Breakfast Series - Billy Kart Kitchen

http://www.billykartkitchen.com/#welcome

During the week, it was my nephew's third birthday, I know, it's a pretty big deal turning three, the world starts to make more sense and from an uncle/s perspective, the little tacker is a bit more interactive.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get over to see him on his big day and give him his totally awesome birthday present, so we arrange to head over on the Sunday morning.  Never letting an opportunity pass, we thought we would check out a new cafe on the south side for breakfast first.

Like a lot of areas around Brisbane, the south side is becoming a hot bed of cafe goodness with a heap of great cafes servicing the diners south of the CBD, so it wasn't an easy choice to select our breakfast destination.  While there were a number of choices that we would have been really happy with, my pragmatic side shone through and we picked a cafe that was pretty much halfway to my brother's house and therefore the most convenient.

We picked the new Ben O'Donoghue cafe with the cool name, Billy Kart Kitchen.  Most people would know Ben as the celebrity chef who partnered up the Curtis Stone on the television cooking show 'Surfing the Menu' as well as his prolific writing of cook books.  As well as doing his thing on TV, Ben has worked with some influential restaurateurs in the UK including Jamie Oliver and Oliver Peyton (who is kind of a big wig in the UK and a judge on my favourite cooking show Great British Menu).  Most importantly for a great chef is working in restaurants and Ben has worked in some of the UK's top restaurants, including The River Cafe and The Atlantic Bar and Grill - not to mention consulting with Brisbane's own The South Bank Surf Club (see post here).

Azafran - a suburban bistro thats worth raving about

http://www.azafran.com.au/

One of the things I love about having a food blog is how often I bump into other food bloggers around town at restaurants and events.  There is a shared love of eating and an understanding of what it takes to keep a blog interesting and enjoyable for others to read.  It's amazing how often I will read someones else's food blog to inspire myself to continue writing, even when its quite draining sometimes.  Over the last six months or so a couple of us that regularly bump into each other have been meeting up to have our own little blogger events with no pressure and just to enjoy each other's company.

For our most recent catch up, we had arranged to hit a little Bistro over at New Farm and we were all excited about catching up with some new members to our little group.  A few days before the big get together we were hit with the sad news that our chosen destination was booked out and would not be able to accommodate our visit.  As luck would have it, we were able to get into our back up destination and as it turned out, it was a stroke of genius.

Our gatherings had been gaining steam since our first outing where just the three of us hit Carolina Kitchen (see post here).  Our aim for our get togethers is to try to find a restaurant around Brisbane that none of us had been to before and our first choice definitely fit the bill.  It's actually quite difficult to find a spot where a group of food bloggers have never been before but our eventual destination pretty much fit the bill, I was the only one who had been there before but I had not been back since moving away from the area almost a decade ago.