ChowHouse

As stated on their menu, Chow House is an "informal share food style restaurant". So really, it's tapas. It is located right in the heart of James St, New Farm and is sure to be busy any time of the day. Most of the seating is outdoors and overlooks the bustling shops surrounding it. It's the perfect casual spot for a weekend catch up.

I went here hoping to have their breakfast menu which looked amazing but was too late for the service and settled for lunch instead. Chow House's lunch menu has strong Asian influences with dishes like rice paper rolls, peking duck, sichuan quail and nasi goreng. Think Asian street food, cooked fancy and served in a casual dining scene.

Mango and Passionfruit Frappe, Pineapple Lime and Coconut Frappe

These were very nice frappes, adequately sweet and very creamy. They reminded me of the smoothies you can get from Boost. Kristine had the lime, coconut and pineapple frappe. She loved it. I'm not a fan of pina colada but this was pretty much a smoothie version of one.

Hanoi pork belly and prawn rice paper roll

The first share item Kristine and I got were the rice paper rolls. Being Vietnamese myself, I wasn't at all impressed. There wasn't anything wrong with the filling but I may just be bias and prefer the traditional ones. It really needed mint and coriander to bring some flavour to the rolls. Cabbage and lettuce just doesn't do it. I didn't enjoy the dipping sauce either - it was very gingery which I wasn't expecting. The dish was too similar to a traditional rice paper roll and I don't think that was what they were aiming for. I do enjoy having fusion rice paper rolls but if you're going to put plain pork and prawn together, the most traditional combination, pair them with coriander and mint please! Or try something completely different. 

Thai Pork Sausage Roll

This is a great example of what Chow House should be aiming for - combining traditional flavours and turning it into a modern, Aussie dish. Not like what they did with the rice paper roll. The sausage roll mince had great Thai flavours in it and I especially loved the toasted shredded coconut throughout. The pastry was crisp and the dipping sauce was sweet and tangy.

Sichuan Pepper Deboned Quail, Asian Slaw and Rice Cake

 I was most excited about this dish as quail is my favourite game meat. Considering the title of the dish, I was imagining bursts of tongue numbing szechuan pepper but I hardly tasted any pepper at all. It was a bit bland even after dipping it in the jus underneath and the runny quail yolk. I had to season it with a lot of salt. Kristine was really disappointed in the rice cakes (underneath the eggs in the picture). It was just undercooked rice that had been clumped together and fried. It wasn't a great dish and considering we paid $15 for this it, I wasn't happy.

I really wanted to like Chow House but I thought the Asian fusion wasn't executed properly. Regardless of the lunch share items, I still would want to come back to try their breakfast menu which looked fantastic. 

Dish I'd order again: Thai Pork Sausage Roll

ChowHouse
39 James St
Fortitude Valley 
QLD