Old Friends Charcoal BBQ - Robertson

Have seen quite a few posts lately about a new Chinese BBQ place in Robertson, next to Kengu Ramen. Not being particularly inspired to go anywhere else for date night, we went to check it out for a mid week dinner.

The place was surprisingly packed for a weekday, but there were still a few tables leftover. Might be prudent to book before going on a weekend.

  

The menu comprised of the usual suspects at a Chinese BBQ with a few notable non skewer items missing from the menu. Anyway we ordered via the QR code on the table. 

Lamb and beef arrived first. There wasnt too much meat on the skewers, but the flavours were definitely intense enough for my liking. Between the two of them, again I prefer the lamb. I don't think I've been to a Chinese BBQ where the beef has been as good as the lamb.

We also had some black pepper beef and grilled pork belly. The pork belly skewer was mixed with garlic cloves. It wasn't on the menu but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The pepper beef also had considerable amounts of capsicum as well for extra flavour. 

Our final skewer was the mushroom. One serve came with three skewers, each with a thinly sliced fraction of a mushroom, making it quite bad value for what it was. Again I did like the addictive cumin taste though.

This was a serve of chilled cucumber. It was covered with a generous amount of garlic. Interestingly the cucumber was skinned, and even more interesting was the lack of sauce to go with the dish. It was however cooling and went well with our meat selection.

Next was the egg and prawn fried rice, translated somehow to soy sauce fried rice. Other than egg, it was firmly lacking in reasonable amounts of prawns or soy sauce. However, more egregious was the fact that the rice was definitely not leftover and entirely too mushy. It clumped together like wet sand and is probably the worst fried rice I have had.

Redeeming the meal somewhat was the enoki mushrooms. It was served in a buttery spicy sauce with a relatively generous amount of enoki mushrooms that went well with the rice. 

Once again, I think I was scammed by the online hype, the skewers at Old Friends was fairly average at best and the other dishes were definitely worse than average with the fried rice being down right atrocious. Unless significant changes are made, I won't be back.

Price Range: $40 - $50pp

Taste: 5/10

Value: 5/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10 

Yappari Steak - Upper Mt Gravatt

Those of you who know me, know I am passionate about steak and aim to have some at least on a weekly basis. Being quite pedantic about it, I am reluctant to eat it out when I could make one of comparable quality at home for a much more reasonable price (unless I am assured of quality e.g Walters). However, I was decidedly interested when Yappari opened their doors at Mt Gravatt. Specialising in Japanese Lava Stone steak, the DIY aspect really caught my attention and we went to try it with a group of friends.

I didn't get a picture of the menu, however it comprised of various cuts of steak with various sizes along with sides. You could order via the app or at the counter. Each table was also decked with a very large assortment of sauces, which we were thrilled to get a selection of. I particularly appreciated the garlic, wasabi and kewpie/

Each steak set comes with complimentary salad, miso and rice. The salad was fresh, crisp and you can add your own sauce to it. The miso was warm and wholesome, notably devoid of other ingredients such as tofu or seaweed.

Dr L and I decided to share a giant steak. This was a 700g oyster blade. It came down on a double sized lava plate. It was served blue and entirely unseasoned so you need to cut it up quickly whilst the plate is still hot and then cook each piece to your liking (as well as salting and peppering it to your taste). The steak was tender and juicy without being chewy at all. I also like the fact that they offer to change the lava plate if it cools too much before your steak is sufficiently cooked. Overall the steak was very enjoyable and I crave a second visit as I write this post. Would definitely come back to this one.

Price Range: $40 - $50pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 8/10
 

Mandu Place - Springwood

The surge in popularity of Korean food comes with more than just KBBQ. There have been a lot more specialised Korean restaurants like Mandu Place which opened recently in Springwood. I had seen considerable posts about it online and it didn't take much convincing on Queen V's part before we decided to get some for a weekend lunch catch up.

The restaurant doesn't take reservations and we were very lucky to be able to get the last available table at lunch, so if you go at peak times there might be a slight wait for a table.

The menu was very simple and very pointed towards noodles and mandu. Prices leaned towards the more expensive end for six dumplings per serve but it has really been a while since I've had something of very good value.

Other than the food on the menu, there was a generous selection of kimchi and pickles to go with unlimited rice and some sauces that you could get on a DIY basis. 

Our food came out very quickly after ordering. 

The Kimchi Mandu was massive. Although it was six pieces per serve, each piece was about half the size of my palm and wouldn't fit in one mouthful, so one serve is definitely quite filling. On the topic of fillings though, although lightly orange colour, I found the kimchi flavours to be fairly light and the filling had significant potato noodles, and veggies with minimal meat. It went well with extra dipping sauce. The skin was also fairly thin and enjoyable.

Our other dish was the Gogi Mandu, being the original pork flavour. This was interestingly far more tasteful than the kimchi one with a mellow umami flavour to the filling, which was again mostly veggies and potato noodle with a bit of pork mince. I enjoyed this more than the kimchi one and it was lucky that I had companions to share this with to try more things, as one dish alone would have been a bit repetitive.

We had two noodle dishes, this was the bone stock hand torn noodle. The hand torn noodle reminded me quite a bit of the dumpling skin. There wasn't too much by way of noodle or toppings but the soup was very rich and meaty. It made for a very comforting dish, especially when combined with the dumplings.

Our other dish was far more flavoursome. The Spicy Bibim Kalguksu was a cold noodle dish with fresh vegies served in a spicy, sweet tangy sauce. Although vegetarian, it was abundant in icy tangy kimchi with some fresh chewy noodles, of the two noodle dishes, I liked this one more as the noodles had more bite to them.

Overall, we had a good time at Mandu Place, for those who love dumplings this is the place for you. I would have no hesitations coming back if any friends wanted to go, but it didnt stand out for me enough to justify wanting to seek it out again on my own initiative.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

Burger Me - Calamvale

Weekend burger runs for lunch between errands and we decided to check out Burger Me in Calamvale with some friends. I had read about this place quite a few times on Reddit with the general consensus that they were one of (if not) the best burger places in Brisbane.

The shop was fairly small but we did manage to grab a table. It became quite packed by lunchtime with the bulk of customers ordering for take away. Whilst there was one staff taking orders, they also had a machine to take orders as well. 

We had two combos between the two of us. Dr L upgraded his drink to an oreo shake. He enjoyed it but had it been ordered alone, this would have been $10.50, making it definitely on the more expensive end, especially given the price. 

Dr L had the All In double, comprising of two black angus patties, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and burger sauce served with fries. The patties were juicy and on the thicker side (definitely not a smash patty) whilst the salad was a bit more on the minimal side. Compared to other chains such as betty's we found it to be on the meatier and heavier end, leaving us full for the majority of the day. Fries were generous and well made, crisp but not greasy whilst also being well seasoned. 

I can't resist truffle when I see it on the menu, so I got the truffle cheesy double, with two black angus beef patties, american cheese, swiss cheese, sautéed onions, pickles and truffle mayo, also served with fries. Compared with the other truffle burgers I've enjoyed at other places, the truffle flavour on this one was definitely far more subtle than I would have liked. The patties were thick and juicy but there was probably too much sauce (although the flavour was light) as a considerable amount ran out of the wrapping. At almost $30 for a combo, it was definitely pricey for a burger, chips and drink but the quality was definitely head and shoulders above other fast food chains.

In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed the burgers at Burger Me. Did it live up to the expectation of being best in Brisbane? Probably not (my fav is still BBQ Mafia at Coorparoo), but I wouldn't hesitate to come back again if I was in the area. 

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7.5/10

Environment: 8/10 

Chun Fun How - Coorparoo

Those of you who know me would no doubt have heard my rant about how the prevalence of bubble teas shops are a good indication of economic sentiment. As the ultimate discretionary good, if more bubble tea shops still open (and flourish) then it is an indicator that people still have funds for small luxuries like this. On that note, Coorparoo has finally gotten their own bubble tea shop in the form of Chun Fun How, a Taiwanese chain originating from TaiChung. Always keen to enjoy support more bubble teas near home, I went to check it out.

The menu was fairly standard with an assortment of milk tea and fruit teas. Toppings were on the expensive side at $1 each. 

Drinks were made quickly and came in a cute (but sadly non transparent) cup as well as a very innovative cup holder (perhaps to get around the bag laws). I had the orange green tea whilst Dr L had the purple sweet potato milk green tea with bubbles. Mine was customised to no sugar, but it was still a bit sweet with the orange syrup flavour. The tea taste at Chun Fun How was strong compared to other places but I found the orange syrup to be a bit artificial and it doesn't overtake my favourite at orange tea. Dr L also said that the tea taste in his beverage was strong, which sets it apart from the other stores and the pearls were soft and chewy, but otherwise he said it was more or less in line with other options in Brisbane.

Given how close it is to home, I will definitely be back as a matter of convenience (rather than taking the hike all the way out to Sunnybank), but had it not been for the proximity, I probably wouldn't make much effort to come back. At this point, Machi Machi and Milksha remain my undefeated favourites in town.

Price Range: $5 - $10pp

Taste: 7/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10 
 

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