Tukka Restaurant - Australian fare done fancy

http://www.tukkarestaurant.com.au/

Wow, it feels like ages since I've sat down at the computer to write about a foodie adventure!  I guess having shoulder surgery is just about the only thing that's stopped me from both eating out so much and then writing about it!  After about ten days of being in a shoulder sling, I've been able to cast it aside and can finally get cracking with some needed catch up posting!

Casting my mind back to the weekend before my surgery, we finally decided to hit up one of Brisbane's more unique food offerings.  Until recently, Tukka was pretty much the only restaurant in Brisbane and one of the few restaurants in the country that based their menu around traditional Australian produce.  I'd had some brilliant experiences with Australian cuisine at Josue Lopez's GOMA restaurant (see post here and here) and I was really keen to see what head chef Bryant Wells was doing at Tukka.

It seems like Tukka has been around for a very long time. SC and I had walked past Tukka hundreds of times over the years and wondered what it would be like.  It's also one of the few restaurants in the Australian Good Food Guide's list of hatted restaurants that we'd not been to. Head chef Bryant Wells has done an amazing job promoting native ingredients to the Brisbane dining scene and it was time for us to get on in and see for ourselves.

We timed our visit to Tukka with a couple of big events around Brisbane, a Broncos game and the Future Shorts Film Festival, so Tukka was pretty quiet when we arrived for our 6:30pm reservation. With a choice of seating that took in the whole restaurant dining area, we chose to sit outside the main dining room on the side deck, which was actually a little bit warmer.  Shortly after we were seated and given our menus by the restaurant manager, we noticed that he'd had to leave the restaurant in a hurry (we later learned that there was a family emergency), so it looked as if Tukka would be down one experienced hand for the night.

Breakfast Series - Plenty over at West End

http://plentywestend.wordpress.com/about/

I love going out for breakfast and I'm not alone, it seems as if everyone wants to check out the latest Brisbane breakfast hot spot, which seems to change with stark regularity.  One of the hottest places to check out for some time has been Plenty, over in West End and I've been keen to check it out for ages. I'd have gone earlier too, if it wasn't for the fact that Plenty does not open on Sunday mornings, which is our normal morning for breakfast out.  Drats!

You might be thinking, why not just go on a Saturday, damn it!!  And its a good point, except SC has her personal training sessions on a Saturday morning and we almost never get away for breakfast as a consequence.  That all changed unexpectedly over the weekend and SC was not feeling up to the rigours of PT torture, but it did open up a window of opportunity, which was quickly filled with a trip to West End.

It was a rainy and miserable morning, too wet for us to walk the short(ish) distance to West End, so we hopped in the car and cruised on over to look for a park.  For those in the know, this is no easy feat, with the West End markets dominating the area on a Saturday morning, so SC did the usual 'dump-n-run', so I could score a seat.  Located on Montague Road, just around the corner from the start of Stanley Street, Plenty had plenty of seats available once I'd been dumped by the sidewalk near the entrance.  I was able to score a great seat and sat around for some time before SC made her way into the cafe, brolly in hand.  Apparently, she'd had to park quite some way away!

While I'd been waiting for SC, I'd managed to have a decent look around the cafe, which was located in a big warehouse type environment, that looked (purposefully) like an incomplete building site in parts and funky cafe in the middle.  A huge looking kitchen was down at the very rear of the cafe, with extra seating tucked around the corner.  It was a very interesting looking little cafe, with lots of seating spread out over the area, including a second story, that again looked like an incomplete building with exposed wood beams.

Habitat Restaurant and Bar - West Ends got a new hangout

https://www.facebook.com/Habitatwestend

OK, I'll start this blog by declaring my interest right up front.  I've been a big fan of restaurateurs and all round great guys Malcolm Watts and Scott Higginbotham for some time.  I remember the first time I met Malcolm when checking out his new Tarragindi cafe Leaf Espresso Bar (see post here) and being struck by what a down to earth guy he was.  You know what it's like, right, when you meet someone and theres a connection and you know you've made a friend for life.

I kept in contact with Malcolm and was pretty excited to learn that he'd planned a new cafe, this time a little closer to the city.  This time Scott and Malcolm had created a funky little cafe at the 'Gabba, named after Malcolm's two dogs, and I was again invited in to check the place out (see post here and here).  With a name like Moose and Gibson, the funky little 'Gabba cafe was hard to forget, especially with one of the more amazing light fittings in Brisbane.  I'd also had one of my favourite breakfasts of 2013 from head chef Luke Tye and even met Malcolm's cool dad for the first time.

I was really excited when Malcolm gave me a heads up that he was creating something bigger and bolder than he'd ever done before.  Given the progress from his first little suburban espresso bar to a much more funky and sophisticated 'Gabba cafe, I was intrigued by Malcolm's bold statement.  I was even happier when I found out that he'd taken a step closer and was opening up his bold new restaurant in West End.  Of course it was a natural progression from espresso bar, to cafe to full blown restaurant.... and what a restaurant.

Mondo Organics Cooking School - back to basics for a foodie

http://www.mondo-organics.com.au

**I was a guest of Mondo Organics for this cooking class

I wasn't going to lie, so when it was my turn to rate my cooking skills from 1, a beginner, to 5 a culinary wizard, I gave myself an honest zero.  We were standing in a semi circle around Mondo Organic's head chef and cooking school instructor Paul Horne and we were about to be put through our paces with the modern Spanish tapas class.  But I get ahead of myself.

A few months ago, I made a long overdue and first visit to Mondo Organics (see post here) and was completely blown away by the West End institution.  I'd been hearing great things about Mondo Organics for many years, but strangely had never got around to checking out the casual fine diner.  I'd been slowly making my way through the AGFG Brisbane hatted restaurants and it was getting impossible for me to ignore Mondo any longer.  Quite rightly, I my post reflected the amazing meal that I'd consumed and I resolved to get back to Mondo as quickly as I could for a return visit.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long when Mondo Organics co-owner and chef Brenda Fawdon contacted me and asked me to come along to the Mondo cooking school, so they could put me through the paces of the well known cooking classes.  Excited and a little apprehensive, I happily agreed to come along and write about my experience!  FoodMeUpScotty, in a cooking class - chalk that up as something you're not going to see every day!

Mondo Organics - fine dining with a very healthy attitide

http://www.mondo-organics.com.au/

Quite often, when I am lacking inspiration or simply have no clue where I want to go for dinner, I hop onto one of my favourite resources sites, which normally sets me right.  While I love most food, the style of food that I feel most at home with is fine dining.  There are a couple of resources around to get some inspiration about where to eat out but I constantly find myself coming back to the Australian Good Food & Guide (AGFG).

Each year the AGFG produces a list of the finest restaurants in the country and awards them coveted Hats and then lists out the best restaurants in the country.  If you've ever wondered what the Hats rating system is all about, you can check it out here, but the AGFG takes it's lead from the Michelin standard, where AGFG inspectors are anonymous and their identities kept strictly confidential - this ensures the highest level of integrity when determining who is best.  

The 2014 AGFG list of 'Hatted' restaurants came out just a few weeks ago and Mondo Organics was again awarded with a coveted Hat.

So, during the week I really felt like having a fine dining experience from a restaurant that I'd never been to before, which is getting increasingly difficult in the Brisbane area.  Of the forty five hatted restaurants in  the South East, I've been to most of them but there is one in particular that I've been dying to try for a long time, but have just never made it to.  When I'm looking for a spot to have a nice dinner, I usually make out a list of two or three restaurants and then pick one of them.  For the last few years, Mondo Organics has made that list but never quite made it to the number one spot, until now.

Casual Dining - Trang Vietnamese Restaurant

http://www.trangs.com.au/

It's getting close to Christmas, which means lots of parties and get togethers through a very busy and social time of the year.  We had been invited over to my boss' house with the rest of my team for an afternoon of nibbles, espresso martinis and champagne.  The timing for the get together was from 2pm to 5pm (ish), which is a bit of an awkward time, too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so I knew that I would have to plan carefully to get the most out of our Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to visit somewhere that was local, would have some great food but would be a little different from the cuisine that I had been consuming lately.  I had a list of casual dining places that I wanted to visit over the next couple of months, so it was just a matter of running down the list to see what would take my fancy. About a third of the way down my very rough list I came across Trang Restaurant over at West End, which has a reputation as being one for the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Brisbane.

Trang restaurant is located on Hardgrave Road at West End and is in a little strip of shops and restaurants right in the middle of a residential part of the suburb.  The strip of shops used to the Rialto cinema a very long time ago, but in the early 1990's it ceased being used for theatre and live gigs and was transformed into shops and restaurants.  The little strip of shops looks a little dodgy nowadays, but it really fits in with the charm of West End, which fortunately has not been completely gentrified.

Breakfast Series - Atomica Eat Drink

http://www.atomicacafe.com.au/

With so many options available for a decent breakfast in Brisbane, it's sometimes hard to pick a place to get over and try, so I was thankful this week when longtime a reader suggest a great spot.  I've been to Atomica heaps of times over the years but hadn't been back for such a long time that it just slipped out of my consciousness.

Atomica Eat Drink is one of the multitude of dining spots over in West End, which seems to have its fair share of well known and well loved restaurants.  West End residents all seem to have their favorite cafes and while Atomica is well loved, but is perhaps a little less well known that some of the other hot spots such as the Gunshop and Lock n Load.

Following our usual thinking that we didn't want to line up for breakfast, we set the alarm for 7am and thought we would get over to score a table before 7:30am.  As it was a Sunday morning, there were the usual grumbles from SC about the things she supports by living with a food blogger.  As we pulled down Boundary Street we were hit with how quiet the area was, there were none of the usual people milling around, even the Gunshop and Lock n Load seemed suspiciously quiet as we drove past.  We easily found a park right out the front of Atomica and wandered into an empty restaurant and as first to arrive picked the best table in the house.

The Spaghetti House - not what I was hoping for

http://www.spaghettihouse.com.au/

Where do I begin?  I had heard many great things about the Spaghetti House over at West End and was really excited about getting over and checking it out.  We had witnessed the development of the Spaghetti House late last year and thought it was just what was needed in the area, something a little different from the cool cafes in West End.  I also thought that another great Italian restaurant wouldn't go astray either, you can never have too much great Italian on offer.  Boy, was I wrong...  

It was not quite a last minute decision to head over to the Spaghetti House, we decided earlier this morning that it was time to check it out after having breakfast just down the street from Lock n Load. So I called up the reservations number to make the booking and was completely surprised when I was advised that the restaurant operated under a two booking system.  I could either have the early session from 5pm to 6pm and out by 7:45, or we could have the 8pm session.  I was a bit blown away, the Spaghetti House couldn't be that popular, could it?

I had locked us in for 6pm thinking that we would easily be out by 8pm, busy or not, it doesn't take us two hours to eat at a fine dining restaurant, surely we would get through a pasta dinner in this time?  I had dropped SC off at the front door while I looked for a park in busy West End, and by the time I made my way back to the restaurant, I had revised my estimates of how long it might take.  The restaurant was completely packed.  

Breakfast Series - Lock n Load Bistro

http://www.locknloadbistro.com.au/

If you sit back and think about how many cool restaurants or cafes you have walked by and thought about going into, but didn't, I'm sure it would be a long list.  There are plenty of places over the years that I have made a mental note to visit and never have.  I might also say that that list seems never ending!  

Lock 'n' Load is one of those bistros I have walked by a thousand times and always wanted to go visit.  I've walked by at different times of the day and night and it always seemed to be be filled with people enjoying themselves, be it for evening drinks or Sunday breakfast.  So when it came time to decide on a Sunday breakfast, I ran through my very long list and came up with the popular West End bistro.

Lock 'n' Load is one of many popular dining spots in boheme West End and really feels as if it belongs. Walking by, you can often hear funky live music on a Friday and Saturday night coming from its open doors and windows.  There was no live music playing when we stepped through the front doors early on a Sunday morning, and we had to settle for tunes through the speaker system.  

Cheap Eats - Lefkas Greek Taverna

http://lefkas.com.au/

I love fine dining.  I love great food produced by top quality chefs and amazing restaurants.  It's not all I love about food and eating, I also find nothing better than going to an old favourite and eating simple and tasty food.  What's even better is when it starts to get a little warmer and getting out and feeling the sun on the top of my head.

One of my favourite casual dining spots is Lefkas Greek Taverna over in West End, which recently reopened after extensive renovations.  Lefkas is a spot that I have been going to for a very long time and at times has felt like a home away from home and I was excited to see the extent of the renovations and remodelling.  Lefkas has now taken over the space next door that used to be Cantina and is now a very large and modern looking restaurant.  There are still remnants of the old inside of Lefkas, the traditional blue and white walls that remind of the Greek flag, but most of the space is now open with many more table and seats available in the restaurant.

Lefkas has always been one of the busiest restaurants in the Hardgrave Road strip of restaurants in West End, it's always been crowded and just a little uncomfortable to have a dine in meal.  It's because of this that SC and I almost always get take away, and head down to the Brisbane river to sit and enjoy a simple meal.

The Depo - where design and food collide

http://the-depo.com/

I knew I was in for something special when I approached new restaurant Depo just as dusk was falling.  It had been a bit of a journey for me, I had decided it was a nice enough evening to walk from the CBD over to West End.  I figured a 30 minute walk would be a fantastic way to begin an evening with about a dozen other Food Bloggers, Lifestyle Bloggers and Food Journalists to check out West End's latest offering, Depo.

I wasn't too sure what to expect when I wandered up Horan Street, which is just a little bit 'off the beaten path' at West End, but I was amazed as I walked to the entrance of the restaurant.  I use the term restaurant loosely here as Deop is so much more.  Horan Street is pretty much just a normal suburban street, all-be-it a pretty nice street near the CBD, but Depo is both out of place and perfectly aligned with the street.

I was one of the first to arrive so had the opportunity to marvel at the layout and interior of Depo, which has been put together by design maestro Alexander Lotersztain, who was also responsible for designing the iconic Limes Hotel and super gastro pub Alfred & Constance.  It's instantly a comforting space, with a semi industrial feel but with a layer of plushness that makes you feel welcome, especially if you seat yourself in one of the many comfy looking couches that are a feature.

Casual Dining - The Burrow

http://theburrowwestend.com.au/

What's up in Brisbane at the moment?  It's starting to get cold, seriously cold, the type of cold that you would expect in August, right in the middle of winter and not at the tail end of Autumn!  When it's this cold I often think of comfort food and stuffing yourself in a nice warm room.  So on a cold and windy night in the middle of May, we decided we would head over to West End and get some pizza!

When you think of pizza over at West End, the Burrow is the first place that springs to mind and is surprisingly one of the restaurants around town that I have never been to before.  The Burrow is a much loved and popular pizza joint in the fringe of West End.  I had been warned before that it's pretty hard to get into and had experienced this myself when trying to book in at short notice a few weeks ago.  Thinking ahead this time, I called up with plenty of notice and booked a table for two.

Being such a cold night, I dropped SC off out the front of the Burrow and then proceeded to find a park  and luckily found one just a few minutes walk from the restaurant.  I might add a few very cold minutes away and by the time I arrived I was pretty cold.  SC was already seated at our table and after joining her was disappointed to hear that they didn't have our booking but that we had lucked out and scored a table anyway.  I would have been mighty peeved if we couldn't have been seated after making a booking!

Casual Dining - LIttle Greek Taverna

http://www.littlegreektaverna.com.au/

I love Greek food and have done so for as long as I can remember.  My first experience with Greek food was when I was a very young boy and my Mum serving me some Yiros (simply marinated lamb cooked over a spit) and then falling in love with the wonderfully flavoured meat.  Growing up in Adelaide I was exposed to a wide range of Greek restaurants due to a large Greek population and remember quite fondly eating many Yiros while there.

That all changed in 1992 when I moved to Brisbane and found that there was a relatively small Greek population in the Sunshine state and this was reflected in the number of Greek takeaway restaurants.  Simply put, I could not find any decent Greek cuisine and in particular I could not find any of the wonderful Yiros meat that I had grown to love.

What I did find was popular in Brisbane was the Turkish equivalent, the Kebab, which for me was the poor man's version of that delicious marinated lamb.  As time went on and I had given up hope of finding decent Yiros in Brisbane, I eventually found a number of establishments around Brisbane that served a half decent Yiros.  Then one day there seemed to be an abundance of places that served my favourite take away food, particularly in West End and this is where I first came into contact with the Little Greek Taverna.

Casual Dining - The Three Monkeys

https://www.facebook.com/TheThreeMonkeysCafe

There is a lot to love about Brisbane at the moment, sure there is a burgeoning food scene, but there is also a genuine desire of the Brisbane City Council to make Brisbane a more attractive place for visitors and residents alike.  Things like the Ideas Fiesta and the laneway projects around the city streets and laneways are a great initiative.  One of the things I love most about Brisbane is the Gallery of Modern Art, or GoMA, and a really cool exhibit at GoMA at the moment is the Monsters Exhibition.

SC and I have had our eye on the Monsters Exhibition for quite some time and in particular the screening of the original horror film, Nosferatu.  Nosferatu is one of the earliest examples of silent horror films and was made in 1922.  What particularly excited SC and I was the fact that on the morning we had booked to see Nosferatu, the film was accompanied by a live band.  Awesome!

Once the movie finished we decided that since we were in South Brisbane we would go over and check out The Three Monkeys for lunch.  Incredibly, in all my years living and eating in the CBD and its surrounds, I had never been to The Three Monkeys.  Contrasting my lack of visits, SC has eaten there a million times (maybe a slight exaggeration) as it's one of the closest places to eat from her work.

Cheap Eats - PJ's Steaks

https://www.facebook.com/pages/PJs-Steaks/201393029988745

There has been a real move towards casual American dining lately in Brisbane most notably around Hot Dogs and Ribs.  You can always count on American cuisine to be simple yet really tasty and more often than not, a little unhealthy!  Recently West End saw the opening of an American style food that is a little different but none the less simple and delicious.  PJ's Steak specialises in the traditional Philadelphia cheese steak and they are sensational!

The concept of a Philly cheese steak is quite simple, close shaved ribeye fillet cooked up on a grill with different ingredients, including generous helpings of cheese, then into a fresh bread roll and served.  It's kind of like an Aussie steak sandwich but without the salad.  The subs come in different flavours and styles, including mushroom cheese steak and pepper cheese steak, as well as my favourite the original cheese steak.  You also have the option of different cheeses, but unfortunately PJ's no longer has the American Cheese that SC and I love.

We first stumbled across PJ's shortly after it opened last year and have been going on and off ever since.  SC works in South Brisbane and often walks off to PJ's for a quick bite to eat for lunch, it's that type of place.  Often packed and over flowing with customers, PJ's is quickly becoming a go to restaurant in West End.  We have had a hankering for a cheesesteak for the last couple of weeks but for various reasons kept forgetting, so this week we added a diary entry into our iPhones with lots of alerts!

The Gunshop Cafe - Breakfast worth waiting for?

http://www.thegunshopcafe.com/

Everybody deserves a 'mental health' day.  SC and I have been working pretty hard and its been a while since we went away anywhere, so we decided to co-ordinate a Monday off and have a nice relaxing day to ourselves.


A key part of our plan was to kick off the day with a breakfast somewhere and that somewhere was The Gunshop Cafe over in West End.  Our plan for getting there was a leisurely walk through the CBD, over the Victoria bridge and down Melbourne Street, which pretty much takes us directly there.  What we were not counting on was it being 28 degrees celsius by 8am and making the walk just a little sweaty.  When we finally arrived at the Gunshop cafe we decided that after a long hot walk that sitting outside in the back courtyard area would be the best option and it was like arriving at an oasis after wandering lost through the desert.

It seems as if the Gunshop Cafe has been around for ever as a cafe and a little digging gives a clue to its past and, while not surprisingly it was an actual 'Gun Shop' from the 1950's until the mid 90's, the building actually started its life as a tailors and then housed a locksmith for many years before transitioning to its namesake.  Not only has it been around for years, its won multiple awards for its breakfasts.   All of which has made it extremely popular for Saturday and Sunday breakfast hot-spot,  which often results in long queues to get a table.  SC and I hate queuing which is why we waited until our Monday long weekend to come on down.