Clarence - Woolloongabba

 

After a particularly challenging week at work, Dr L and I decided to go somewhere a bit more fancy for date night. Going down my list, we opted for dinner at Clarence, a fairly well established modern Australian bistro at Woolloongabba, recently awarded one chef's hat on the good food guide. 

We made a reservation since it was Friday night, but the restaurant wasn't entirely full so perhaps walk in would also have been sufficient. I loved the rustic decor with the exposed brick walls. Service was personable and friendly whilst maintaining an air of professionalism. 

 

The menu was very concise, with less than half a dozen starters, mains and only two desserts. Lucky for us, there was also a 3 course set menu that allowed us to sample more of the menu.

First of the entrees was Yellowtail Kingfish, miso, apple buffalo curd and shiso. The flavours were delicate and intricate whilst the kingfish was fairly firm in texture. The shiso made the dish decidedly asian in theme whilst the apple added a sweetness and crunch to it.

 

Our other two entrees were the Cold roast pork, bagna cauda, capers and celery and the Watermelon, cherry tomato, cucumber and stracciatella. Both were very interesting, the cold roast pork was almost like a terrine whilst the bagna cauda and capers gave it a very sharp zing. The watermelon really elevated what would have been a simple but enjoyable veggie salad, adding a level of fresh sweetness to it.

We were provided a serve of house made bread and house made butter. I found the bread to be very dense and filling but I did like how it was served warm and crusty. The butter was definitely a highlight for me though and it was rich, creamy and salty.

 

Our mains showed up after a brief interlude, we had the duck, beetroot, fig and soubise along with the  dry aged dairy cow with sugarloaf, pickled grapes and pepper sauce. Both were well received, my preference was for the duck whereas Dr L enjoyed the cow more. The duck had a fairly crispy skin, the fat had been well rendered and it was well infused with a delightful onion flavour whilst the beetroot and fig added sweetness to compliment. I was slightly reluctant to order the dairy cow dish as dairy cow is often not used for consumption due to how tough they're known to be. With this in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by it's texture, not being too far off from a rump steak with a very delightful beefy flavour to the meat. The sugarloaf was delicate and absorbed much of the zingy pepper sauce.

Our sides include salad and duck fat chips. The salad was fairly standard, fresh and tart. The duck fat chips were phenomenal. They were fragrant, crunchy and had a fluffy interior and they were definitely one of the better chips I've had lately. Portions wise, the chips were also very generous and definitely filled us up.

Our third course was dessert, we had the honey custard with queen garnet plums as well as a rhubarb and white chocolate tart, rhubarb sorbet. I'm not particularly a fan of rhubarb as it reminded me a bit of a sweet celery, but the tart was very well done with a crisp thin shell and a refreshingly tart sorbet. Our favourite of the night though was undoubtedly the honey custard, rich sweet and wholesome, it was a wonderful dish to round off our meal.

In summary, we had a really delightful evening at Clarence. I really appreciate their ability to take fresh, seasonal local ingredients and apply their skills to elevate them on each plate. The three course set was good value in this day and age and makes for a memorable date night. I highly recommend!

Price Range: $75pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10 

Bing Go - Upper Mt Gravatt

Rounding off a hot summer, we thought to have one more bing soo before the weather cooled down. Having enjoyed a very delicious iteration of the Korean dessert at Sunnybank, we opted to check out Bing Go's Garden City store while we were running errands nearby.

Heading over at peak afternoon tea time, I was surprised that it was empty, meaning more seats for us, although I did notice an abundance of flies and other pests in the shop though.

The restaurant seemed a bit more expansive than Sunnybank, perhaps because of a significantly larger kitchen area. Other than bingsoo, they had a wide variety of coffee based drinks along with a small selection of hot food.

Wanting to try out their most epic dessert, I had the Watermelon Special. Sharing between two, we asked for some bowls so we didn't both have to lean over it, but staff refused, which was surprising. The bingsoo was served with an ice block and whipped cream on top. The watermelon was fresh and crunchy but very sweet on account of the syrup it was topped with. The ice block was interesting, it was the colour of watermelon but taste wise it was undoubtedly honey dew melon which we didn't particularly like. Inside of the bingsoo there was a considerable amount of strawberry jam which kept it interesting and sweet. Overall, we did like this dessert but I think next time I'll stick with the matcha option.

 

Price Range: $10 - $15pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10 

Chuan Chinese - Sunnybank

Have long been interested in Chuan Chinese at Market Square. Ever since they opened, all I ever see is a completely packed restaurant every time I walk past. For the several instances I've tried to get a table, I've been knocked back without having a reservation. Phoning up to make a reservation, I've been told that they only take 5.30pm and 7.30pm bookings. As a result of this, we finally decided to try it out early in the week to avoid the crowds. 

 

We grabbed one of the only remaining tables and were seated comfortably outside the restaurant (but still inside the shopping centre). Paper menus were provided although ordering is done via QR code on the table. Interestingly enough, English was only available on the paper menu, so any non Chinese literate customers might have difficulty ordering without relying on photos alone. As for the contents on the menu, as far as I could tell, it was fairly standard for Sichuan cuisine with a selection of main dishes focusing on spice.

Some companions who had arrived earlier ordered a serve of spring rolls to start, these were freshly fried, crispy and I liked the mix of meat and veggies that it was filled with. 

We probably over ordered, but the first three dishes we chose came out exceptionally quickly after putting it in the system. 

First up was the pickled veggies with beef stew. The portion size was absolutely massive and the plate was even bigger. We chose mild spice for it and I found it to be challenging to my spice tolerance. There was a generous amount of beef and pickled veggies in the stew and although it was spicy, the sourness and savouriness of the dish still shone through. It went particularly well with rice. Would definitely order this again.

Next up was the "saliva" chicken, named not because it is made of saliva but because the thought of it makes people salivate. It was a good serving for the price and the chicken was extremely tender and flavoursome without being dry. 

 

We also had a serve of spicy beef offals (tongue and stomach) as well as wasabi fungus. Both were very spicy, but the offal dish was more of a hot spice whereas the fungus had a cooling spice that you would get with mustard. Both dishes were delicious and had a variety of very enjoyable textures, special mention would have to be made for the tripe which was very well done, elastic and tender, absorbing a lot of the spicy numbing goodness.

We had two non spicy dishes that evening. First was the signature braised pork belly which offered some much needed reprieve from the spice. The pork was very soft and melted in our mouth whilst being drenched with a rich soy/oyster sauce concoction that was very homey. Again, one that goes well with rice.

Our final dish, which came roughly half an hour after the rest of our food was the steamed egg with pipis. Silky smooth, it was like an egg infused tofu with a light seafood taste. Although mum makes this very frequently at home, this was undoubtedly more silky than the home made variety, making it a worthwhile dish to order when visiting. 

Overall we had a fantastic time at Chuan Chinese, although it was spicy, the food was of a high standard, each dish was a flavour bomb and I would definitely not hesitate to come back. Also there is a 10% cash discount, so for a large group, it would be worth bringing cash to take advantage of the deal.

Price Range: $30 - $40pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10 
 

Amoroso - Paddington

 

Valentine day is hardly ever complete without a sweet dessert to round off the meal. To this end we decided to walk over to Amoroso, my current favourite when it comes to gelato for a treat to finish the evening. It was a fairly long walk and we arrived to find the small shopfront packed.

The menu was identical to Sunnybank Hills as far as I could tell, offering gelato, sundaes and drinks. 

The flavours on offer were decidedly less Asian centric though with only Matcha on offer and I was the first one to order from the new tray.

In the interests of science (also I was very full), I ordered a kid's sized double scoop whilst Dr L had the standard size double scoop. On the face of it, I didn't really notice too much difference in size so it might be worth opting for kids scoops from now on.

I had the Matcha and Cappuccino whilst he had Lotus and Chocolate. Although the store was situated outside of Sunnybank, I was still pleased to see that the ice cream wasn't overly sweet. The matcha flavour was just as strong and I really enjoyed the chocolate hints in the cappuccino gelato. Dr L also found his dutch chocolate to be very rich and decadent whilst the biscoff was deliciously cinnamony. I can't wait for them to open closer to home and no doubt we will be regulars once that happens. 

Price Range: Less than $10pp

Taste: 8.5/10 

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10 

Fratelli Restaurant - Paddington

Valentines day 2024. I wanted to do something about it but didn't want to be boxed into committing to an overpriced set menu. It took a while before we decided to try our luck (for the third time) at getting a reservation at Fratelli Restaurant which has been on my list for some time now. I guess third time is the charm because we ended up getting a table 

Sitting down, I noted their attention to detail in having a floral candle as well as rose petals on the table, a nice touch that I really appreciated.

 

Service was a little slow during the evening, given that it was super busy, however staff were extremely friendly and helpful throughout. We were provided menus promptly. It focussed on pizza, which we were there for, with a small selection of pasta as well.

Our entree was the Burrata tartufo which was interestingly served alone without bread or crackers. Our serve of Rucola (a side salad) also came with the entree. The Burrata was delicious, chilled and creamy with complimentary tastes of truffle and honey. The rocket salad was fairly interesting as it had a lot less of a bitter aftertaste than other ones I've previously had, the leaves were a lot more soft and tender also.

Our pizzas came shortly after our entrees, fresh out of the pizza oven.

Our white based pizza was the Tartufata, topped with fior di latte, porcini, truffle salsa, mushrooms and oregano. The truffle taste wasn't as strong as other funghi pizzas I've had previously, but I do really like the delicious earthy meaty taste of porcini. The base was probably the best I've had in Brisbane, light and fluffy without being overly soggy. I would come back for this reason alone, however I do think that there could have been more toppings on the pizza itself though.

Our red based pizza, the Fratelli, came topped with tomatoes, fior di latte, porcini mushrooms, pork sausage, gorgonzola, onion, and basil. Again there could have been a bit more by way of toppings but it was more generous than the tartufata. I loved the flavours of the pork sausage complimented with the tangy sugo and again the base was outstanding.

Although this is a little bit more pricey than other places, notably my favourite, Julius, I consider their pizza base to be superior and would come back for that alone, especially because parking is easier. Can't wait to try their other pizzas.

 

Price Range: $40 - $50pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

Sushi Train - Underwood

Long before there was Sushi Edo and Ichiban Sushi, there was Sushi Train. Looking back on my childhood, I had fond memories of waiting for their anniversary sales where all plates would be $3 or $3.50 and we would queue up and eat to our heart's content. Perhaps I haven't been paying attention for sometime, but I was thrilled when I saw that they were having a $3.50 sale for the grand opening of their new Underwood store, so we trekked out there to line up half an hour before opening. We arrived to see a small group of people gathering at the door and we seated just before their scheduled opening time.

The setup was quite modern and the restaurant could accommodate quite a substantial amount of people. I had considered the kaiten sushis which had ipads to order dishes to be fairly modern, however this Sushi Train was even more modern with QR codes on the table to order from your personal device.

To their credit, they kept the train very well stocked and not just with the cheaper end of the menu, there was a good variety of fish and non fish options as well as cooked and non cooked dishes. As you would expect, we ended up getting a lot of food, so I will only provide brief commentary on each dish. 

First up was the aburi salmon, the fish was thick cut but a bit light on the caramelization. I also found the rice to have been a bit under seasoned, which is surprising when most sushi trains are fairly consistent.

Next up was the akami tuna, this was fresh and thick cut. Again (and in all other dishes) the rice was under seasoned. 

The tobiko ship was good, there was a generous amount of tobiko on top. Seaweed was fresh and crispy.

 

The salmon nigiri echoed the tuna nigiri, thick cut and fresh. I found the Salmon Tobiko ship to be fantastic value, especially for the sale price given there were two pieces per dish.

The salmon avocado ship was also delicious and creamy with the avo being just ripe enough.

This was our first serve of ikura salmon. There was confusion because it came as two pieces in a serve which caused us to order many more but it was in fact one serve per dish. There was however a generous amount of ikura but it would probably not be worth the standard price.

Probably my only regret that day was to order the salmon avo hand rolls. This was mainly because there was a huge amount of rice in the roll and I filled up more than two dishes of nigiri. Otherwise the avo and salmon were delicious but I would have liked the seaweed if it was more crispy.

This was the negi toro ship, it was fairly standard and there was a good amount of minced tuna in the dish.

The same can be said for the negi salmon dish. It was the first time trying it but I don't think it was memorable enough to order again.

 

I've always considered sushi train to have a fairly high standard of wagyu and Underwood was no different. The unagi roll was also well received.

One of our final salmon nigiris was the salmon avo nigiri. Ordinarily the avocado pieces are a bit bigger at other restaurants, otherwise it was fine.

 

Rounding off we had a serve of unagi nigiri which was very delicious and the unagi was fairly generous in size. The best dish of our meal came last, and was a thinly sliced wagyu nigiri topped with uni. Although it was only one piece per dish, the toppings on it may as well have been generous enough for two pieces. The wagyu was buttery soft and melt in your mouth while the uni was fresh and creamy. Definitely finished our meal on a highlight and I wish I could have had more of these.

Overall we had a fantastic time at Sushi Train Underwood. It definitely exceeded my expectations in terms of consistency and freshness, no doubt we will be back in the near future for more.

Price Range: $3.50 per plate (opening special)

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 9/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10