Lobster and Mussels by Paul's Kitchen - the best lobster rolls outside of New York

http://www.pauls-kitchen.com/

I'm forever being surprised by the sights and sounds of Hong Kong, around every corner is something new or different, even areas you think you know well.  It's amazing how many times we'd walked down Aberdeen Street to visit Sheung Wan, never detouring down the many side streets to see what other exciting adventures we might enjoy.  Little did we realise that perhaps one of the coolest streets in Hong Kong was right at our finger tips, all we had to do was veer left.

Gough Street is right at the end of Aberdeen Street and walking past in a hurry, you'd never guess that the street was home to a veritable hive of little shops full of knickknacks and funky dining spots.  It was only leading up to Christmas and some promised Christmas markets that ensured we did veer left, a direction that opened up a world of funky shops and would ultimately lead us to Lobster and Mussels by Paul's Kitchen.  

Formerly just plain old Paul's Kitchen, the tiny 'hole in the wall' dining spot would be easy to miss if you were not paying attention.  Paul's Kitchen had been around for eight years before a move necessitated opening up a few doors down from it's original location.  The move also led to a change of concept and name, hence Lobster and Mussels by Paul's Kitchen was born.

Melbourne Series - Hardware Societe

Facebook - The Hardware Societe

There is a cafe in Melbourne that seems to be the most popular spot in the universe!  I've been wanting to check out uber cafe, the Hardware Societe, the last two or three times I've been to Melbourne, but alas, its been closed for a while.  You can imagine my excitement then having been told that the cafe had re-opened after a fire had partially destroyed the premises.  I had to get along and check it out.

I only really had one morning available to me on my trip, which was a Friday morning.  When in Melbourne, I normally make my way to The European in Spring Street, which had been my favourite breakfast spot down south (see post here), but I was willing to make an exception. Knowing that Hardware Societe was pretty damn popular, I thought that I'd get up early and make my way over at around 7:15am, a little while before it's opening time of 7:30.  I was pretty glad that I did, there was already a decent queue forming and I managed to join it about twenty people deep.

Casual Dining Lunch - Marchetti Cafe in Tattersall's Arcade

http://www.marchetticafe.com/

I've talked a lot about my love of wandering around Brisbane and noticing the changes, both big and small.  There have been many, many changes to our fair city in the last twelve months, many of which involve the completion big new buildings, many with food offerings. It's not just the big changes that get me excited, but the small changes, the little additions, the tweaks that, if you weren't paying attention to, you would miss.

One of Brisbane's older arcades is the Tattersall's Arcade, which houses a number of specialty shops that cater to the well heeled of Brisbane, including Longchamp.  I often use the arcade as a short cut from Edward Street to the Queen Street Mall and noticed one of Brisbane's little tweaks a few months ago.  In one of the few vacant spaces in the arcade, a cute little cafe had sprouted, which was very reminiscent of European and Melbourne style cafes.   Owner Michael Makras, owner of nearby Optiko, had spotted an opportunity and teamed up with architect Stephen Cameron to develop a perfect little space for relaxing in one of Brisbane's most elegant arcades.

Tucking away this fact for a future visit, I'd wandered past the little shop numerous times, and each time I'd made the mental note to get along to see what was on the menu.  It wasn't until I found myself with a spare hour for lunch that I'd resolved to get in and check out the Italian diner and bar.  I'll let you in on a dirty little secret though, I'd actually initially been looking to buy some KFC in MacArthur Central before being confronted by a queue that was way too long.  Now, don't ask me why I'd been going to KFC to begin with, I couldn't rightly say, but I did have a hankering for some chicken nuggets.

Cheap Eats - Ben's Burgers

https://www.facebook.com/bensburgers

Who knew how polarising pickles could be?  I mean, I just assumed that everyone else hated pickles as much as I did and saw no place for them in hamburgers!  Apparently that's not the case and just as many people like pickles in their burgers as those that don't.  You might be asking why I'd kick off a post with a question like that, but I found out over the weekend just how many people shared my thoughts and how many people thought I was nuts.

But let's start at the beginning. I'd heard about a new burger joint in the Valley that everyone's been talking about.  I've got a few followers who know about my burger fixation and need to find the best burgers in Brisbane and thankfully they've been scouting new places out for me.  Ben's Burgers has taken over the old Flamingo Cafe spot in Winn Lane in Fortitude Valley.  It's a great little spot, just a little out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the rest of the Valley.

We'd actually walked past Ben's Burgers a couple of weeks ago when walking to James Street and even though it was well past 2pm, the place was packed full of hipsters, funksters and some down and outers just enjoying a burger.  At the time I'd decided to make a beeline for a burger the next opportunity, which as it turned out was the following week.

Casual Dining - Firefly pizza in the CBD

http://www.cicadagroup.com.au/ - Firefly 

I find it interesting that the Brisbane CBD, while not overly huge compared to Sydney and Melbourne, still has little clusters of restaurants and cafes.  These little clusters almost become tribe-like during the working week, with city workers streaming out of their high rises and flooding the surrounding eateries. Importantly though, you mainly stay close to your local tribe, never venturing too far away.  Usually its just a quick bite to eat before heading back to the desk and continuing on with the daily grind, but towards the end of the week, things start to slow down a little and you can take a little more time over lunch.  It's these days at the end of the week that you might consider wandering just a little further away than usual.

My workplace is in midtown (haha, we don't officially have a midtown, but it sounds very cosmo) and my tribe rarely ventures further afield than Post Office Square.  I was recently invited to venture a little further than my usual lunch haunts, up to the top end of the city, to check out a little spot called Firefly espresso - bar - pizza.  I'm not a stranger to the top end of the city, often meeting in the Telstra Building on George Street and sometimes frequenting Cicada for lunches when in the neighbourhood (see post here).  I'd often wondered how a Firefly pizza would go and I was about to find out.

Breakfast Series - Felix Espresso & Wine Bar

Facebook - Felix Espresso & Wine Bar

As a foodie, I'm forever looking for those hidden little gems.  As a self confessed 'city-slicker', I get a huge sense of satisfaction stumbling across a little part of Brisbane that is new to me.  Combining the two into my food blog means that I get to tell all of you about these little parts of our fair city that you may not have known about. Felix Espresso and Wine Bar in Burnett Lane is just such a gem.

I must admit that I'd walked up and down Burnett Lane a heap of times before I even noticed that there had been an addition to the Brisbane bar and cafe landscape.  Tucked right out of the way, Felix fills out the space that for the last ten years has been used as Adelaide Street's Record Exchanges store room.  It's not until you actually stop, take a breath and look around you that you notice these things and it wasn't until I'd taken that moment that I'd even observed the other changes to the lane.

As is often the case, once it had entered my orbit, I was destined to get along to check Felix Expresso and Wine Bar out.  One of my good buddies, DruBoy, had been visiting Felix since the day it had opened and asked if I'd want to get along and share a breakfast with him one morning, in what had become his favourite city resting spot.  DruBoy did warn me that Felix was a little different to other cafes around town and that I'd have to be open to selecting something other than my usual bacon and eggs for breakfast.

We'd arranged to meet for a 7:30am breakfast on a Friday morning, which just co-incidentally happened to be one of the coldest mornings on record.  We both live within easy walking distance of Burnett Lane but I arrived just a little bit earlier and was able to secure us a prime spot in the very little cafe.  Felix, which is quite tucked away, is just up a flight of stairs that takes also takes you to the back of the Record exchange, has enough room to comfortably sit about fifteen people.  It's small, but it uses space spectacularly, with the main dining area residing in a sunken lounge area that looks out over colourful Burnett Lane.  The view is made even more colourful by the tinted windows that dominate the front of the room.

Casual Dining - The Bread and Meat Co

http://www.breadandmeatco.com/

If you're like me and keep your ear to the ground about cool new places to eat, then you will have no doubt heard about the Bread and Meat Co in the Valley.  When looking for dinner last weekend we'd had a bit of a mental block and really didn't know what we wanted for dinner (see post here).  We ended up meandering through the valley looking for interesting dining options and one of those spots was the Bread and Meat Co.  Our only problem was that it wasn't open for dinner, despite Urbanspoon clearly stating they were open Sunday until late.  That was a bit frustrating for us but we just shrugged our shoulders and continued on.

This weekend we were better prepared and with opening times in hand we walked into the Valley for Saturday lunch.  The Bread and Meat Co is located in the TCB building, just off the Brunswick Street Mall, which has seen its fair share of shops rotating through.  The mall itself is also going through a bit of a transformation and if you haven't seen it for a while, it's just a torn up mess.  Knowing this, we actually entered from the Chinatown Mall side, which was just as easy.

It was still pretty early in the day when we arrived and the Bread and Meat Co was pretty quiet, which gave us a bit of an opportunity to acquaint ourselves with the menu.  Short and sharp, the menu pretty much reflects the name of the joint: simply put there's a few choice cuts of meat, stuffed into fresh bread and then served up on a breadboard.  There are three real options on the menu and then a trio board, which is a sample of all three sandwiches, especially designed for those who can't make up their mind!  Feeling quite decisive, we opted for two sandwiches and a side, which would leave us with something to check out the next time we came.

Melbourne Series - Manchester Press

https://www.facebook.com/manchesterpress

It was our final morning in Melbourne and we only had time for one last meal before heading to the airport and our flight home.  I'd really been struggling to find a breakfast spot in the Melbourne CBD that would be a little different from the dime-a-dozen cafes in the more popular lane-ways.  I was really looking for somewhere quintessentially Melbourne to have our last breakfast and most of my efforts in sourcing places to eat had been on lunch and dinner spots.  

To make matters worse, it was a cold and drizzly morning and we had to get our umbrellas out to wander around and look for a breakfast spot.  We'd been wandering around the city's more popular streets and lane-ways, so we wanted something a little off the beaten track.  Looking on our trusty mobile devices (yep, iPhones) we found a little spot that looked like it could be pretty good, so we trundled off to Rankins Lane in search of Manchester Press.

We found Rankins Lane easily enough and noticed that it was a little different from many of the other popular lane-ways, it looked a little grungier and a little edgier.  We'd slept in a little bit on our final day but even so, by the time we arrived at Manchester Press, the little cafe was not quite open, so we stood around in the rain, with our brollies up thinking that we were definitely having a Melbourne moment.  

Locanda osteria and bar - simple Italian fare but with strong flavours

http://www.locandabrisbane.com/

A couple of weeks ago we thought we would check out one of the new restaurants over at the recently completed M&A Lane.  There were a couple of options, with three of the six or so planned planned restaurants already open, but as we walked towards the lane, an incredible smell led us towards the Mighty Mighty (see post here).  While we were sitting and mostly enjoying our southern style BBQ, we sat facing our other option and spent the night wondering if we had made the right choice.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we had a more definitive plan to check out Locanda Osteria and Bar, which as the name suggests is an Italian joint.  It's more than a little interesting that two of the hottest styles of food right now, Italian and Southern BBQ have opened right next door to each other.  In my mind 2103 has been the year of the Italian and American restaurant, with a heap of new dining establishments opening up with a bent in either direction.

They guys that have put Locanda Osteria together certainly know a little bit about what it takes to run a successful Italian restaurant.  Restaurant heavyweights Manny Sakellarakis and Dan Clark have  created arguably Brisbane's best Italian restaurant in 1889 Enoteca at Woolloongabba and have teamed up with Cove Southbank's Adam Barton on this venture.  Combined they have a heap of experience creating successful restaurants and giving people what they really want, top quality nosh.  They've also snared head chef Daniel Jones to man the kitchen, who has worked at some of Brisbane's best Restaurants including Cha Cha Char and Baguette.

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.

Breakfast Series - Shucked Coffee House

http://shucked.com.au/

It seems like after every heavy rain a new cafe or breakfast spot is opening up around Brisbane and given the amount of rain we have had over the last two years, that's a lot of cafes!  You have to be really careful if you are keeping track of these things otherwise it's easy for a couple of great new spots to open up and you miss them!  What's more interesting is some of the crazy locations that these cafes are opening up in, taking any nook or cranny around town.  Shucked Coffee House is just such a place, it has opened up a little bit out of the way and is squeezed into a semi industrial area in Newstead.

Once we became aware of Shucked, we started to notice the buzz surrounding it and decided that we would venture out to Newstead and see what all the fuss was about.  I had a rough idea where Shucked was but the human GPS unit that is SC directed us there within minutes.  We had heard that Shucked can get super busy and as we hate waiting in queues for breakfast, we made sure that we got there right on opening time at 7:30am.  We actually had a minute or so to spare, so had a look down the laneway next to Shucked to take in the street art that makes up part of the cafe.  It was pretty cool.

Adelaide Trip - Rigoni's award winning breakfast

http://www.rigonis.com.au/

It was my last morning in Adelaide after a whirlwind trip for a couple of days (details about the trip are here) and I was really wanting to finish off on a high.  I had spent my days wandering the streets of Adelaide getting reacquainted with the city I grew up in and left as a 22 year old.  There was so much that had not changed at all; walking down Rundle & Hindley Streets was like taking a time machine back twenty years, it was quite freaky.  There were parts of Adelaide that I was super happy had not changed, like the Adelaide Central Markets (c'mon Brisbane, get your act together and get a central market).

While much had stayed the same, there were also many differences and the one that was most notable to me was the introduction of a real laneway culture, similar to that of Melbourne.  There were now lots of cool laneways spread out all over the city and there were great cafes and restaurants that had opened up to fill the spaces.  One such street, now closed off to traffic and filled with cool restaurants, cafes and bars was Leigh Street, just off Hindley Street and it was here that my final meal of my Adelaide trip would take place.

The Survey Co. - Laneway dining

http://www.surveyco.com.au/

There is no easy way to say this, so I will just come straight out with it.....  Brisbane has laneway envy! We look to the southern states and their glorious laneways filled with cool restaurants and bars and wonder 'why not here?'.

Thankfully over the last year or so there has been a move to establish a laneway culture in Brisbane and Fortitude Valley.  We now have Wynn Lane and Burnett Lane and a city council that is determined to establish a laneway culture, which is fantastic.  It was to Burnett Lane that SC and I made our way with the intent of visiting The Survey Co, one of a number of ventures that has opened up in the once seedy Street that runs parallel to Queen Street.

I love the name - The Survey Co - it really fits with the feel of Burnett Lane with a very industrial feel to it.  The restaurant name harks back to the street's namesake, Charles Burnett, who was a surveyor and explorer.  Burnett established a surveying company in 1844, which is where the name The Survey Co comes from.