Cheap Eats - Ribs and Burgers

http://ribsandburgers.com.au/

If there is a way to catch people's attention, Ribs and Burgers certainly figured out how to do it.  The offer of one free hamburger a week for a whole year for the first 100 customers certainly got my attention, and that of my blogger buddies too.  Given that the offer was mid week, there was never any chance of me winning the prize but I hear that the queue on the opening was complete madness.  I guess I could have called in sick but that would have been irresponsible!

Even though I couldn't get in and wait in the queue for free burgers, the fact that a new burger joint had opened up in Brisbane was always going to pique my interest.   Of course, it wasn't long before I made my way to James Street to check it out.

I've always liked hamburgers, lets face it, they are the food of champions but it wasn't until I went to New York last year that I really got a taste for the traditional American (Gringo) fast food (see post here).  Ever since then I've been on a crusade to find Brisbane's best burger and I've had some beauties but the standard against which I've been measuring my burgers is Howzat Burgers in the CBD (see post here).  In fact, since I tasted my first Howzat Burger, I've pretty much eaten it every week!

Ribs and Burgers first opened in Sydney's Neutral Bay in 2011 and since that auspicious date has gone on to open another nine burger joints, Brisbane being the most recent.  The latest in a series of burger joints to open up in Brisbane, Ribs and Burgers aim to be different by considering themselves a boutique casual dining restaurant instead of a chain restaurant.  In doing so, they plan not to saturate the market with heaps of franchises, but choose select locations that increase the value of the brand.

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.

Tartufo - classic Italian

http://www.tartufo.com.au/

It was a Sunday night and we had absolutely no idea what we wanted for dinner.... None.  Sometimes it's like that and SC and I just look at each other and shrug our shoulders.  You would think that it would be easy to grab a bite to eat with so many great restaurants just a short walk away but sometimes 'analysis paralysis' in.  To sort ourselves out, we went for a walk and it just so happened that we walked towards the Valley and did a menu shop.  You know what I mean, walking up to interesting looking dining spots, casually glancing at the menu and seeing if anything jumps out.

Restaurant after restaurant passed us by as literally nothing looked interesting to us.  Eventually we made our way to Emporium and after walking a complete circle around the little Valley precinct we found ourselves standing in front of Tartufo.  A quick glance and a short nod and we were walking through the front door and asking for a seat.

It had been some time since our last outing to Tartufo, in fact it was incredibly over twelve months since we last walked through its doors (see post here).  That last outing to the Tony Percuoco's incredibly well regarded Italian fine diner was a beauty and we'd had a great time.  It was a contrast to our first visit, which had been disappointing to say the least and we were hoping that our latest visit would herald another winning meal.

I'm not sure if had been a conscious decision to head to Tartufo but I had been talking about the fine diner earlier that week. A fellow foodie asked if I'd seen Queensland's top ten wildest desserts in which Tartufo's chocolate fondant had featured heavily.  Tony Percuoco Tartufo is used to awards, informal and formal and has consistently been recognised with chefs hats and Gourmet Travellers stars.  

Breakfast Series - Shouk Cafe Paddington

http://www.shoukcafe.com.au/

You can usually tell the popularity of a new restaurant or cafe by the amount of Instagram photos, blog posts and 'interweb' chatter that it generates. There have been times where I've been on my way to, or on my way home from a restaurant and noticed another blogger posting Instagram photos from the very restaurant I've visited.  In what must be a really positive sign for Paddington's latest breakfast hotspot, Shouk Cafe, I noticed that not one, but two blogger buddies had decided to pay Shouk a visit at the same time as me.  

We'd arranged to visit Shouk with a couple of good mates  on a Sunday morning, which is generally one of the busiest times of the week.  We love catching up with DruBoy and Thommo but over the years, we have grown accustomed to the fact that they are almost always late.  Thinking that we'd get to Shouk early and score a table for the inevitable queue started, we arrived right on time at 8:30am to an already full restaurant.  

Our request of a table for four was met with a wait of about ten minutes and as we stood around looking over the crowd, I spotted blogger buddy Melissa Loh and her SO.  I wandered over for a quick chat and found out two things.  One, when Melissa had arrived a short while before we did, the restaurant was mostly empty. Two, they were really excited about testing out Shouk.