Casual Dining - Moga

http://www.moga.com.au/

I find it incredibly interesting to go back to suburbs where I used to spend so much time and check out new and exciting dining destinations.  The Paddington and Rosalie areas feel so familiar to me, mainly because we used to live in Bardon for years and the area was our 'back yard'.  During the week I was invited back Rosalie to check out Moga, a new Japanese restaurant that I'd never heard of.  In a strange twist of fate, a few short days after my invite to Moga, it was listed by Lizzie Loel in QWeekend as one of her top ten restaurants in Queensland, so my interest was really piqued.  

One thing that I will admit is that I am absolutely terrible with directions and even though I'd lived in the area for years, I still had to look on Google Maps to confirm where to go.  What was embarrassing was that Moga is located on the main street in Rosalie, Baroona Road, and once I'd looked at the map, I felt pretty foolish. After parking outside the Rosalie State School and walking to the restaurant, I was completely blown away that the old Queenslander where I'd once visited my Doctor had been torn down and a modern looking building with restaurants had taken its place.  I guess you can't stop progress, especially in the 'cooler' suburbs in town.

The night was to be an intimate affair with some invited bloggers and journos and I always like to get to these things early so I can pick out the best spot to sit (lighting for my camera).  As usual, I was the first of the guests to arrive, so it gave me an opportunity to have a good look around Moga and catch up with our host for the evening.  The dining area at Moga was quite a bit larger that I'd initially thought when walking up to the restaurant, with a sushi train inside but a really large inside/outside dining area fronting the main street.

C'est Bon - Classic French cuisine that's almost perfect

http://www.cestbon.com.au/brisbane/

Given my penchant for fine dining cookery, it's quite surprising that I'd never been to French restaurant C'est Bon.  After all, French cuisine is the basis of most traditional fine dining and when you hear that a chef has been classically trained, they're often referring to being trained in French cuisine.  In fact, many of the greatest chefs in modern history are classically trained French chefs and some of the most amazing meals I've ever eaten have come out of the kitchen of classically trained chefs.

I've known about C'est Bon for ages and have even thought about going many times, mainly because its a favourite restaurant of a good work buddy, who's always suggesting we head over for a double date to check it out.  Up until recently, I'd always resisted the urge to visit the little French restaurant, mainly because of it's location, which is about the grungiest part of Woolloongabba, right on Stanley Street near the freeway.  I'm not sure what inspired me to get motivated enough to finally book, but I suspect that it was the promise of a wonderful meal overseen by one of Brisbane's few French born chefs.

While C'est Bon is owned by renowned chef Michel Bonnet, gone are the days when Michael controlled the kitchen but he has handed the reins over to talented young French Chef Anthony Weynard.  Considered one of the most traditional French restaurants in Brisbane, Chef Anthony has taken the classic French dishes designed by Michael Bonnet and put a particularly modern twist with them, while managing to keep the elements that take classic French the pinnacle of world cuisine.

The Summit Restaurant - with views to die for

http://www.brisbanelookout.com/

I remember a time, a very long time ago, when I was just a young lad trying to impress my flatmate and soon to be girlfriend (and much later wife).  How does a lad impress a young lady, well, back in the day it was hop in the car and drive up a hill really really fast. Not that I condone that type of behaviour now, but it sure did set a young girl's heart aflutter at the time. Fast forward over twenty years and a drive up that same hill was at a much more sedate pace, even though the car was much nicer and the temptation was to let it 'off the leash' for a bit.

The drive on that fateful day was up to the Mt Cootha lookout, one of the most recognisable couple's spots in Brisbane and definitely a place to take a girl for a romantic view of the city.  While we'd been back to the Mt Cootha look out a few times over the years, there was one thing we'd never done, and that was eat at the Summit Restaurant.

It's a strange occurrence that the last few times I've driven up to Mt Cootha it's been raining, which was again the case when we drove up to visit the Summit Restaurant.  One thing that amazed me was how quickly we got to the Brisbane lookout, home of the Summit Restaurant, it really isn't that far from the Brisbane CBD. When we arrived, I was quickly reminded that the Mt Cootha lookout is one of the most popular spots in Brisbane, even on a slightly cool and wet(ish) night.  So busy in fact that we had to loop around the mountain once after failing to find a park.

Breakfast Series - The O Bar and Restaurant

http://www.obar.com.au/

If I was to think about a street in Brisbane that held a lot of promise and potential, one that was not so well known, it would have to be Astor Terrace in Spring Hill.  It's a little street just on the outskirts of the CBD that has lovely large trees and sidewalks, almost boulevard like in its appearance, and an increasing number of hotels and apartments opening.  Of course, where you get a smattering of hotels, cafe's and restaurants soon follow and Astor Terrace is starting to get it's fair share of dining establishments.

I'd already checked out one of the newer cafes in Astor Terrace late last year and thought that the funky little Jak + Hill had a lot of promise (see post here).  It was when visiting Jak + Hill that I'd stumbled across the O Bar and Restaurant, which we'd considered going to for New Years Eve dinner a few years back with some buddies, but not knowing much about it, ended up at Iceworks in Paddington instead (see post here).   We were looking for a breakfast spot to catch up with our mate DruBoy and it just so happened that the O Bar was midway between our two apartments and in an ironic twist, it was with DruBoy that we'd almost visited the O Bar for that NYE dinner.

The O Bar was an interesting looking spot.  From the outside, it had a very modern appearance, with lots of wood and feature brickwork, but inside, it went from contemporary to 'old-world' charm.  In fact, it looked a lot like the inside of a Swiss ski chalet with a patchwork of exposed stone and a warm feeling that would not be out of place in any Scandinavian country.  It was quite a juxtaposition between the inside and out, especially with the crazy lighting features that separated the two.