Thai Wi-Rat

Thai Wi-Rat is a Thai/Laos restaurant in Chinatown which serves authentic food true to it's culture. You don't need to ask for Thai Hot here, just ask for normal hot and it will bring tears to your eyes. The spiciness slowly increases in intensity and doesn't hit you until about halfway through the meal. The medium is probably best if eating in large groups. Try hot if you're not too concerned about your appearance after dinner.

What I didn't like about Thai Wi-Rat was that the ordering was done individually at the front counter. We wanted to order extra dishes halfway through our meal but when we looked up at the counter, there was a long line of people so we decided against it.

Yum Nuea - Grilled Rump Steak with Thai Salad Sauce  

COYO - Coconut Milk Yoghurt

When I came across Coyo from a colleague, it opened up a new healthy breakfast option for me. Finally I can enjoy yoghurt for breakfast. Not only is it naturally sweet, it is dairy free which keeps my stomach at bay in the morning. I know that most health fanatics are reaching for Greek yoghurt as it carries hardly any calories and keeps you full. But I find its sour taste makes it harder to enjoy as a regular yoghurt. I tend to only use Greek yoghurt in smoothies or cooking. I am also weary of 'greek style' yoghurt which uses gelatine as a thickener, rather than the traditional strained method. So Coyo is a great alternative for people like me.

Ole Restaurant

Tapas is fast becoming the new dining preference in Brisbane and why not I say? It's a great way to try more items on the menu and this sort of dining sets a very relaxed and extended meal for your company. I find in big groups, even if a restaurant's menu isn't set in a tapas style, it's easier and more fun to get multiple dishes to share.

Ole Restaurant is in Southbank towards the Piazza end. Like all Southbank restaurants, it has great outside seating where you can enjoy a leisurely lunch or dinner (and I hear they serve breakfast too?). The menu has a great selection of tapas and raciones (more substantial plates to share) and wine and cocktail menus as well.

Red Sangria - Red wine punch

You can't have Spanish tapas without a jug of sangria. I was surprised that they offered white and red wine sangria. I've never tried white sangria but I'm not a fan of white wine so Cora and I opted for red. The amount of wine was only slight, so I definitely recommend this for those non red drinkers as well. It was fruity, refreshing and ice cold. Best one I've had to date. The jug works out to be about 4-5 glasses so for us two it was a bit of a struggle to finish.

(Tapas) Pulpo Con Chorizo - Grilled octopus, chorizo, fresh lime, parsley and tomato

Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup - Pho Recipe

Pho has to be the quintessential Vietnamese dish. Every household has it's own version and of course everyone claims their mums' is the best. But why is it that there's so much variation in the quality of pho? Well, there are many 'secrets' to making the ultimate pho broth and each restuarant has their own little extra something. I've heard some interesting stories about the pho in Vietnam. My parents claim the top restaurants use a special type of dried seafood which can only be found in Vietnam waters. They're not sure what this seafood is, and even then, it's only a rumour. How well guarded! If I ever go back to Vietnam, I'll definitely try to weed this information out.

What makes this particular pho recipe so good is because of the quality of the ingredients, quantities and grilling of the stock vegetables and spices. When I make this at home, I don't skimp out on the amount of bones and I also buy the soup bones from Woolworths. I find the bones have more meat than from your butchers and the bones are well trimmed of excess fat. As for the spices, I don't buy the premade bouquet garnis but instead buy each spice individually so I can control the amount of each spice.

This may seem like a daunting recipe with so many ingredients but it's actually dead easy to make and tastes much better than restaurant ones (and minus the msg too). This recipe was adapted partly from my parents recipe and from Luke Nguyen. 

Little Lamb - Charcoal BBQ and Hot Pot Buffet

Little Lamb is a combined hot pot and charcoal grill buffet situated in a small shopping complex in Eight Mile Plains. It is in the older complex opposite Warrigal Square. As to how new this place is, I'm not certain. The staff speak mainly Chinese so there was a language barrier. I let my friend Peter do most of the talking here.

This place was big, loud and very busy. Customers are constantly getting up to grab food from the buffet area so it can get a bit overwhelming. This is a place you go to with a large group of friends and spend all night there cooking and eating. Bookings are a must otherwise you will find yourself waiting for a table.

Each table has an inbuilt grill box which they top with hot coal when your table is seated. Beside the grill is an induction cooktop for the hot pot. They offer spicy soup and normal soup and they have a split soup bowl so the table can order both types.  

Charcoal Skewers - (from the far right - sweet potato, taro balls, chicken wing, lamb)

 

Beastie Burgers: Brisbane's Best Burgers - Stop 4

Beastie Burgers is a small licensed restaurant on Little Stanley Street in South Bank. This place has few seating and most of it is outdoor, like the other restaurants on Little Stanley St. We've tried the burgers here in the past and from memory, they were good and worth trying again. I remember really enjoying the flame grilled patties which they specialise in. Think hungry jacks flamed grilled but not as oily and with real, wholesome beef mince patties.

Like most burger joints, the burgers had fun and creative names. I was tossing up between Cicciolina and Spice route. The Cicciolina had roast eggplant, capsicum, haloumi, rocket, pesto and aioli. To keep my burger choices more streamlined, I chose the Spice Route, which is similar to the Clacker Cracker from Just Poppy's and After Burner from FaB.

Spice Route - Flame grilled beef burger, roast sweet potato, haloumi, chilli jam, hummus and tomato relish

Kale Chips Recipe

If you're ever craving potato chips or want something crunchy to go with your sandwich, try having kale chips as a healthy alternative. Ever since making them for the first time a month ago, I've made a batch every week. Everyone who has tried these think they're deep fried because of how insanely crispy they are, but the crispyness comes from dehydrating the kale. In its raw form, it is very stiff so instead of wilting under heat like most green vegetables, it crispens up. And for those of you on a low carb diet? Here is your mid afternoon fix!

Have a go at these and if you don't like them, I'd like to hear from you because I'm yet to find someone who doesn't like it.

Popolo Italian Kitchen and Bar

The strip of restaurants at the new River Quay precinct at South Bank are the trendiest new places to have lunch. It's located just under the Goodwill Bridge with riverfront views.

What I love about Popolo is the relaxed ambience, outdoor seating and tapas style dining. Most of their dishes can be accommodated to the number of people at your table which makes sharing much easier. Cora (her review here) and I were seated at the very edge of the restaurant so we were literally a footstep off the pavement. It was so bright we had our sunnies on the entire meal. The view was fantastic, the Brisbane skyline and river was in front of us, the sun on our faces and a glass of wine in hand. Everything was promising of a good meal.

View from our seats

Bun Mobile. Brisbane's Best Burgers - Stop 3

Now I know this isn't what pops into mind when you think burgers, but the buns here to me look like a burger, just with a soft white bun instead of your typical seeded bun. Harold and Christine are the masterminds behind this, and they've got themselves a great social media campaign going on. They are very active on Facebook and Twitter and are also representing Brisbane as one of two food trucks on WhereTheTruck.at. It's about time Brisbane steps up in the foodie world and catch up to its' sister cities. I hate that we're always two years behind everything (Max Brenner's, San Churros, Ribs and Rumps to name a few) so it's great to see we've already got a successful and trendy food mobile.

The Bun Mobile sets up camp at various inner city spots, usually a different one each meal time. Their favourite spots are typically West End and Kangaroo Point. They are closed Sundays, Mondays and Saturday lunch which has made it almost impossible for me to catch them. I've tried on numerous occasions to track it down but it's never been convenient for me. When my friend Cora from Hungry Kittens managed to catch them the previous week, I asked her to give me a special mention on her post because there was no way I'd catch this elusive truck. This Saturday night however, Will and I didn't have any plans and lucky for us they were just at Kangaroo Point which wasn't too hard for us to get to.

Healthy Breakfast Muffins Recipe

With all the rich food I eat on my weekends, I have to try and maintain a healthy and balanced diet during the week. Given our busy lifestyles, it's so easy to miss breakfast. And we've heard it all before, DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST. This is not a myth, I always want a toasted cheese sandwich instead of a healthy salad come lunch time if I skip breakfast. By making a batch of these on Sunday, it can last for the rest of the week and are easy to grab and have on the go in the morning.

I do not believe in eating boring and tasteless food for the sake of being healthy. If you play around with healthy ingredients you can definitely make a winning dish. These muffins are low fat, low sugar, high in energy and taste almost like a normal banana muffin. I usually have two of these in the morning, plus a handful of almonds (12 to be exact) and it keeps me going until lunch time. Because I store them in the fridge, I usually pop them in the microwave for 20seconds before eating to soften them up. I added fruits in the picture below, these were leftovers from my berry salad.

FaB Burgers. Brisbane's Best Burgers- Stop 2

My next burger stop is one we've frequented for a couple of years now. I do find a lot of mixed reviews for FaB Fish and Burger Grill but I think it's a great burger joint and it has yet to disappoint us.

Parking at The Barracks is never a problem. There is a 2h limit underground parking lot and takes you straight up to the main shops. There's quite a few good restaurants around too. I've had good takeaway at the sushi train next door and for dessert you can stop by Movenpick for some delicious waffles and icecream.



Fab Burger offers outside and indoor seating. Outside is usually too busy for us and to be honest, the walkway is very well covered, it is more of a hallway rather than being 'outside' so we've never been too keen on the al fresco dining. Fab is licensed so you can enjoy a nice glass of wine here. I was about to order one this time around but just couldn't get my head around burgers and wine. For me, burgers normally go hand in hand with softdrinks so we ordered a lemon lime and bitters instead.

Just Poppy's. Brisbane's Best Burgers- Stop 1

The first restaurant in my 'Brisbane's Best Burgers' stand off is Just Poppy's. Most would not have heard of this place and would hardly believe it's currently ranked No. 2 Burger Joint on Urbanspoon. I understand that the ranking system can get a bit out of balance in terms of categories, but I think it deserves it's spot up there.

Just Poppy's is nestled away in the western suburbs of Brisbane. Even then, it's hidden deep in Riverhills at an unassuming shopping complex. I don't even think it's off a main road. Location besides, this place was busy for 11:00am on a weekend. It seems more of a takeaway place than dine in. Either way, there's seating outside, most of which were taken up by the time we got there. There were a few people waiting for take away as well. The lady serving was very pleasant, attentive and extremely efficient. Most likely the big boss.

The menu was so extensive we couldn't decide on what to order. Again my dreams of two stomachs came into mind at this point. They had chicken burgers, lamb burgers, beef burgers and rib fillet burgers. Then came the choice of chips - chips with gravy, chips and garlic, cheezy weezy chips, beer battered fries. The list goes on. Not to mention the extra sides as well.We decided to play it safe this first visit and try the usual beef patty burgers. We had heard that the cheese chips were good though and tried that too.


Cheezy Weezy Chips

Baan Pad Thai

This has got to be my favourite Thai restaurant in Brisbane. I've been to all the top rated Thai restaurants in Brisbane and compare each one with my go to dish - Chicken Pad Thai.This place does it the best. By far.

Baan Pad Thai is located in Sinnamon Park in a small corner shopping centre. It has a few tables inside and a couple of larger ones for outdoor dining. Although I never see it very busy, it's been around for years. At least 10 years from Will's memory so it must be doing something right.

Chicken Pad Thai - Thai Hot

Yum Cha Cuisine Carindale

It's been a while since we've had yum cha in Brisbane. Lately the quality of the food at the usual places has dropped and although service was never their forte, that had gotten much worse over the years or perhaps we've just gotten more impatient. Either way, we had boycotted yum cha for a while, until we heard about the new yum cha place in Carindale. Yum Cha Cuisine does a slightly different take on yum cha. I got the vibe that it was targeting a wider market which is great to see - the decor is clean and modern and service was top notch.

It was busy inside, being 11:30am on a Saturday - peak yum cha time. Regardless, within a minute of sitting down, we were met with a trolley full of food, a lady carrying a tray of pan-fried dumplings and a waiter asking us for our drinks order. Already we were impressed. Halfway through our meal we easily caught the eye of a waiter and we ordered a few more special dishes we hadn't seen go around on the trolleys. He did so with a smile. At other places, the waiters have perfected the art of looking at anything other than the customers and when we do get their attention, they're grumpy. Top points for service here.

 Shanghai Style Steamed Pork Dumplings - Xiao Long Bao

Stokehouse Brisbane

Stokehouse is a funny choice for my first restaurant post. I have dined here once before when it first opened and I was thoroughly disappointed, never thinking I'd be back. Recent reviews have said nothing but great things and I decided to give it a second chance. Besides, I came when it had just opened.

Maybe it was the long awaited public holiday or the 27 degree warmth that made this lunch so enjoyable. Will and I were seated near the river. When I say near, I mean we can hear the water hitting the banks. None of this Eagle St Pier riverside view rubbish.

Our waiter was very helpful and friendly. She carried out a huge board of daily specials and leaned it against the table beside us so she could read them out. She then left it there for us to read alongside the a la carte menu. In theory this was a great idea but the party for that table arrived just then and this caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

We ended up ordering the special for the day to start. 

Kingfish sashimi with smoked eel, celery, fennel, pickled onions

First Post

This blog is dedicated to what I love to do - wine, dine, cook and critique. Join me in my dining adventures and attempts at cooking dishes I crave.

Born and bred in Brisbane, I've only just in the past few years started to appreciate Brisbane's food scene. It's growing everyday and is beginning to stand up to its big sister cities. I hope I can prove that all to you through convincing, honest words and captivating photographs :)

As for the cooking side of things, I want to blog classic dishes but the 'best of' versions'. I like to merge multiple recipes to create... 'the ultimate'. But of course not all turns out well so hopefully just the tried and true finds its way here. 

If you have any restaurant/recipe requests or any questions at all feel free to email me on ninawilleat@gmail.com. And of course comments are always welcomed and encouraged.