite impressed with the calibre of the breakfast platter. The haloumi was fried to a near perfect crispiness, without drying out. The sourdough was quite dense and filling as well, but I would have liked some avocado or butter to spread on it. The yoghurt and granola were delicious, with a texture almost akin to ice cream, I really enjoyed it. I also really liked the fried tomatoes which had slightly charred bits on it. The only major letdown we had was the fact that there were so many flies pestering us during our breakfast, but as the cafe was open air, I guess it couldn't be avoided. 

Price Range: $10 - $20pp

Taste: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 5/10

Best Florist Espresso Bar - Mt Gravatt

Last weekend, Queen V and I headed to Kith n Chow at Mount Gravatt for its infamous breakfast board. Having arrived a little early, I wanted to get a coffee whilst I waited for a table. I was informed by their staff that they didn't sell coffee as they were operating out of a food truck with limited space, so we would have to go to Best Florist Espresso Bar next door to buy one.

This was the first time I had been in a florist espresso bar, and there were indeed quite a lot of plants in the store. The menu was at at the back of the store, behind quite a number of pot plants. Being the only customer in the store (the rest had taken their coffee next door), service was very fast and friendly.

After grabbing the coffee, I got a seat at the bar table outside. It too was decorated with fresh rose, and some fake grass. I ordered a Cappuccino, which was actually quite weak, and the milk wasn't very creamy at all, which was a bit disappointing. On the flip side, it was served piping hot, which did add to the enjoy-ability factor though.

Price Range: Under $10 per person

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

Gelato Messina - Southbank

Having waited months upon months for the opening of Gelato Messina, we finally caught wind that it opened at the end of March along Melbourne Street in Southbank. Without further delay, Queen V and I went for an afternoon snack before going to the opening of Eat Street.

Arriving at around 2pm, there was a small crowd of people outside the store.

 

Descriptions of specialty flavours were listed on the pole and on the wall.

It took me quite a bit of squeezing to get around to see all the flavours. The colours were all very natural and reminded me more of Ben and Jerry's rather than the brighter colours of Gelatissimo or Baskin Robins.

After a long period of indecisiveness, we settled on three flavours, apple pie, gianduja and coffee (no matcha flavours that day). The apple pie really tasted like apple pie, with its crumbly crust and sweet apple paste mixed throughout. Gianduja, which is a hazelnut chocolate from Turin, Italy. It was smooth and rich with a strong nutty fragrance to it. My favourite however, was the coffee. Whilst Queen V said that it wasn't very strong, I found it to be refreshing and creamy, though more of a caffeine hit would have been preferable.

Price Range: Under $10pp

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

New York Baguette - Sunnybank Hills

Last week I found myself wandering around Sunnybank Hills shoppingtown whilst awaiting a friend to show up for our lunch date. Wandering around, I found myself outside of the New York Baguette Bakery. Whilst the signage made it clear that it was a Korean Bakery rather than an American Bakery, my curiosity got the better of me and I headed in to take a look at what they had.

Despite the large range of breads for sale, I ended up leaving with a whole angel food cake, specifically orange flavour. Having attempted to make one and failing miserably (twice), $6.50 felt like a small price to pay if the cake was what I had expected (considering I often pay $8 for a slice at Sinmei).

And so I took it home to serve up for afternoon tea.

The cake was super light and fluffy, which was fitting for an angel food cake. Having said that, despite my having purchased the orange cake, the orange flavour was at best very light. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the cake, but would probably add some cream or ice cream to it to ensure it has some more moisture. 

Price Range: Under $10pp

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

Eat Street Re-Opening - Hamilton

With the recent relocation of Eat Street, I was of course super keen to check out their new setup. Despite being in Perth when the tickets were allocated, I was lucky enough to secure a few tickets to go with some friends. Without giving too much commentary, below are some photos of our attendance on opening day.

Note the two massive legs on lamb on display!

We kicked off the eating with a sample of some candied apple. The apple was fresh and the candy was very sweet.

Gone are the Korean Sliders, in their place was Korean Pancakes.

Rather than pancakes though, we opted for the K-Town Cheesey Steak Fries. Cheese was deliciously stringy, beef was well marinated, but all the toppings remained at the top of the fries, and once we had eaten the top layer, we were left with just regular fries.

For drinks, I had the lemon lime bitters, which was just as sour and bitter as I like. My companion had the watermelon, raspberry juice, which contained quite a bit of pulp.

I also got to try some tornado potato, which was fresh and crunchy, although a little soggy after a while. 

  

My pick of the evening was the Okonomiyaki. Unlike before, the cheese and pork belly were loaded on top of the pancake rather than mixed throughout. Other than this, it was amazingly cheesy and the pork belly was tender. The pancake had a good texture throughout and the sauces definitely kept it moist.

I also tried some of the chicken curry with roti. The roti was soft and flaky, but the curry was a little watery and not very spicy.

The spinach and ricotta ravioli was flavoursome and delicious, but one portion only came with three (very big) pieces, which was a little disappointing.

The highlight of our evening was the taco bowl. The bowl was really crisp and light rather than hard, and the salsa and guacamole inside was delicious and fresh.

  

I rounded off my meal with a dark chocolate filled churro. The line to order was very long, and its popularity was very much justified. the churro was pipping hot and freshly fried. There was just the right amount of filling inside of it not to be too much, but not too little either. I really enjoyed it.

Overall, a great night out. I cannot wait to go back soon.