Arcane - not so hidden or mysterious after all

http://www.arcane.hk/

I'm probably biased, but Australian chefs are taking over the world!

It seems that every day, a new Aussie chef is hitting Honkers to open a new restaurant or join part of an established team.

This invasion, of a sort, arguably started when Perth born chef Shane Osborne, moved from the UK to Hong Kong to establish his own take on a simple yet delicious fare.  Having achieved two Michelin Stars at well known London restaurant Pied-a-Terre, Osborne threw it all in to travel for a while, before ending up at HK restaurant St Betties.  Turning the fortunes of the under performing restaurant around, Osborne eventually developed his own restaurant in Central.

Arcane

"Understood by few" and "mysterious and secret"

An interesting name for a restaurant from a Chef that had run one of the world's top restaurants, perhaps hoping for anonymity in Hong Kong?

We arrived for our 7pm reservation and unsurprisingly, we were the first to arrive, seemingly the only couple in Hong Kong that think dining at this hour is normal.  Located near LKF, we had no trouble finding the restaurant and were so early, LKF was actually really, really quiet!  

Porterhouse by Laris - a brilliant lunch set menu

http://porterhousebylaris.com.hk/

In my short time in Hong Kong, I've had some of the most amazing, and most expensive meals of my life.  I mean, seriously expensive meals where I've walked out of a restaurant in shock and with 'buyers remorse'.  This is a symptom of a lot of great restaurants, but largely the fact that practically all food has to be imported to Hong Kong.

It's why I am completely amazed by the fact that you can go to some of those same amazing restaurants for lunch and get a similar feed for a fraction of the price.  I'm not really sure why, but there is a thriving lunchtime food scene in Hong Kong and it's really, really cheap.  I was again reminded of this phenomenon recently when we went out for a team lunch and hit up new spot Porterhouse by Laris.

Located in the newly renovated, and might I say now impressive looking California Tower in Lan Kwai Fong, and established by Aussie Chef David Laris, Porterhouse is a contemporary and upscale steak house more akin to the Australian version of a steak restaurant than the currently stylish 'Steak Frites' places dotted around Hong Kong.  No stranger to working overseas, Chef Laris had spent time refining his trade in London's Mezzo before moving to Shanghai and establishing his own award winning restaurants.

Gauge - breakfast on steroids

One of the things I miss most about my home town of Brisbane is the breakfast culture.  Don't get me wrong, there is an amazing food scene in Hong Kong, one of the best in the world, but no one seems to have nailed the breakfast gig.

It's why, when I recently flew back to Brisbane for a week, I decided I'd get out and have as many great breakfasts as possible.  One I'd been particularly keen to check out was Ollie Hansford's Gauge in South Brisbane.  Formerly of two hatted restaurant the Stokehouse Brisbane and winner of Young Chef of the Year, I was super excited to see what Ollie was up to.  

When I set off from my Hotel to find Gauge, I was surprised to find that it was right next to Julius Pizza, in a spot that had significantly changed in the nine months since I left Brisbane.  With a couple of new high-rise buildings finally open, there was a different vibe from a few years ago, where there was not much at all to do at the Museum end of Grey Street.  Looking quite dark and brooding from the facade, I loved the juxtaposition of the light and airy interior that had a post industrial feel.  Quite stark and simple, with lots of share tables arranged around the kitchen area.

The coolest restaurant name in Hong Kong - Madam Sixty Ate

http://madamsixtyate.com.hk/

With so many restaurants in Honkers, one of the fun games is trying to figure out which are the best to dine at.  Sure, there are restaurant guides, like the Michelin Guide and Open Rice, but it's often word of mouth where the absolute surprises come along.  We were heading out as a team for a farewell lunch for one member of the team who was leaving for greener pastures and wound up at one of the best surprises I've had in Hong Kong so far.

Usually when we go out for a team lunch, it's one of the many local restaurants in Central but this time we went just a little further afield to Wan Chai.  With a couple of options to get from Central to Wan Chai, which includes walking, we took the tram that runs along Des Voeux Road and moves into Johnston Road.  It was my first time on one of the skinny little trams that I've seen hundreds of times.  Yep, they get crowded and while it was marginally faster than walking or the MTR, it was a bit of an experience....  Not sure I'd do it in the middle of summer though.

Once we jumped off the tram we made our way to the restaurant, which had the funky name of Madam Sixty Ate.  Like a lot of restaurants in Hong Kong, Madam Sixty Ate is not on street level, but up on level one.  As we made our way through a little bit of an entry area, past the bar, we came to the main dining room, which was surprisingly large and very airy.  The high ceilings and open spaces provided a really pleasant vibe, which was helped by the open kitchen area with chefs busy at work.

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.  

Casual Dining - Lennons at NEXT

http://www.silverneedlehotels.com/next/brisbane/Pages/Thoughtful-Dining.aspx

If you hadn't heard by now, I am moving to Hong Kong shortly to take up a new and exciting role.  It has put a brand new perspective on my home city of Brisbane.  Not only do I not have a lot of time left before I move to check out all of the new restaurants around, but I'm running out of time to hang out with my mates.  At time of writing this post, I only have about five weekends left in country, then its all new, scary and exciting.  So, I'm trying to combine meeting with great mates and hitting new restaurants at the same time.  Sweet really :)

Another of the annoying but awesome renovations that's been happening in Brisbane of late (following on from my last post here) is the NEXT hotel, which has taken over the old Lennons.  I guess with many of the CBD renovations there is always going to be a new restaurant and doubly so when it's in a hotel.  The Lennons hotel was always a bit of an eyesore, looking tired and frankly, quite weird, the NEXT hotel group have made substantial changes to the site, which now includes a Forever 21 and a shiny new restaurant.

The restaurant is called Lennons, keeping a bit of a link to the past, which is sometimes unusual in Queensland where the past is regularly stricken from sight and eventually memory.  What better place to check out with some of our oldest and dearest friends, DruBoy and Thommo.  SC and Thommo had arranged for one of their regular Jack Sims Ghost Tours, so DruBoy and I had arranged for our own little get together at new hot spot, Bar Pacino (post coming soon).  After hanging out for a bit and shooting the shit, we made our way up the Queen Street Mall and into the swanky new NEXT hotel.  In an interesting case of timing, Thommo and SC were already on the rather long escalator, just beating us to the restaurant.

Casual Dining - TooBirds

http://toobirds.wordpress.com/

Living in the CBD has it's ups and downs, mostly ups I have to say, but one of the only real problems is the constant noise.  It's noisy in the city - All.The.Time.  It means that since moving into the CBD, I've taken to wearing ear plugs, just to be able to sleep at night.  It's seems to have become more of a problem over the last few years with city streets seemingly requiring being repetitively dug up!  It's sometimes so bad, that I look forward to coming into work and being far removed from the noise. 

That was until my CBD building underwent severe renovations this year.  Look, I'm not averse to old things getting a make over and looking all shiny-shiny, but I'm not a fan when I'm in the middle of a construction zone.  This is what happened; excavation machines arrive; jack-hammering starts; jack-hammering ceases four months later (it might have seemed longer than it was, OK). The facade of my building got the make over to end all make overs and while there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth during the renovations (yeah, my office was right over the jack-hammering), I have to say the end result has been spectacular.

The team behind well known CBD cafe Sparrow and Finch (see post here) have evolved from their light CBD lunch-spot and created a full blown CBD bistro and bar.  Interestingly named TooBirds, which seems to be a play on words from the aforementioned Sparrow and Finch, TooBirds caused a stir in my workplace....  Some people just couldn't get their heads around the spelling of too - why not TwoBirds they would say!

Owner Paul Limberios likes to do things a little differently, which no doubt accounts for the unique spelling of his new Bistro.  Looking to do something a little different from the usual lunch spot in the CBD, Paul engaged the services of top chef Jamie Pearce, who has worked at some of Australia's most recognised restaurants, including a few years at Peter Gilmore's three hatted Quay.  Jamie also spent time at one of my all time favourite restaurants Brents (now 85 Miskin Street) under Brent Farrell before becoming head chef over at Cross Town Eating House - some seriously good restaurants.

85 Miskin Street - the Degustation and the friends

http://www.85miskinst.com.au/

There was a moment when time stood still.  It was only for a few seconds, but in those precious moments, the world around me disappeared. 

I’d just read an article, one of my favourite restaurants, run by one of the city’s nicest blokes was shutting down……  How could this be possible, Brent’s was my go-to special occasion spot, a place to spend birthdays and anniversaries!  As I read on, the details became clear, not closing, just changing – a new look and a new feel.  The world swam back into focus and I was able to breath again.

Brent’s became 85 Miskin Street, with head chef Brent Farrell deciding that a change was in order.  No longer a white linen fine dining restaurant, 85 Miskin Street became more than a special occasion place – it transformed into one of my regulars.  Not surprising though, Brent’s been cheffing for about twenty years and in that time, he’s learnt a trick or three.  With a plan to make his well-known restaurant a little more accessible, the risk paid off when Brent was rewarded with a 2015 Brisbane Times Good Food Guide Chefs Hat.

Now, I have to make a confession here.  In the last twelve months, I’ve eaten at 85 Miskin Street so often that Brent and I have become friends.   I’m unashamedly a fan of his cooking and rate a number of his dishes as the best I’ve eaten anywhere in the world.  In fact, three of my all time top ten meals were eaten at Brent’s and 85 Miskin Street! 

As a consequence, I’ve been banging on about the place for so long, some friends finally took the hint and joined me for dinner.  What transpired was a degustation for the ages.

Deer Duck Bistro - the Interstate Chef Series

http://www.deerduckbistro.com.au/

I was having a bit of a Facebook chat with an online buddy one day, just shooting the shit about Brisbane restaurants and the Queensland food scene.  While we were chatting, we were joined by a mutual friend, who just happens to run of of Brisbane's edgier restaurants, Nicholas Cooper from Deer Duck Bistro (see post here).  By way of jumping into the conversation, Nicholas just dumped a list of names and asked us what they all had in common.  Sure, I though, I'll bite.  Jumping on Google, it soon became apparent that all the names on the list were from Chefs and they appeared to all be from Melbourne. My guess back to Nicholas?  That they were all Collingwood supporters.

Of course I was wrong, although it did elicit a bit of a chuckle (in the form of LOL).  The list was of course chefs, well known chefs from interstate, but what Nicholas had in fact given us was a list of chefs that he was inviting up to his Brisbane suburban bistro for guest stints.  It was the early stages of the planning for his "Interstate Celebrity: Chefs Dinner Series" - Friends of the Duck.  At the time I thought it was a great idea.  Well, the Friends of the Duck celebrity chefs dinner kicked off recently and Nicholas invited me along to check out the first one.  Sweet!

Nicholas himself is a talented chef from way back, and along with his very talented head chef Chris Hagen would be kicking off the series with talented Melbourne chef Mathew Macartney.  Mathew has an amazing history that includes working for some incredible Australian chefs, as well as spending time overseas in Fiji, New Zealand and Dubai.  Mathew has also won the title of Australia's best Sous Chef, a title where the prize was a six week appointment in any restaurant in the world.  Choosing (at the time) three michelin starred New York restaurant, Daniel, the gig gave Mathew, in his own words,  'a unique opportunity to immerse myself in a different culture within one of the worlds most awarded restaurants' (see post on Daniel here).

G20 Global Flavours - Restaurant 2

http://www.restaurant2.com.au/ 

http://www.visitbrisbane.com.au/global-flavours

If you're in Brisbane and you've not heard about the G20, then you've probably been in a deep coma in one of the City's fine hospitals.  For most of us who have been hearing about it non stop, or if you work or live in the city, have been involved in many briefings about the event, it could seem like its big and scary event.  

There is more to the G20 event than the leaders of the world coming to our fair city to discuss, well I'm not really that interested in what they plan on discussing, but there is more going on than meets the eye.  Given that the eyes of the world will be on Brisbane, it's a huge opportunity for us to showcase our fair city and all that it has to offer.

In conjunction with Brisbane Marketing, many of Brisbane's best restaurants have joined the party by participating in a month of foodie celebrations.  Global Flavours the the culinary celebration of Brisbane's international-standard cuisine and local produce.  I've been asked to help promote this once in a lifetime event by doing the tough job of visiting some of the restaurants that are involved - yeah, I know, but someone's gotta do it.  You can also get involved by visiting one of the city's participating restaurants and enjoying the best that Brisbane has to offer during the month of November.  See the complete list here.

My first stop of the #GlobalFlavours trail was one of Brisbane's most iconic dining spots, Restaurant 2 on Edward Street.  The classic fine diner by David Pugh is perhaps one of the best known and most loved restaurants in Brisbane and a restaurant that I've been to many times (see post here).  In one of the most beautiful old buildings on the corner of Edward and Alice Streets, the botanical gardens are the backdrop for the 'Two' dining experience.  With massive windows, reminiscent of New York park dining, Restaurant Two delivers on style and substance.

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.

The Catbird Seat Bistro - sitting on top with a great view

http://catbirdseatbistro.com.au/

A lot is going to be written about Chef James Culberg's new East Brisbane bistro, the Catbird Seat Bistro.  Mainly because it's really good, but also it's literary heritage screams out to be written and talked about.  A phrase coined out of the Great Depression, the catbird seat often is used to describe someone who is in an enviable position.  The phase gained notoriety in the 1940's after a short story by American novelist James Thurber, probably better known for his humorous short stories and cartoons.  The phrase peaked around the time of Peter Sellars classic film, the Battle of the Sexes, a film based on James Thurber's the Catbird Seat, but has largely faded to obscurity.

I usually keep my ear to the ground but I only found out about the Catbird Seat bistro once a twitter follower connected and asked if I'd checked it out (thanks Troy from Awickededge).  Jumping straight online to check out the menu, I wondered how I'd let that one slip by, the menu looked excellent, just the sort of food I really love.  I immediately made a mental note to get along as soon as the first opportunity presented itself, which happened to be the next available Saturday night with my usual dinner buddies, CI&TB.

You might have recognised the name of Catbird Seat Bistro owner and chef, James Culberg.  James has led some of Brisbane's coolest restaurants over the years, most notably Piaf (see post here) and Sardine Tin, which are no longer around. James was also responsible for some of the best meals around that I've eaten while in charge of The Survey Co (see post here) and Aquitine Brasserie (see post here), which are still going strong.  James as made the Catbird Seat Bistro a family affair by partnering with wife Erin, who's responsible for front of house.

The restaurant is located on Stanley Street East in a little strip of shops that is transforming, quite quickly, into an extension of the Logan Road 'Gabba food precinct.  We had arranged to meet CI&TB at the restaurant and arranged our trip to perfectly coincide with our reservation time.  We normally arrive before any of our usual dining companions, but for the second time in a row, were guzumped for the better seats by arriving second, so maybe not such perfect timing after all... There was plenty of off street parking nearby, but we did have a short walk along Stanley Street as we didn't know exactly where the restaurant was.

Iceworks - the changing face of Paddington dining

http://www.iceworks.com.au/

I love being surprised.  It's a pretty awesome feeling when you take a punt on a restaurant and it pays off handsomely.  Very early on in my blogging adventure, I started to look outside my normal comfort zone for dining spots, which led me to check out Iceworks in Paddington.  It wasn't just any old night either, we'd decided to take a punt on Iceworks on New Years Eve (see post here).  It was a bit of a departure from our usual NYE dinner celebrations, which are normally at more established restaurants.  Like I said, taking a punt can have a big payoff and in this case, it was a meal that was quite unexpected and one to remember.

As is often the case, things change and we were invited along to check out the changes at Iceworks, which included a new team looking after the restaurant, a new chef and a brand new menu.  Nowadays, it pretty common for restaurants to invite along bloggers and regular diners to check out new menus and provide feedback.  Its a great way to engage and reward regular diners and an excellent way to promote the business, but getting bloggers in can be a double edged sword!  There is a bit of pressure on to get it right and if it goes wrong, there is a potential for it to be very public!

We are quite familiar with Iceworks, we've not only dined there before, but we used to live just up the road and had walked past the location many times before.  For residents and those with great memories, you might even remember when the location actually housed real Ice Works, I'm pretty sure it was called the Ithica Iceworks and did a great job of supplying ice to Brisbane residents. We'd arranged to arrive around 6:30pm, so didn't really have time to walk, which with the warmer wether would have been lovely - but not to be.  Forgetting that there was plenty of parking underneath the restaurant, we parked around the corner and ended up walking a bit anyway!

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.

Melbourne Series - The Meat and Wine Co

http://themeatandwineco.com/

With so many restaurants to choose from and usually being the guy that makes the choices, it was unusual for me to hand over the decision to others to choose a spot for dinner.  I'm not sure if I'd have picked the Meat and Wine Co as an early choice when visiting Melbourne, but it was the last day of a conference I'd been attending and the Meat and Wine Co is where we'd been booked.

I'd not heard of the Meat and Wine Co but quickly got up to speed.  Established in 2000, the Meat and Wine Co was created to create a family friendly steakhouse dining experience.  With a number of outlets around the cooler suburbs around  Sydney and Melbourne, the Meat and Wine Co has adopted an African meets Australian theme inside the restaurant.

We were booked into the Southbank outlet of the M&WC, which was just across the street from the Crown complex.   Our reservation was for 6pm sharp, with express instructions that we had to be out for the second sitting of the night at 8pm.  I was really surprised by this, given it was a Thursday, it was impressive that they could maintain a double sitting on a week night.  I was even more impressed when we finally hit the restaurant and saw how big the dining area was, over several floors.

It was pretty easy to see where the wine section came from in the name, with an extraordinary array of wines on display as we made our way upstairs to our table.  Walking up the stairs, there was a three story high stack of crates, filled with bottles of wine of all descriptions.  Of course, not being a connoisseur of wine, they could have all been ordinary, but visually, the stack was spectacular.  I was keen to see if the meat side of the name would be as impressive.

The 5th Element - back for a return visit

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

Wow, it seems like ages since I've sat down to think about and write about food...  I guess getting the flu puts a little bit of a dampener on things and I went over a week without a restaurant meal and didn't have the energy to write!

I'd decided that I would revisit one of the restaurants I had been to last year where I had a pretty ordinary experience, in fact, it was a terrible experience.  I'm talking about my visit to The 5th Element (see post here) from September last year, one that created quite a bit of a response at the time.  It was such a bad experience that you might be wondering why I decided to give it another go, which is a great question.

It was actually during a visit to one of my favourite restaurants that the idea came to me.  I'd been chatting to Jake Nicolson, head chef of Black Bird who'd mentioned that he was taking an active interest in the menu and kitchen at the 5th Element.  While Jake is the Executive Chef at Black Bird, he actually works for the Ghanem Group which owns Byblos in Brisbane and Melbourne as well as the 5th Element at South Bank.  Knowing the exacting standards of Jake, I was hoping that the 5th Element had found a new groove, but there was only one way to find out.

The 5th Element is a bar and a restaurant, so there was no doubt that we'd be heading to dinner with our usual dinner buds and perennial cocktail groupie TB and CI.  I'd actually had a little bit of trouble convincing CI that he should come along, he'd been the previous month and had not had a great experience.  There was no such complication with TI, the cocktail menu at the 5th Element has always been pretty good.  After some assurances that it would be much better than our previous visits, CI agreed to come along for a Saturday night dinner.

Breakfast Series - Customs House Breakfast

http://customshouse.com.au/

After what had been a pretty huge couple of weeks at work and eating, we were feeling pretty exhausted and in need of a sleep in.  It doesn't happen very often, we're usually up fairly early on Sunday mornings so we can grab a table at one of Brisbane's burgeoning breakfast spots.  But, on this occasion, exhaustion definitely won out and off-went-the-alarm and we had a blissful sleep in until around 9am.  The only problem with lolling around in bed until 9am was that we were super hungry when we got out of bed and really felt like breakfast somewhere - oh!  The irony...

It just so happens that there is a great little breakfast spot in the CBD, right next to my apartment, that is only open on Sunday mornings from 9am.  We'd been to Customs House for breakfast a few times before, but not since I started my blog, but it immediately sprung to mind once I realised what time we'd crawled out of bed.  After a quick call to the restaurant and  a quick confirmation that we could just pop over without a reservation, we got dressed in our slightly less casual Sunday duds and made our way across the street to Customs House.

One of the most striking buildings left standing in Brisbane, Customs House was designed by Charles McLay of the Colonial Architect's office and work commenced on its construction in 1886.  Taking around three years to build and costing thirty eight thousand pounds, the riverside building was a fine example of Victorian Free Classical style and most recognisable by its copper sheathed dome. Customs House was a functioning government office building until around 1994, at which time it was sold off to the University of Queensland and is now used as a function facility.

Next Door Kitchen and Bar - the South Bank curse strikes again

http://www.nextdoorkitchenbar.com.au/

I've not had a lot of luck when dining over at South Bank and over the last few years have had some pretty mixed experiences.  Ranging from the superb, Stokehouse (see post here) and Aquatine (see post here), to the fairly average and to the really poor, most of our dining experiences in the precinct had not been brilliant. So when we decided to go out with our usual dinner buddies, I was a little bit hesitant when I saw Next Door Kitchen and Bar on the list.  I'd heard mostly good things about the little restaurant in Little Stanley Street, so I thought that I'd take the chance and get in and test it out.

Next Door Kitchen and Bar poses as a 1920's style restaurant and while I could picture it in my mind if I tried really hard, I didn't really get the connection.  Sure, the tables and chairs could have resembled furniture from the '20s, the fit-out of the kitchen and main dining area more closely resembled a contemporary style restaurant with mismatched and stylish black tiles and dark wood panels.  It was a freezing winter's night, so I suspect that the very modern 'mushroom' heaters didn't help with the theme either.

We'd been to Regional Flavours earlier in the day (see post here), which had taken over a large part of Little Stanley Street and Next Door Kitchen had been pretty packed at the time.  It was also really busy when we arrived for our 7:30pm reservation and it looked as if it hadn't let up all day, so I was feeling a little more comfortable that we could be onto another winner at South Bank.  We'd arrived a little earlier than our dining companions as were able to have a look over the menu and get a bit of a feeling on what we'd order.

Good Food Month - GOMA Harvest: Art, Film + Food

http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/visiting-us/Places_to_Eat

July just keeps getting better and better.  Good Food Month is a relatively new addition to the Brisbane calendar but it's already transformed the Brisbane foodie landscape.  Not only are there amazing festivals, such as the Teneriffe Festival (see post here), Regional Flavours and the Night Noodle Markets but a raft of top restaurants holding special Good Food Month events.  With so many amazing opportunities during the month, and no real way to get to them all, I've had to bee a little choosy about which ones to go to.

I started off the month heading to the Young Chef Dinner at E'cco (see post here), where some of the state's top young chef talent put on a show and demonstrated why Brisbane is fast becoming a recognised foodie destination.  One of the chefs doing-his-thing on the night was GOMA Restaurant's young gun Josue (Josh) Lopez, who has shot into the spotlight in the last few years with his creative take on native Australian food.  Winning a coveted Chefs Hat from the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide has only reinforced what an up and comer Josh is.

One of the highlights of Good Food Month was the alignment with the QAGOMA's Harvest: Art, Film + Food exhibition. Taking advantage of the food based exhibit, the restaurant, which is normally only open during daylight hours, has decided to open on Friday nights for the duration of Good Food Month.  Facebook buddy and aspiring Martha Stewart style domestic goddess and blogger, Digella arranged for a night at the museum (without Ben Stiller) for a group of Brisbane foodies and I was stoked to be part of the group.