AMMO - home made pasta, simple flavours and deliciousness

http://www.ammo.com.hk/

Tucked away behind Pacific Place shopping centre at Admiralty and a part of the HK Asia Society Centre is AMMO, an amazing little restaurant that specialises in homemade pasta.  It's a little difficult to find, but well worth the effort.

As you walk past the Banyan tree, which was stuck by lightening  during a typhoon in 2008 but continues to grow, and round the cultural court of the Asia Society, you're instantly taken aback by the shiny, shiny building that houses AMMO.  The heritage listed site, which was once home to a 19th century explosives compound, has been transformed into what has to be one of the funkiest restaurants in Honkers.  

The most striking element of the Joyce Wang designed interior was the liberal use of copper throughout, which gives off a luxurious yet industrial feel, that with imagination hints at the site's military history.  Especially the design and pattern behind the restaurant's bar.  The restaurant itself is almost entirely enclosed by floor to ceiling glass, which enhances the modern feel of the dining room. Surrounded by the lush tropical jungle you find throughout Hong Kong, it's impossible to believe that civilisation is only meters away.

ISONO Eatery and Bar - the more casual Spanish spot

http://www.isono.com.hk/

One of my top rated restaurants from 2015 was Vasco, Spanish fine dining.  You can read all about it here in my Top 10 of 2015. While Vasco is the ultimate in fine dining, there is a much more relaxed and casual feel about ISONO, the Spanish style tapas restaurant run by Drawing Room Concepts, the team behind Vasco and numerous other restaurants around Hong Kong.

Located on the sixth floor of Soho's very own arts precent, PMQ, ISONO eatery and bar shares many of the same traits as its more distinguished older brother.  The menu was created by Executive Chef Paolo Casagrande, drawn from his memories and experiences as a child in the Mediterranean.  If you're not familiar with Paolo Casagrande, his main game is at the Two Michelin starred Lasarte in Barcelona, but he lends his expertise and name to both Vasco and ISONO.

We'd been eyeing off checking out ISONO for a while, but it took one of those serendipitous moments to eventually get us in for dinner.  We were at a genuine loss one night walking home from work....  We simply had no idea about what we felt like for dinner and were getting a little frustrated trying to pin down one restaurant to visit.  It just so happened that we were walking along Hollywood Road and only a few steps away from the PMQ.  With no reservation, we hedged our bets that we'd be able to score a table as a walk in.

Mercedes Me - Luxury showroom and fine dining restaurant?

https://www.mercedes-benz.com/hk/mercedes-me/store/

As far as luxury brands go, Mercedes is one of the most enduring and well known brands on the planet, especially if you're a car nut.  I've always been more of a Beemer guy and BMW is my luxury car of choice.  But the world of luxury car brands is a competitive beast, and many of the well known brands are looking to expand their base with more accessible entry level cars.  It seems that Mercedes is taking another approach to help their luxury brand become a little more accessible with the introduction of the Mercedes Me concept.

Partnering up with Maximal Concepts in Hong Kong, the crew that run Mott 32 (see post here) and Blue Butcher (see post here), Mercedes Me is one of the first concepts stores that blends a Mercedes showroom with a full restaurant.   Located very conveniently in the Entertainment Building in Central (underneath HMV), the restaurant slash showroom is noticeable with a stylised logo that is both serious and whimsical at the same time...  Oh, and don't forget the flashy Mercedes vehicle that on the night of our visit was the safety car from Formula 1 Grand Prix.

I'd been keen to get into the restaurant for a while, and had been stymied by trying to book in on a Friday and Saturday night, it seemed that Mercedes Me was doing well enough that you couldn't book a decent time on a popular night.  As it turned out, we were able to secure a table as a 'walk in' early on a Sunday night, which suited me just fine.  Not knowing what to expect from a restaurant in a car showroom, I was impressed with the fit out.  I shouldn't have been surprised by the lux fit out that combined a very modern restaurant with a homage to one of the most recognisable car manufacturers on the planet.

Catalunya - a slice of El Bulli in HK?

http://www.catalunya.hk/

There are restaurants that are so famous that they transcend the industry and fundamentally change it.  Current paradigm changer is Copenhagen's Noma but Heston Blumenthal's the Fat Duck is probably better known for changing things up.  The grandaddy of them all though has to be El Bulli, Ferron Adria's Spanish game changer, a restaurant that has closed but its legend lives on.  I was never lucky enough to visit El Bulli, but then, very few were.

It was with great excitement that I realised that some of the team behind El Bulli had established a restaurant right here in Hong Kong, and that I'd be able to experience some of the brilliance of the famed restaurant, albeit a tenuous link.  Catalunya is located in a quiet side street in Morrison Hill (the back of WanChai), hardly the setting for one of Hong Kong's hottest restaurants, but in a way it's oddly poetic that a such a Spanish beauty can be hidden so well.  My excitement remained at insane levels for a few days while I maintained a fantasy that I'd be dining at a spot helmed by Alain Devahive Tolosa and Pol Perello, the El Bulli trained chefs that ran the kitchen......  at one time!

My bubble was burst by a well known and connected chef out of Singapore, who sent me a quiet FB message to inform me that the dynamic duo had moved on from Catalunya.  C'est la vie I guess, but it did help settle my expectations for our meal, with were rapidly reaching unrealistic proportions!

22 Ships - tapas at the cool end of town

http://www.22ships.hk/

I've not really been in Hong Kong long enough to have witnessed the gentrification of parts of Wan Chai. I mean I can still see elements of the old Hong Kong in the hip Hong Kong district, but it seems as if a large part of the area has already changed.  It's not for me to say whether that's a good or bad thing, I have a natural predilection towards urban renewal, but there are some parts of Wan Chai that are now pretty hip and cool.

Ship Street is probably one of the leading lights in the gentrification of Wan Chai, with an ever expanding number of cool little restaurants and bars, along with some of Asia's top restaurants (see post here and here).  It was with this in mind that we decided to catch up with local food buddy Cynthia from JustCozitsTuesday for dinner, it also helped that it was in Cynthia's neck of the woods for a change!  Big fans of Aberdeen Street Social (see post here), we went to Jason Atherton's other Hong Kong restaurant, casual diner 22 Ships.

Named after it's location in Ship Street, 22 Ships is easy to spot from the street.  As with a lot of small, hip restaurants, there's a no reservation policy at 22 Ships, which normally means you need all parties together to score a seat.  We'd arrived a little earlier and with puppy dog eyes, asked if we could take our seat as our friend would be joining pretty quickly.  The waitress took pity on us and led us to one of the few tables that was still available inside and as we waited for our dining companion to join us, we looked over the menu.

Zelo Spanish Restaurant and Tapas - it filled in some time

http://www.gaiagroup.com.hk/zelo

Normally when I'm heading out to eat, I have an interesting story about the choice of the restaurant or a little bit of background about the chef.  Not this time, we did have interesting plans for the evening, we were going to see Tomorrowland and were then cracking on with a visit to Wagyu Takumi (see post here).  What we need though was a quick and simple lunch before heading to the movies, one that wouldn't ruin out appetite for an expensive dinner.

Since we were at Pacific Place at Admiralty, there were a couple of options that included Thai, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.  Being a fan of Spanish cuisine, in particular tapas, we decided that bite to eat at Zelo would satisfy our need for a quick and light meal before the movie.

The thing that stood out most about Zelo was the beautiful cast iron dome that decorates the casual dining area of the restaurant.  It's an impressive looking feature that dominates the space and is clearly visible from most spots in that end of the shopping centre.  The feature also played acoustic tricks on us, while we were seated at a table right at the edge of the dome, by placing an ear next to the structure, it seems you could clearly hear people talking on the other side....  Cool.

Moose and Gibson - getting the silent treatment

http://www.mooseandgibson.com/

2013 will definitely go down as a watershed year in the annals of Brisbane dining, there were openings and closings and just a heap of movement in what had been a stagnant dining and bar scene.  There were many wonderful moments for me last year, in my first full year of writing my food blog, and a couple really stand out for me.  One in particular causes me to smile every time I think about it, for various reasons.  I went to the opening of a cool little spot over at Woolloongabba called Moose & Gibson, then followed it up with a visit for what turned out to be one the best breakfasts I had all year (see post here and here).

Most notably was that through this event, I met a pretty good bloke whom I've become friends with, and because to this day, the Moose & Gibson post remains in my top two most popular blog posts of all time!

So I was quite excited to learn that Moose & Gibson was trying something a little different and went along to a test night to provide some feedback on their Silent Cinema Tapas night.  The concept is quite simple but ingenious:  tapas menu and silent cinema.  The menu has been put together by head chef Luke Tye, who has been producing some amazing food since moving to Moose & Gibson last year.  Owner and all round great bloke, Malcolm Watts was pretty excited about the new concept telling us that it's not really been done before and that he wanted to create a space where you could come and get some great food, a few drinks and enjoy some old style silent cinema.

Gordita - a different take on Spanish cuisine

http://gordita.com.au/

All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place at one of Brisbane's newest dining hotspots, the awesome M&A Lane in the Valley.  Gordita is the latest funky restaurant to open up in what is quickly becoming a killer dining destination, one of many in a rapidly expanding Brisbane dining scene.

As seems to be the case lately, we were walking to James Street to do our usual weekend shop, when we noticed that Gordita had opened its doors.  I'd known that Gordita was opening soon, in fact I'd been invited along to check out the menu at a sit down lunch, but the moment I saw that the spot had opened, there was no way I could wait a week to check it out.  In fact, we waited exactly one day before the lure of the shiny shiny had us booked in to sample some lovely Spanish nosh!

Gordita is part of an ever expanding empire of restaurants form Jamie Webb, who also runs Spanish Tapas joint Peasant at the Barracks (see post here) as well as Oyster Bar Cabiria and Lefty's old time music hall. Drawing on his experiences running restaurants in New York and Sydney, Jamie has put together a southern Spanish style restaurant that is very different from the more traditional cuisine at Peasant.  Amazingly, he's also been able to lure Alfonso Ales to consult on the menu, who brings his experiences in working in Spain's best restaurant in recent years ,(now closed) elBulli.

Ole Spanish Restaurant - did my chorizo obsession get the better of me?

http://www.olerestaurant.com.au/

When you feel like something tasty, I mean really full of flavour, it's hard to go past Spanish cuisine.  I have to admit to a bit of an obsession with chorizo, for me it's the king of sausage and the king of flavour.  I'd had a little taste of chorizo with my breakfast (see post here) and found that it had whet my appetite for more, much more.  We wondered where we could go so I could get another hit of that sweet sweet chorizo, it obviously had to be a Spanish restaurant, but where? 

It came to me in a flash, we've walked past one of the larger and more popular Spanish dining spots so often, it had faded into the background a little bit.  Ole Restaurant seems to be the most popular dining spots over at Little Grey Street at Southbank and it seems to be packed at any time of the day or night.  I've thought about going there a lot and when I suggested Ole to SC, she seemed pretty interested and reminded me that she had been there before and had really enjoyed it.  We had a plan, now it was time to execute it.

We would normally walk over to Southbank when heading over for dinner, especially on a weekend but we had a dilemma.   If you've been in Brisbane for the last week or so, you know that there was a massive bushfire over on Stradbroke Island and it had been creating havoc over Brisbane, in fact it had turned the CBD into a smoky haze.  There was no way that we would be over to walk over, especially with SC's asthma already playing up, it was definitely driving weather.

Peng You Chinese Kitchen and Bar - Gasworks gets another diner

http://www.peng-you.com.au/

I can't really remember the last time a new precinct in Brisbane generated so much buzz and excitement than the one being created by the Gasworks over at Newstead.  It seems like every week there is a new opening of a hip new dining spot under the purple haze of the brightly lit Gasometer Frame.  What's amazing about the Gasworks is the short timeframe that it's become a 'go to' destination for Brisbanites and the fact that there is still plenty of development to be completed yet.

During the week I was invited along to check out one of the latest dining spots, a place doing a modern take on a very old and traditional cuisine.  Peng You China Kitchen and Bar has one of the best locations at the Gasworks precent and is right next to the iconic Gasometer, which acts as a beacon for those in the general vicinity.  I would be dining with a number of other foodies on the night, which would be ideal when eating Asian cuisine, which is all about sharing and experiencing the food as much as just consuming.

Thinking that it would take ages to get from the CBD to Newstead in peak hour traffic, I arranged to be dropped off at the Gasworks but as luck would have it, it was pretty quiet on the backstreets and I arrived a little early.  I took the opportunity to get into the restaurant early and have a good look around to see what they had done to the space.  As I walked into Peng You, I was greeted by our host for the night, David Hung, who is also the Manager and son of owner Joyce Chiu who owns Obsession over at South Bank.

Tinderbox Kitchen - a great space in James Street

http://www.thetinderbox.com.au/

It's an exciting time in Brisbane, there are new restaurants opening up weekly and there are now more options than ever before to get your dinner fix on. It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up the the pace of the new dining spaces across Brisbane and I often don't come across a new restaurant until it's not new any more.  In some ways I'm luckier than most, I have a network of fellow bloggers that help me keep in the loop and I occasionally help them out with a new spot I've come across.

One of the reasons why I love writing my blog is to let others know about the cool new spots that are worthy of their dining dollars.  I'm often encouraged by the feedback I get from my readers about how much they enjoy reading my blog and how it's their main source of finding out what's going on around town.  It makes me want to go out and check out more exciting and new spots, just so I can pass it onto my readers.

Just when you thought the James Street precinct couldn't get any more exciting, a new dining spot has sprouted up, and while not off the beaten track, it is tucked a way just a little bit.  The Tinderbox Kitchen has recently opened it's doors just behind it's big brother and perennial James Street favourite Harveys Bar and Bistro.  I first came across the name when one of my Blogger buddies shared on the interweb that she had just had an amazing meal, which of course got me pretty interested.  I certainly love amazing meals.

Ortiga - sunset falls on a Spanish great

http://www.ortiga.com.au/

What tumultuous time it is with Brisbane restaurants of late.  There has been much movement with many new restaurants opening but sadly some closing as well.  The last few weeks have heralded the news that some of Brisbane's best and most awarded restaurants are closing down.  First was the news that after only a year in operation Bistro One Eleven would shut its doors immediately and then later the same day was the sad news that one of the country's best restaurants would also be shutting its doors.

The news that Ortiga was to shut down hit me hard, it's not only one of the best restaurants in the country, it's one of the most imaginative and creative restaurants I had been to.  Ortiga still seemed so relevant in today's cut throat restaurant industry having risen two places in the Gourmet Traveller Top 100 restaurants to number 28.  It also hit me hard as it was a regular special occasion dining spot and  I was booked in to visit for my wedding anniversary, indeed a special occasion.  While I was incredibly saddened by the news, the one consolation was that Ortiga would continue to operate for a few weeks and that we could still have our special occasion dinner, only now it would also be a farewell dinner.

The partnership between Simon Hill and Pablo Tordesillas had indeed been a special one.  Simon has had the knack of building special partnerships after such a long and successful relationship with Jason Peppler at Isis, ironically in the same location.  Isis was a mainstay of the Brisbane dining scene for around twelve years before it's ultimate transformation from Modern Australian fine diner to Spanish award winner.  It seemed as if the success of Pablo and Simon would continue on for equally as long, but incredibly Ortiga will be closing its doors after five incredibly successful years.

Watt Restaurant and Bar - the restaurant at the Powerhouse

http://www.trippaswhitegroup.com.au/our-venues/Watt-Restaurant-+-Bar/10

It's a lovely time of the year.  The warm dry sunny days of Spring are here but the heavy hot rainy days of Summer have not yet arrived.  It's at this time of year that I love getting out and about, checking out all that Brisbane has to offer.  Last month was the annual Brisbane Festival and there were great times to be had, but the great times don't need to end just because the festival has finished.  The Brisbane Powerhouse continues to be a source of endless entertainment and again saw SC and I head over to check out one of the events, this time Grindr - a love story.

The Powerhouse is one of Brisbane's greatest achievements for me, and the conversion of the old electricity powerhouse from a run down and decrepit former glory to a modern and funky performing arts centre was genius.  The powerhouse was originally built in the early 1900's to generate electricity for Brisbane's tramway system and at its peak supplied electricity for the largest tram network in the Southern hemisphere.  Eventually trams were replaced by buses (pretty shortsighted) and the building fell into disrepute after being decommissioned in 1971.

Fast forward to now and the Brisbane Powerhouse is many things to many people, not only is it an amazing performing arts centre with three areas that seat up to 800 people, it's so much more.  The Jan Power markets call the area home and it has to be the most popular spot in Brisbane for wedding photos, you can even learn to be a circus performer there.  It's also the home of a couple of bars and restaurants, which are very popular spots on any given weekend, especially when the sun is shining on a beautiful spring day. 

The 5th Element - still searching for the last element

http://www.5thelement.com.au/

Southbank is one of the most vibrant precincts anywhere in Australia but it really comes alive during the annual Brisbane Festival.  Where else can you find an open piazza that seats over 2,000 people just a few steps away from a man made beach that is open all year round?  Ever since the transformation of the old Expo '88 site from wasteland to a city playground there has been something for everyone just a short walk across from the city CBD.  One of the reasons why I love Southbank so much is that it's one of the more exciting dining precincts in Brisbane.

I had been hitting Southbank a fair bit during the Brisbane festival, getting over to the Spiegeltent for the incredible La Soiree and the transformed Suncorp Piazza for the street circus spectacular that was Urban.  I've lost count of how many times I have walked by the spectacular Santos Light Show over the last few weeks but it's fair to say that I have heard the haunting Midnight City by M83 that is a highlight from the show.  With all the time I had spent over at Southbank, I figured it was time I visited one of the many cool restaurants while the area was alive with energy and activity.

There are around fifty restaurants to choose from over at Southbank, and that doesn't include all of the mall style eateries that inhabit the centre of people's area in the centre of the area.  Surprisingly, I have not been to many of the dining spots over at Southbank, but those I have gone to I have eaten at many times.  I had to decide if I was going to hit somewhere new or go back to an old favourite and after some contemplation I decided on a compromise, I went back a restaurant I had fond memories of but had not visited for many years.

Casual Dining - Brew Cafe & Bar

http://brewgroup.com.au/

I love the idea of restaurants, bars and cafes that are tucked away in laneways and that are hard to find, unless you know where you are going.  Brisbane has precious few laneways and spots that are tucked away, but Brew in Burnett Lane certainly fits the bill.  For many years Burnett Lane was a place to be avoided at all costs, but then something happened and it all changed.  There are some cool restaurants and bars in Burnett Lane now, with The Survey Co and Super Whatnot, but Brew is a little different.  Where The Survey Co is more refined and Super Whatnot is uber cool, Brew is a little more grungy and dare I say it, a little more real (or should I say accessible).

I have been trying to get into Brew for ages but have been foiled at every attempt.  It's not as if you need to book months in advance for Brew, there is a no bookings policy, but it's usually so jammed packed, that it's impossible to get a table without meticulous planning.  Even with careful planning, you need a slice of luck to get a table, for example one time I left work at 4:30 trying to snare a table for an early dinner with a mate!  No go, even then every table had been scoped out with other patrons with the same idea as me.

Tonic Espresso + Bar - something a little bit different

http://tonicespresso.com.au/

Let me start off by saying, I am not a big drinker.  In fact, you could count on one hand the number of times I have been inebriated in the last decade.  Sure, I have a drink every now and then, but normally it's a vodka and lemonade or a 'girly' premixed vodka drink.

I often get invited out to have some drinks in different situations and normally find a lame way out of going along....   But when I was invited to come along and check out the latest offering from Tonic Espresso + Bar, I was intrigued enough to overcome my natural aversion to having a few drinks and check it out.

Tonic has a really interesting background and history, with an unusual journey to becoming a hip bar in the Valley.  Tonic is actually an architecture and design firm located in Hynes Street in Fortitude Valley who have been extremely creative with some spare space and transitioned it's garage into an Espresso bar.  The espresso bar started out as a way for locals to get their morning coffee fix and grew rapidly in popularity, so much so that it was extended with tables and seating inside and out!

Pintxo - casual tapas in New Farm

http://www.pintxo.com/

What to do on a Sunday night when your usual plans for a movie and dinner with friends falls through?  SC and I thought long and hard about going it alone to see a movie and grab some dinner but the movie we wanted to see was not on at a good time.  Still wanting to get out of the house, we decided on a nice simple dinner at one of our favourite Spanish tapas restaurants in the New Farm.

Pintxo is an interesting little taperia located on Brunswick street that has gone through a bit of an evolution of late.  At one time there was a tapas train taking up half of the restaurant and it was a great way to come in with mates and sample different spanish delights.  Recently Pintxo has moved away from the tapas train and converted the area to more traditional dining.

The name pintxo comes from the Basque region of Spain and literally translates to 'spike' and is in reference to toothpick that is spiked through bite size ingredients.  Usually associated as starters in Spanish cuisine they are often found in bars or taverns across northern Spain.  The main difference between a tapas and a pintxo is the 'spike' through the food.

Cheap Eats - Bitter Suite

http://www.bittersuite.com.au/

Sunday night is usually movie night with SC and a couple of good friends, CI and TB, but due to a bit of a sore back from SC we decided to skip the movie and just have dinner instead.  We all wanted to avoid the usual Sunday dinner spots that we often frequent and try something a new.  After hunting around on Urbanspoon we finally decided upon a little beer bistro in New Farm called Bitter Suite.

As we booked into Bitter Suite, it struck me that I had heard the name before and went searching through my emails.  After a little digging I came across an email from the enterprising owner of Bitter Suite, Katherine, who had emailed me to introduce herself and the bistro.  I say enterprising because the email obviously stuck with me when I looked for a restaurant that we would not normally have frequented.

Bitter Suite is very much a beer bistro, they have seven different beers on tap and over 55 bottled beers available, as well as a pretty comprehensive cocktail menu.  TB was pretty excited about this...  Oh, I almost forgot, they serve food too!  As befitting a beer bistro the food comes out tapas style and is very much share dining.  After the CI and TB ordered cocktails and SC a beer, we set about ordering a pile of food to share.  We could not really decide on what to share as a quartet, so we ordered as couples instead.

Simpatico - A gem in Paddington

http://www.simpaticobar.com.au/

Well, I have been left to my own devices for the week with SC heading down to Melbourne for a week for work.  I had big plans to go to a different restaurant every night and have a grand old time, but it didn't work out that way.  I did however convince CI to come out with me for one dinner for a boys night out, on the promise that we would not spend too much money.  After discussing CI's budget for the night, I was able to convince him to stretch it, just a little bit, and then we set about looking for the right place to visit.

After spending a little while on the internet looking at different menus we narrowed it down to the Fifth Element over at Southbank and Simpatico in Paddington.  CI has been to the Fifth Element a heap of times recently, so had his meal all mapped out, but we finally decided on going to Simpatico because it was new for the two of us.  More importantly the prices looked really reasonable and I like the name (sim-pa-ti-co/: pleasant, congenial, likeable).

Ortiga - when only the best will do

http://www.ortiga.com.au/

December seems to be Spanish month!  After visiting a couple of tapas restaurants I thought it would be time to get along to the king of Spanish tapas in Brisbane, Ortiga.  For me, Ortiga has re-defined the way we look at tapas and elevated the humble meal into a gastronomical delight, fine dining at its absolute best.

Simon Hill is responsible for Ortiga on the site of his once famous Brisbane institution, Isis Restaurant, on Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley.  Isis was recognised as Brisbane's best for a long time and Simon ran this in conjunction with one of my all time favourite Chefs, Jason Peppler (recently of now closed Confit Bistro).  It took a long time for Ortiga to be developed, with the Isis site empty for around two years before it's unveiling.  

I wasn't long before Ortiga achieved the ultimate accolade as being voted Brisbanes Best Restaurant in the Gourmet Travellers Top 100.  Ortiga is one of only three restaurants in Brisbane that has been awarded two chefs hats in the prestigious Brisbane Times Good Food Guide and two stars under the Gourmet Travellers awards.  Ortiga is also ranked the 30th best restaurant in Australia.  There are some serious accolades here for a restaurant that has only been open since 2010!

Pablo Tordesillas is the genius head chef of Ortiga who has worked in some of the world's best restaurants and learned his trade under the tutelage of Richard Corrigan (regular judge on the Great British Menu) and has spent time with one of Britian's most respected chefs Phillip Howard from two Michelin starred, the Square.