Gordita - a different take on Spanish cuisine

http://gordita.com.au/

All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place at one of Brisbane's newest dining hotspots, the awesome M&A Lane in the Valley.  Gordita is the latest funky restaurant to open up in what is quickly becoming a killer dining destination, one of many in a rapidly expanding Brisbane dining scene.

As seems to be the case lately, we were walking to James Street to do our usual weekend shop, when we noticed that Gordita had opened its doors.  I'd known that Gordita was opening soon, in fact I'd been invited along to check out the menu at a sit down lunch, but the moment I saw that the spot had opened, there was no way I could wait a week to check it out.  In fact, we waited exactly one day before the lure of the shiny shiny had us booked in to sample some lovely Spanish nosh!

Gordita is part of an ever expanding empire of restaurants form Jamie Webb, who also runs Spanish Tapas joint Peasant at the Barracks (see post here) as well as Oyster Bar Cabiria and Lefty's old time music hall. Drawing on his experiences running restaurants in New York and Sydney, Jamie has put together a southern Spanish style restaurant that is very different from the more traditional cuisine at Peasant.  Amazingly, he's also been able to lure Alfonso Ales to consult on the menu, who brings his experiences in working in Spain's best restaurant in recent years ,(now closed) elBulli.

Restaurant Two - a perfect spot to end an era

http://www.restaurant2.com.au/

Just over a week ago we were hit with the staggering news that our General Manager would be moving on after seven years on the job.  We all knew that this day would come, sure, but when it finally happens it's still a shock to the system.  Our last day together as a full leadership team was superb, we were able to sign off many of the strategic goals our team wanted to achieve and then finish off the day with a celebratory dinner.  When it comes to picking a location for dinner, obviously I've got a few ideas but was really happy to let MK get on and choose the spot for us to celebrate and commiserate before the start of a new era.

We needed to hit one of the special destination spots around the CBD and while there are a few that we all love going to, the one that was booked was Restaurant Two.  A lot has been said and written about David Pugh's award winning restaurant on the corner of Edward and Alice Streets down by the Botanical Gardens, and for good reason.  Restaurant Two has been around for well over a decade and producing food of the highest quality.  David is also well known around town as a campaigner for local businesses, in particular the changes to parking conditions in the CBD (but that's another story).  I've written about Restaurant Two before (see post here) and over the I've had some amazing meals there, and some so-so meals, so I wondered which I'd get this time.

GOMA Restaurant - Refined food in the perfect setting

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

When I think about the transformation of Brisbane from the little sleepy town it was when I moved here in 1992, I feel immensely proud.  Admittedly I moved from Adelaide, but at the time I thought I'd moved from a relatively cosmopolitan city to a very big country town.  In 2014, Brisbane was called by some the 'New World City' and while that might be a little bit of a stretch, it's certainly one of the best cities around and one I'm proud to call home.  The last five years or so have seen a complete transformation in the food scene but it's other areas that have really helped Brisbane's transformation.  One of the most significant in my opinion was the opening of the Gallery of Modern Art, GOMA, which rivals many of the great Modern Art Buildings in the world including the Tate Modern and MoMA.

One of the most dramatic exhibitions held at GOMA in recent times was the 'Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth' piece, which we'd recently seen many Instagram photos being posted.  We often talk about getting over to see the exhibitions at GOMA and then realise that we've missed them by the time we get around to wandering over, but we really didn't want to miss this one.  To help incentivise and motivate us to get across, I thought we would make a day of it and book into the GOMA restaurant, which had recently picked up it's first chef's hat in the Australian Good Food Guide.

I'd known that GOMA had a restaurant, but not much more than that, so when the 2014 AGFG list of Brisbane's best restaurants came out and the GOMA restaurant had made the list, it was inevitable that I would visit. The Executive Chef at GOMA is Josue Lopez, who has worked at some pretty impressive restaurants.  While Josue has spent time in well regarded restaurants like Moda and Two Small Rooms, it's his time in some of the best restaurants in the world that are eye catching.  Josue spent time in Gordon Ramsay's London restaurant Maze but he lists is time at Rene Redzepi's Noma in Denmark as his most influential.

Sydney Series - The Cut Bar and Grill

http://www.cutbarandgrill.com/

I recently found myself in Sydney overnight after a whirlwind visit to the harbour city for work.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to get away for a nice dinner but decided I'd hit twitter to get some suggestions, just in case I had a few hours spare.  Asking where my followers would go for a meal in Sydney if they were only there for a night, I was expecting to suggestions like Quay, Rockpool, Est and some of the fancier dining spots around.  While I did get the odd Longrain and Momofuku, I was surprised and delighted with the less well known and clearly more personal dining spots suggested, Wildfire, Portento Fratelli Paradiso, just to name a few.

One suggestion that I got, which was also a recommendation from my lovely partner SC, was The Cut, which as it turned out was just a hundred metres or so from my hotel.  After a very early start and a very busy day, I was able to plant a few suggestion to my travelling companions throughout our meetings that led us in the direction of The Cut.  By the time we had finished and it was time to unwind and have a few drinks, we 'found' ourselves at the The Argyle, which as luck would have it is right at the back of The Cut!

A few drinks later and it was time for us to start thinking about food, it was the easiest thing in the world to just walk a few metres and descend some steps and enter The Cut.  We didn't know how we would go without a reservation at 8pm on a Wednesday in Sydney but we were offered some seats at a communal table or to wait at the bar for a table to free up.  The choice was easy for the lads, who were all too happy to have another beer before dinner started, so it was beer and fries for about thirty minutes until we were shown to our table.