Six Acres - Bowen Hills

Having seen quite a few photos of the very popular Six Acres Restaurant situated in Rydges along King Street, a friend and I decided to check it out after work one day for a quick mid week dinner. The walk from the CBD to King Street provided good exercise, and I was there 5 mins before our 6pm reservation. 

The setup was modern but rustic, with the exposed lightbulbs really adding to the vibe. Service was friendly, however waitstaff were severely understaffed. Throughout the majority of our meal, there was only one very overworked waiter attending to the needs of everyone. The poor guy was very flustered by the time a waitress came out to help him.

  

The menu comprised of a fair few more options than a standard steakhouse would have. But being mainly a steakhouse, we stuck with the meatier options.

Being one of the first tables there that evening, our shared entrees came quickly without much drama. This was the scallops gratinated with confit garlic & herb butter, aromatic bread crumbs. The scallops were fairly large, and had a firm meaty texture. The crumbs were very fragrant and provided more mouthfeel to the scallops. The added lime gave it some tang, but my companion preferred to have it without lime. As an appetizer, it was refreshing and light. I really enjoyed it.

The reason why I took so much notice at the one poor waiter who had to look after the whole steakhouse was largely due to the fact that there was a considerable time lag between when our appetizer came out to when our dinner came out. Given the position of our seats, I was also able to spy the food coming out of the kitchen, and noted that our meals sat on the counter for roughly 20min before it came to our table.

As a result of this, my companion's Scotch Fillet, which was ordered medium rare, came out both barely warm as well as well done. She was very disappointed in this, especially given the high expectations she had of the restaurant. The meat itself was quite touch and chewy too. Normally in these situations, the sauce would still be reasonably hot, but not in this instance, so pouring it on really was no help. In the regular course of action, we would have sent it back to the kitchen to be reheated, but given how overdone it was and how long it took for us to get it, it really wasn't worth trying.

Given my companion's scotch fillet, I was amazed at how different my rib fillet turned out to be. Although it too was on the colder side of the spectrum, it definitely was rare and juicy with a wonderful mouthfeel. My pepper sauce didnt have any pepper taste to it whatsoever, but it was still reasonably warm, so I offered some to my companion which she gratefully accepted. 

To go with our mains, we also had two sides.

The crunchy fries, parmigiana cheese and truffle oil were indeed exceptionally crunchy. It came served in a paper cone, which was novel enough and ensured it didn't get too greasy. The cheese gave it tang whilst the truffle was very fragrant. We both really enjoyed this side. 

Our second side was the  House Leaf Salad. It was crisp and refreshing, leaves were fairly fresh, but portions were definitely small, especially given salad takes up a lot of space.

For dessert, we shared a Vanilla bean creme brule with biscotti and merengue. For a caramelised dessert, this came out cold. The caramelised sugar on top, which was supposed to be thin and crisp was unforgivably hard and thick. The custard had a light enough texture that was creamy and smooth, but again it was very cold. Having said that, we found the biscotti and merengue to be tasty enough.  Given the calibre of my steak, I have no doubts that Six Acres has the ability to make quite a spectacular dinner, it was just a shame that there was such a level of inconsistency between the quality of dishes that we had that evening.

Price Range: $50 - $70pp

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

Fill the Bowl - Brisbane CBD

With the prevalence of Malatang in Sunnybank, I always thought that it was merely a matter of time before they opened one in the city to satisfy the masses of office workers who also crave a hot bowl of noodles. I was surprised however, to see that Fill The Bowl decided to open their store at a shared shopfront with GongCha in the two level shopfront which used to house Top Sushi. Whilst GongCha has been open for quite a while, it took a few extra weeks for Fill The Bowl to finally open its stairway.

Like all other places, I knew the drill and grabbed a bowl.

Toppings were abundant, regularly restocked and quite fresh. There were quite a few options for sliced meat, vegies, noodles, mushrooms, meatballs and offal.

Making my selection, I paid at the counter. Despite being a Chinese operation, I was pleasantly surprised to see they accepted payment via eftpos. I was also surprised to see that my relatively small selection came to a grand total of $21.75. Also expensive for a malatang.

Was then given a buzzer to collect my noodles when ready.

Seating, as you would expect, was extremely limited. A lot of people stood around with their buzzers awaiting a seat and some had to take away due to the lack of seating.

Unlike other sit down restaurants for malatang, there was no separate sauce bowl for a DIY sauce. Once you got your noodles, you added the sauces directly into your soup and hoped for the best. I was pleased to see garlic and soy, but there was an apparent lack of spring onion and sesame oil.

My noodles came out fairly quickly and I loaded it up with garlic and a dash of soy. At the point of collection, I was provided with one set of cutlery, including a set of chopsticks, spoon and napkin, this kind of made me curious as to whether or not I would be offered a second packet if I dropped my chopsticks, but I didn't explore that much further. The bowl was steaming hot which meant I took a fair while to eat it all. I ordered it with mild spice as no spice wasn't an option. The toppings were cooked generally adequately but the meat slices were overdone and chewy. Noodles had a good texture, but soup was exceptionally salty and left me very thirsty after my meal (hence the GongCha downstairs I guess). I also feel that presentation could also be improved upon, having tried places like Love Malatang and Fill The Bowl Sunnybank,

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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

ED Cafe - Brisbane CBD

A few of my readers and followers may have noticed recently that when I can, I've decided to make a point to get a late brunch on Fridays to get myself in the mood for a relaxing weekend, rather than carrying the stress and anxiety of work with me on my days off. To this point, I have tried several brunch spots in the main CBD area recently and nothing has really blown me away until I venture out to either the Gabba, Fortitude Valley or West End. So my quest continued, and I was lucky enough last Friday to receive an invitation from Troy and Arron, the owners of the Smug Fig, to try out their 7 month new cafe, ED cafe, hidden away in the foyer of IBM Building, up on Edward Street. Grabbing Spiderman with me, we made a trek up the hill past our usual temptations of Charboys and Taros.

Getting there at 11.30am, it we successfully beat the lunchtime rush. I loved the plants, vines and mural on the wall, almost as if to take us away from the cement jungle that we find ourselves in.

I quite liked the menu, which was short, but provided breakfast and lunch options, healthy and hearty options to satisfy both carnivores like myself as well as vegetarians.

The drinks menu was fairly standard and had the usual suspects of coffees, smoothies and iced drinks.

A display cabinet contained an assortment of goodies, I had my eye on the Oreo Cheesecake, but will have to come back at a later date to try it out.

After making our orders at the counter, we got a front row view to watching our drinks get made, as always, increasing my appreciation of our beverages.

Within 5 minutes of our order, our drinks came.

This was the Mango Smoothie, which contained its namesake mango in addition to banana, vanilla bean yogurt, goji berries, honey and milk. He really enjoyed it, especially given the fact that there was a good balance in flavour, all elements being easily discernible and not overcome by any one ingredient.

Wanting to be adventurous that morning, I had the Acai smoothie, comprising of acai, strawberries, banana and coconut water. I too found a good balance in my smoothie, which was undoubtedly smooth but also refreshing. I especially enjoyed the strawberry and banana combination being botoh sharp and sweet at the same time.

After two sips of our drinks, and around 15 minutes after ordering, our food arrived. As most corporate workers in the city are, being restricted by our lunch hour is a major consideration for us in eating out. I was definitely impressed by the timeliness and quality of the execution.

Spiderman ordered the Big Ed, ED Cafe's version of a big breakfast. Comprising of two poached eggs, spanish chorizo, smoked cherry tomatoes, shortcut bacon, mushroom and tomato relish on sourdough. He also added a side of wilted spinach. It made for the most festive and colourful spread. He particularly enjoyed the smoked tomato, which we were later informed was made with liquid smoke to create such a unique and intense flavour. The highlight for me was without a doubt his perfectly poached egg. Cutting it open revealed an immaculately cooked white that left no transparent portions but a wonderfully liquid yolk that bursts open with joy. Seeing eggs like this left me smiling all day, to the point where I went back to work and was greeted by Iron Fist saying "you've had a good meal I see."

Readers will know by now how predictable I am, almost always ordering the same meal from different restaurants. So as my usual brunch selection goes, I opted for the most customiseable option, Eggs your way, that came with tomatoes, sourdough and bacon, along with extras of salmon and chorizo. At the point of ordering I noted the lack of avocado as an extra, which would almost have made this an ideal brunch. Like Spiderman's, my eggs were poached to perfection. I really enjoyed the bacon, which was just the right thickness and had a good crispiness without being oily. Salmon was also fresh and the sourdough light but also filling. 

Being closer to lunch than it actually was breakfast, we got a side of fries (hey, any excuse to have fries, alright?). These were shoestring, my favourite variety, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, served with a side of aioli. Lightly fried and crispy, this was the cherry on top of the cake that was our wonderful meal at ED Cafe. I can't wait to go back.

Espresso and Matcha were invited guests of ED Cafe, but as always, our opinion is solely our own.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

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

Yang Guo Fu Malatang - Upper Mt Gravatt

Had intended to go check out the newly opened Sushi Edo at Garden City last week, but found it to be surprisingly crowded and with a considerable wait for food, we opted to try our luck at 8 Street instead.  With our love of malatang, we thought that the popular Yang Guo Fu MaLaTang, which appears to have successful restaurants across Sydney would be a safe bet. 

Being situated in 8 Street, space was always going to be a bit lacking, however the setup was largely the same, with plastic bowls and tongs for the DIY acquisition of ingredients for our lunch.

Compared to other places we had been to, the ingredients here were somewhat lacking. Options were few, and meats looked extremely fatty and not too fresh. Veggies were adequate, noodles were notably pre soaked in water.

The two of us got our food and weighed up. The staff at the counter was chatting loudly on the phone the whole time on a personal call and barely acknowledged our presence. When I asked her about the spice level of our soup, this was waived aside and dismissed. I probably haven't had such bad service for quite a few years now.

We got our number from our receipt and sat down nearby waiting for our number to be called. I was surprised at how expensive the meal was, given that my companion and I often go out to eat at other MaLaTang places and we are often very full on a shared bill of $25. Two things struck me at that point. The first is that we were charged for our containers. I fail to see how you could go to a food court environment and order food without it being served to you in a container. We were not given reusable bowl options, so I consider this to be an excessive and unfair charge. Secondly, it was also apparent to me that the soaking of the noodles in water pre weighing really added to the bill. My companion was really unimpressed.

Sauces were not DIY given the 8 Street setting. We had to ask the staff who wasn't on the phone for sauces. There were no extra containers for sauce to be kept separate. It was just poured on top.

Our food was prepared soon enough. The white paste on top is apparently garlic sauce. Taste wise, she found the noodles to be overcooked and very soft. She also said that the soup was salty and one dimensional.

This is my bowl, although not much larger than my companions, I was charged for the larger container. It was very visually unappealing, and frankly even my (very bad) cooking at home looks better. Like my companion, the noodles were extremely soggy and disintegrated in my mouth, the meat was stringy, fatty and unfresh, whilst the tofu and seafood sticks soaked up considerable amounts of the bland salty soup. I also noted an absence of the enoki mushrooms that I had picked up earlier. This has been the worst meal I've had since April 2016.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 1/10
Value: 2/10
Service: 1/10
Environment: 5/10