85 Miskin Street - the best thing I've ever eaten

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

I was terribly sad when I found out that one of my favourite restaurants was going to shut down and re-open under a new identity.  For a very long time, Brent's at Toowong was one of my favourite special occasion restaurants, a dining spot where I had spent many an anniversary, birthday or general special occasion (see post here).  Brent's had been open for such a long time and had been producing such amazing fine dining French cuisine, I just assumed that it would always be there.

I needn't have worried too much, owner and head chef Brent Farrell was still at the helm and had just decided to freshen up the fine diner and give it a more contemporary look and feel and with a more relaxed and accessible menu.  Where Brent's was white linen and silver service, the reborn 85 Miskin Street would run with a more modern and edgier feel, which included ripping up the carpets exposing the floor boards in the wonderful old Queenslander.

After we'd parked our car in the valley of Miskin Street and made our way to number 85, we noticed that there the wild bushes that had been outside the diner had been cleared away and there was a feeling of space on the deck outside the restaurant.  It was the first of the 'same-same but different' moments that we'd have over the next few minutes as we made our way inside.  The next was the much improved and sleeker entry to the dining room, which included a lovely new door that led us into the restaurant.  Our last surprise was the feeling of deja vu that I experienced as we were led to our table, the feeling that I'd been there and experienced that very same moment.

Breakfast Series - The Corner Store Cafe

http://www.cornerstorecafe.com/

A couple of months ago on one of our infrequent forays into the suburbs, we stumbled across a little cafe as we made our way home.  We didn't have time to stop in and check it out but made a mental note to check it out sometime.  As often happens with a 'mental note', it was soon forgotten and the Corner Store Cafe faded quickly from memory.

Fast forward a few months and we had to again go on a field trip to the suburbs, this time to hit our preferred medical centre at Taringa.  I was there to get a blood tests done and had been fasting from the day before, so we thought that grabbing a breakfast out in the 'burbs would be a good idea (I know, its not really that far away from the CBD).  With not much of an idea of where to eat in the western suburbs, I checked out urbanspoon and quickly spotted a name that was familiar, you guessed it the Corner Store Cafe.  

We thought it might be touch and go to get a table, mainly because our trip to the doctor wouldn't finish until about 9:15am, which would have put us right in the peak hour for breakfast.  Our real hope was that we would have been finished with the early risers crowd and not quite yet hit the brunch crew.  As we wound through the back streets of Toowong from our medical centre, I started to have doubts that SC's usual back street approach to driving through the suburbs would actually get us to out destination.   I needn't have worried as SC's internal GPS had us pulling up out the front of the Corner Cafe with nary a wrong turn.  And when I say pulling up out front, I mean right out front, SC managed to score a street park right in front of the cafe!

Brents at Toowong, a real dining experience

http://www.brentsrestaurant.com.au/

Tuesday night for me is quite often fine dining night, its a night where you can book into a great restaurant in Brisbane within an hour of calling and making a booking.  That's not to say that Brisbane is not rocking it out on a Tuesday night, quite often it is, but its the start of the week for most restaurants and you can be guaranteed of a beautiful meal and great service.

On this wonderfully mild Brisbane spring evening SC and I found ourselves drawn to an old favorite that we had not been to in a while (that and the fact we still had our Entertainment Card to use).  Brent's always seems to the place that you love going to when you are there, but almost always forget that its only a few kilometers out of the city in Toowong.  I will admit that its much easier to wander across the street or down the road to a CBD dinner, but tonight we felt like treating ourselves and hopped in the car for the short drive to Brent's.

Brent's is a fabulous little French fine dining establishment in an old Queenslander with the main room downstairs catering to about 30-40 diners and an upstairs area for larger events.  The room is perfect for a romantic experience and tonight we were seated right at the front with an expansive view of Miskin Street, the view is actually better than it sounds!