The FoodMeUpScotty Top Ten

Top 10 restaurants in Brisbane

I've been writing about food and restaurants in my blog for over two years now and it's been a heck of a ride.  I'm often asked what my favourite restaurants are or for recommendations of places to eat and I always find it difficult to limit my choices, there are just so many great places to eat in our fair city! 

My time as a Brisbane blogger is almost over, I am moving to Hong Kong (I will have already moved if you're reading this after the 10th of January).  I've had quite a bit of time to reflect on Brisbane's restaurants, especially as my time in the city comes to an end and I've decided that I will put together a list of my Top 10 restaurants.  Some you might agree with and others, you probably won't, but it's my list and each of the restaurants on the list is special in its own way.

There are many elements and factors when considering my favourite restaurants, having a top quality chef is part of the story, but equally important are service, diversity of menu and that all important 'X factor'.   A good indicator for me is repeat visits, if I want to go back (and go back often), then all the elements have usually come together and for me, thats what makes a top restaurant.

It's been a painful process and I've had to leave out some amazing restaurants, some that would have easily made a top twenty list, but I have had to limit my choices to ten....   So here it goes, here is my top ten list.  

Stokehouse Brisbane - no better way to spend #SundayFunday

http://stokehousebrisbane.com.au/

One of the things I love about this hobby of mine is that I get to promote the Brisbane food scene and all the greatness that it has to offer.  I do this in a couple of ways, firstly 'going undercover' and checking out new restaurants and then recounting my experiences back to you.  The other way, which seems to be picking up a bit at the moment, is getting back to places I love and doing a bit of promotion. 

I was recently invited along to the Stokehouse Brisbane, which is not only one of the best restaurants in Queensland with two Good Food Guide hats but is also rated as one of the top 100 restaurants in the country by Gourmet Traveller.  It's definitely a special occasion place and there are many people around town that rate it as their favourite restaurants.  It's a restaurant that I've been to many times over the years (see post here) and for me, it forms a special place in the local dining scene.

A restaurant is often as good as the team running it and General Manager Peter McMahon has a first rate team alongside him, led by award winning head chef Richard Ousby.  If you know your food, you might have known that Richard was formerly the sous chef at arguably the country's best restaurant Quay and won the 2011 Electrolux Appetite for Excellence chef award.  Also in the kitchen is a finalist of the 2014 young chef of the year, Ollie Hansford.  I had the pleasure of tasting Ollie's fantastic entry into the awards at this years Young Chef of the Year dinner (see post here).

There was never any doubt that we were in for a treat and we decided that we'd make it a #SundayFunday by cruising into the Stokehouse for a Sunday lunch.  If you've not been to the Stokehouse, it takes pride of place over at South Bank and has one of the prime positions of any restaurant in Brisbane - it's view of the Brisbane CBD is second to none.  We'd planned a leisurely stroll through the Botanical Gardens and across the Goodwill Bridge, but it turned out to be a beautifully warm day, so we were a little sweaty by the lime we'd traipsed across the bridge.  Luckily, we were a bit early and had the opportunity to cool down before our lunch commenced.

Biota Dining and Urbane Restaurant - 2 Hat collaboration = 4 Hat success

http://www.biotadining.com/     http://www.urbanerestaurant.com/

Sitting at home, mucking around on my iMac (as you do), I received an email from one of my favourite restaurants letting me know about a pretty special dinner.  I'm normally pretty absent minded and disorganised and good at forgetting about such emails, but this one piqued my interest immediately, it seemed like a once in a generation deal (I may be exaggerating).  It was compelling enough to forward straight on to SC and check that she'd be as keen as I was, with an immediate reply - 'of course'. 

You might be wondering what could garner such interest from a guy that eats out all the time?

2 Chefs - 4 hats - 1 Dinner

Then I read on.  One of the country's best chefs, Alejandro Cancino from our very own Urbane was teaming up with James Viles from Biota Dining in Bowral, who just happened to be youngest ever Chef’s Hat winner at the age of 23.  James has worked alongside some of the world's best chefs including Alain Ducasse and Hans Haas, so it's no wonder that his restaurant, Biota Dining, has been recognised as regional restaurant of the year, two years running.  Alejandro and James are well known for their strong commitment to sustainability and were partnering to design a six course menu, incorporating seasonal botanicals from our own local growers.  It was a meal not to be missed!

I've written about Urbane a few times (see posts here, here and here) which is a testament to how great the restaurant is, but I really wanted to see how two such revered chefs would work together.  I was especially excited about getting along to the dinner, it was petty unlikely that I'd ever find my self in Bowral...  I have to admit, the lure of four chefs hats in the kitchen was too much for me to ignore!

The Fish House - worth the drive to the Gold Coast

http://thefishhouse.com.au/

There are certain events that happen each year that signify the passing of the seasons.  The transition from the cooler months of winter to the perfect days of spring and summer are marked by one of our favourite events.  Each year in September, local, interstate and international artists compete in the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin Beach.  Each year for ten days, some pretty amazing sculptures are dotted up and down the beach and foreshore.  It's one event on the calendar that is a must visit and this year was no different.

What was different about our 2014 visit was that we'd planned a little more carefully than normal and aligned a visit to one of the country's hottest restaurants.  Instead of jumping in the car and hoping to find a corner fish and chip shop open, we made a reservation at The Fish House at Burleigh Heads.  I guess we were still having fish and chips in spirit, but in reality, the plan was to dine in style.

There has been a lot said and written about The Fish House this year, mainly on the back of having amazing food and a reputation for service excellence.  It didn't hurt getting a second chefs hat in the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide and being ranked 74 in the Gourmet Travellers list of top 100 restaurants for 2014.  Owner Simon Gloftis has spent a long time in hospitality and had owned and run several successful cafes before achieving a life long dream and opening Hellenika at Nobbys Beach, itself a hatted restaurant.  With an obvious flair for creating memorable dining experiences, The Fish House is Simon's most successful restaurant to date.

It must be said that apart from our annual pilgrimage down to the Swell Festival, we are not regular beach bums, which in some ways is sacrilegious while living in South East Queensland.  We had a general idea where The Fish House was, but it was down to our trusty SatNav to get us to our destination.  It had been a bit of a crappy and overcast day when we'd left Brisbane for the coast, but by the time we pulled up at our park, just around the corner from the restaurant, there was nothing but blue sky's above.  A great sign for both lunch and our walk amongst the installation artwork that would come later.

Good Food Month - Young Chef Dinner

http://eccobistro.com/

If you're a foodie and/or you love eating out, then you'd be pretty excited about the Good Food Month, a time for celebrating the amazing restaurants and chefs we have in our beautiful riverside City.  For the last couple of years, the Fairfax Group have expanded their well known Good Food Guide from Sydney and Melbourne to include Brisbane.  This is not only recognition that Brisbane has arrived on the national scene, but has been there for a long time.

The month of July is filled with many different events, sponsored by Brisbane restaurants, which highlight just how fabulous the produce, incredible talent and dedicated the foodies are.  One of the first events in Good Food Month was the Young Chef Dinner, this year held at Brisbane's iconic chef Philip Johnson's E'cco bistro.  The dinner was a six course degustation prepared by the six finalists of the Good Food Guides Young Chef of the year.  

You'd imagine that a meal prepared by Brisbane's best and brightest up-coming and already here chefs would be pretty special, and you'd be right.  Festivities kicked off with welcome from E'cco's Philip Johnson and the Good Food Guide's Natascha Mirosch and a brief introduction to the young chefs, before the culmination of a day's (and lifetime's) hard work kicked off.

I've eaten at E'cco many times in the past and it was great to see the venue decked out with white linen and share tables, and every spare nook and cranny filled with diners, all with anticipation in their eyes.  I was really happy with our table, which was at the front near the kitchen and had the proud mothers of Ben Devlin of Esquire and Braden White of Ricky's on the Sunshine Coast.  Sharing the meal with the proud mothers was a fantastic experience and gave us a pretty unique view of the meal.

Urbane - there's a reason why it's so good

http://www.urbanerestaurant.com/

There are very few restaurants in a city that have the ability to completely challenge the way you think about food. I feel very fortunate to live in a city where there are two restaurants that have proven themselves capable of standing on the world stage and saying 'look-at-me'.  I've been giving a lot of love to Esquire over the last twelve months (see posts here), so I thought it was time to give Brisbane's other degustation-only restaurant a return visit.

I have a semi regular dinner with some work buddies (past and present) who love to come along and share in my food adventures from time to time, and when asked where we should go for our next restaurant, I had no hesitation in choosing Urbane.  One of our recent excursions for a degustation fell a little short of expectations (see post here) and I wanted to ensure that we didn't get a repeat experience.  It was a risky gamble given my last experience at Urbane with the usually impeccable menu having a couple of items that didn't quite hit the heights that I've come to expect (see post here).

Urbane is one of a handful of Two Hat and Two Star restaurants in the country and officially listed as our top ranking restaurant in the Gourmet Travellers top 100 restaurants, currently sitting at #12.  Urbane has always had a reputation for securing the freshest young talent around which stretches all the way back to Ryan Squires (of Esquire fame) and 2012 Good Food Guide chef of the year Kym Machin.  That trend has continued as the fine diner secured the services of Argentinian wonder chef Alejandro Cancino, who has worked in the world's 4th best restaurant, Mugaritz in Spain, and before hitting our shores Alejandro had picked up the UK's Young Chef of the Year in 2008.  Committing to a life in Australia, Alejandro had bought into Urbane and as new co-owner was able to pick up the 2013 Qld GFG chef of the year and Gourmet Travellers best new talent - phew, all before the age of 29.

The Long Apron - Regional perfection

http://www.spicersgroup.com.au/restaurant/long-apron

I'm pretty well versed with the dining scene in Brisbane and it's surrounds and feel extremely lucky that I have some of the best restaurants in the country just a short distance from my front door.  I guess you could say I'm very comfortable knowing that at any time I can quite easily hit a fine dining restaurant for a meal.  I have to admit that lately I've been getting a little restless with my dining choices, sure, there are some amazing dining options, but sometimes there is a little 'sameness' about them.  To 'spice' it up a little bit, I've been going further and further afield from my CBD base and I've been discovering some amazing restaurants and meals.

My best mate the Big Boy, who lives overseas now and I only get to see a couple of times a year, was recently back for a week.  It's been our custom to book into as many nice restaurants as possible when he's back so he can get a reminder about how great Australian food can be.  We generally take him to our favourite restaurants, which this time included Hatch & Co, Gerard's, Rogue Bar and Bistro and  of course Esquire.  There is no doubt that these are all amazing restaurants and the Big Boy loved them all, but there was still that notion that there was a bit of 'sameness' about the experiences.  We thought it would be time to 'spice' it up.

The idea actually came from SC and it was a beauty.  We'd been hearing for a long time that there was an amazing restaurant up at Spicers Resort at Montville called The Long Apron.  Our plan was to make a day of it, drive up to Montville mid-morning and arrive in time for lunch, then drive home through Maleny and stop off for some gelato.  We'd been toying with the idea of doing a day trip to visit the Long Apron for years but given my propensity against driving long distances, I've always avoided going.

E'cco Bistro - sharing the love with friends

http://www.eccobistro.com/

What can I tell ya, I'm a sucker for the classics!  I'd been heading down to check out Philip Johnson's pop-up burger place, Howzat Burgers (see post here), so often that I got it into my head that I needed to take it one step further and try the latest E'cco Bistro menu.  Not that eating at E'cco bistro is much of a chore, it's been one of Brisbane's best restaurants for as long as I can remember and it's been one of my favourites ever since I ate there my first time.

I've had many memorable meals at E'cco but had a surprising time trying to convince my mate to come along with us for a double date.  CI recanted how he'd been disappointed with the size of the meals and the price of mains the last time he'd been to E'cco, which he also admitted had been a long time ago. Sensing that I'd have better luck with TB, I asked CI to check in with his more culinary adventurous other half, which turned out to be a masterstroke.  TB had never been to E'cco before and had been keen to check it out for a long time, so it was a lock, we were heading over to E'cco Bistro for dinner.

There was just one problem, I'd left it pretty late on a Saturday afternoon to get into one of the most popular restaurants in Brisbane, pretty silly really.  Luckily though the restaurant was able to squeeze us into an earlier sitting (thanks Philip), as long as we got along by 6:30, we were going to be sweet.  SC and I were pretty happy with this earlier starting time but TB and CI found it a bit early, but were just really happy the we'd been able to score a seat.

Era Bistro - New Years Eve dinner

http://erabistro.com.au/

We were always going to go out for dinner on New Years Eve, it was just a matter of deciding where to go and how best to see out the year that was 2013.  Of the restaurants open for NYE 2013, there were six or seven that looked really great and we had to decide on how much we wanted to spend and what we were going to do after eating.  Some of the options were at the premium end of the spectrum, such as the $185 per person Stokehouse package that included dinner and drinks as well as partying afterwards.  Some had set menus with little option but to eat the entree, main and dessert that was prescribed as part of that menu. Others were just about the food with a complimentary glass of bubbly included in the price.

We ended up choosing one of our favourite restaurants, one that we hadn't been to for a little while and one where there were multiple options for each of the courses.  Era Bistro is a restaurant that SC has been to a heap of times, way more than me, so I was keen to get along and see what they would be doing for NYE.  The last time we had been to Era together, I'd missed out on one of the most spectacular entrees that I'd ever seen (see post here) and I was hoping to get something that was just as good this time (and hopefully not miss out to SC again).

EDB13 Perth Trip - Balthazar

https://www.facebook.com/BalthazarBarAndRestaurant

I've just had an amazing weekend over in Perth.  Yeah, I know! Perth is about as far away from Brisbane as you can possibly get, in fact it's pretty much the most isolated capital city in the world.  If you're wondering what would get a Brisbane foodie over to Perth, then wonder no further, I was off attending an annual food bloggers conference called Eat Drink Blog (#EDB13 on Twitter). That's right, a conference dedicated to food blogging, what a freaky concept, what could be more exciting (or scarier) than a hundred or so food bloggers all congregating in the one spot.

Both SC and I had been to Perth before, but never together, so when I found out that my nomination had been accepted to attend this years conference we thought it would be a great way to finally see Perth together.  We both decided to take a long weekend and made the long trip over to Perth on the Friday with a plan to hit a few restaurants and have some fun before the conference.  While I was pretty excited about the #EDB13 conference I was equally excited to be checking out some of Perth's hotspot restaurants and do a subtle comparison to my home town of Brisbane.

Leading up to #EDB13, I had been using the 'interwebs' to size up the best spots to visit while in Perth and a couple of restaurants kept coming up in discussion, Print Hall and Cantina.  The plan was to land in Perth just before lunch, collect the bags and then check out one of the newer and hipper spots in Perth, Print Hall.  Of course the plan went awry immediately, the only session that I could get into was a 12:30pm sitting and there was just no way that we could get from the airport to Perth in time.  I was a bit bummed out, but had to make the most of the situation, so I hit up Urbanspoon to see where else I could go on such short notice.

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.

Aria Brisbane - tasting menu that missed the mark

http://www.ariarestaurant.com/brisbane

It's amazing how often the best laid plans can be disrupted.  A group of work buddies had asked me if I wanted to come along and check out the Aria tasting menu, and of course I agreed immediately.  Plans were made, dates booked, arrangements set for babysitters and hotel accommodations were locked in and we were all set to go. Then something came up and I couldn't make it and we all decided to change the date, with some considerable effort for some.

As the second date approached and plans were all set, again I gave the terrible news to the team that I couldn't make it and that they should go without me.  Again the date was changed as the team really wanted us to go together, and again the date was changed with much inconvenience.  This was all before my New York trip and the new date was scheduled well after the trip and was locked in, rock solid!

Finally, on the third attempt to get along to check out the Aria Tasting menu we managed to pull it together, albeit with a much reduced group, which I felt a little guilty about.  After the many false starts, there was a huge amount of anticipation about heading to Aria.  The team had read and loved my previous blog post about Aria (see post here) and all had the fine diner on their list of 'must do before I die' places to eat.  Aria, after all, is one of the best restaurants in the country.

Rockpool Bar & Grill - Part of the Neil Perry Empire

http://www.rockpool.com/melbourne/

I love living in Brisbane, the climate is the best in the country and the food culture is developing at a rapid rate, but if there was one other capital I would live in, it's Melbourne.  There is a lot to love about Melbourne but the two things I love most about it are the food scene and the fact that it's the world capital of Australian Rules Football.  It doesn't hurt that it was recently voted the world's most livable city again (not sure why Brisbane didn't make the top 20).  The major problem with Melbourne, and really the only problem for me is the fact that that it's so cold in winter.  The cold is not my thing.

I recently found myself in Melbourne for a few days with a pretty full schedule, but had a couple of free moments and one free night, so I had to decide where I would go for dinner.  My flight arrived late(ish) which meant I couldn't get out of the city at a reasonable time to visit any foodie haunts, and since I was staying at the Crown Metropol, there was an abundance of options available at Southbank.  I thought I would hit up some of my twitter followers to check on recommendations (thanks for the RT Booma) and the restaurant most tweeted about was Rockpool Bar & Grill.

It was a good option.  Rockpool Bar & Grill is one of the fleet of restaurants by food genius Neil Perry and is one of the most awarded and celebrated restaurants in the country.  Its currently ranked in the top 25 restaurants it the Gourmet Traveller top 100 restaurants in the country and has had two hats from the Age Good Food Guide for a very long time.

E'cco - 18th Birthday Celebrations

http://www.eccobistro.com/

Philip Johnson's E'cco is one of Brisbane's most enduring and iconic restaurants.  A special occasion restaurant that made you want to make any occasion special, just so you'd have an excuse to go for your next visit.  More than a special occasion restaurant for the many regulars that love E'cco's approach to dining, relaxed and with amazing combinations of flavours.

I was excited and honoured to be invited along as a guest of Lucid Media and Philip Johnson to be part of the E'cco 18th Birthday celebrations.  I was joined by ABC news lead Karina Carvalho and her plus 1 and Jessalyn from Lucid Media to share in the celebration and work through some of the classic E'cco dishes of the last 18 years.

Well before I started blogging about food, E'cco was one of my favourite restaurants and I have had some exquisite meals over the journey.  Since blogging, I have been back often and I have written much about the restaurant (see posts here and here), so I was looking forward to sitting back and checking out the menu filled with Philip's favourite dishes.  I had only just landed from my New York visit, so I was a little jet-lagged for the visit and also had fresh memories of some amazing meals from Manhattan.

Urbane - The return visit

http://www.urbanerestaurant.com/urbane/

There are a stack of nice restaurants in Brisbane now and more opening every week it seems, but there is still only a handful of special occasion restaurants around town.  You might ask, what constitutes a special occasion restaurant, but its not always easy to put your finger on.  Sure, the food needs to be sensational, that goes without saying.  A great atmosphere?  Check!  Something you just can't find somewhere else?  You bet!  All these things are important, but there is also the X factor, which is harder to put your finger on.

I needed a special occasion restaurant recently for a very special occasion.  My best mate, a friend I had spent almost every day with over the last 22 years, was emigrating to another country.  I can think of only a handful of other scenarios that would have a greater impact on my life.  We wanted somewhere memorable, a place where we would reminisce over as the years roll on, somewhere perfect.  It needed to be degustation too.  I am always banging on about how much I love degustations and my best mate, the Big Boy, wanted to experience a great degustation too.  The one other time I had taken the BB to a degustation was Attica in Melbourne (post is here), and we did not have the best of experiences.  I needed to rectify that with an amazing meal.  There were only two places that came to mind, Esquire and Urbane.  I had a feeling that Esquire would be a little too cutting edge for the BB, so we decided on Urbane.  I was looking forward to this.

Tartufo - Italian for truffle

http://tartufo.com.au/t/

There is a spot over at the Emporium in the Valley that used to be one of my favourite restaurants, unfortunately it closed down and the spot remained vacant for a while.  That restaurant was Belle Epoque and it was a lovely French restaurant, where ironically I had the best risotto ever.  I say ironically because the restaurant that replaced Belle Epoque was an Italian fine diner called Tartufo.

Chef and owner Tony Percuoco has a long and distinguished career in the food industry, which started in his family's restaurant in Naples as a young boy.  In 1973, Tony began his career at Bennalong at the Sydney Opera House, then onto continue working in his family's restaurant in Kings Cross.  After opening and running his own restaurant in Surrey Hills, Senso Unico, Tony moved to the Gold Coast to open a number of restaurants including the well known Restaurant Fellini.  All of this led to taking over the space at Emporium and creating Tartufo.

Adelaide Trip - Georges on Waymouth

http://www.georgesonwaymouth.com.au/

The problem with travelling to a new city for only a few days is the limited amount of time you have to check out all of the great places you want to go.  In my case, this was as many great restaurants that Adelaide had to offer as possible.  I was only going to be in Adelaide for a couple of days (details about why here) and I had already burned both dinners on Celsius and Press, so I only had breakfasts available to me now.

There are so many ways to find out where to eat when visiting a new city nowadays and I hit just about all of them, top 10 breakfast lists, urbanspoon, AGFG and of course chatting to some local bloggers over twitter.  After considering all of the advise given I decided that Georges on Waymouth would be my first breakfast target.

Georges on Waymouth has been serving the people of Adelaide for just under 10 years and is every bit the European style restaurant.  The owners George & Coula Kasimatis have the aim of serving fresh seasonal produce and to provide impeccable service.  Their approach seems to be working as Georges has won several Restaurant & Catering awards and holds two Chefs Hats form the Australian Good Food Gude.

Adelaide Trip - Press Food & Wine the up and comer

http://www.pressfoodandwine.com.au/

On my recent trip to Adelaide I set about hitting the best restaurants the city had to offer in the three days I was there.  This meant that I had to make some tough decisions about which of the many fantastic restaurants that now grace the Adelaide dining scene I would visit.  The first night in town was Celsius and you can read about it here.  But it was night two and I needed somewhere to go, so after doing the obligatory online research and again hitting up some local bloggers for their suggestions I decided on Press Food & Wine.

I had been spending the days wandering the streets of Adelaide, so had a pretty good idea where Press was located, which is just outside of the reglar dining haunt of Gouger Street.  I did however notice that Waymouth Street was starting to get a nice little gathering of restaurants with Georges on Waymouth right next door.

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.

Aria - simply stunning

http://www.ariarestaurant.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=21620

There is a proliferation of cooking shows on TV now days and with cooking shows comes the concept of the celebrity chef.  To be honest, I have mixed feelings about celebrity chefs; I mean they have usually done really well to be at the top of their game to get the opportunities........  but on the other hand, when going to the restaurant of a celebrity chef, it's really unlikely that they will be there.  Do they need to be?  I think so.

Aria's owner is one of the most recognised names in food and Matt Moran has a reputation for uncompromising quality in his two Aria restaurants (Aria Blue & Red).  Aria is located at Eagle Street in the old Pier Nine building and went through extensive renovations a few years back.  Aria Brisbane is a multi award winning restaurant with two coveted chefs hats from the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide as well as being ranked number 34 in the Gourmet Travellers list of top 100 restaurants.  I still remember the first time I went to Aria on the 18th of August 2009, it was a couple of days after it opened to much fanfare and was my birthday!  I loved it then and each time I have been back since.

There was no special occasion today, just lunch with a mate.  Aria has a pretty amazing deal on for lunches; 1 course for $35, 2 courses for $55 and 3 courses for $70.  This represents amazing value for one of the top restaurants in Brisbane.  The menu for the lunch deal is pretty much the same menu for dinner, with only a few small changes, but has a wide range of fantastic options.  EC and I opted for the 3 course option