The Spaghetti House Trattoria

When asked to recommend good Italian food in Brisbane, I'm always struggling to provide worthwhile suggestions. Sure most of the Italian restaurants here have some decent dishes but I still think traditional Italian dining is missing in the Brisbane food scene. 

The Spaghetti House Trattoria has filled that gap. It takes you across the globe to Italy from the moment you step in. From the heavily accented waiters to the rustic decor. It reminded me of the restaurants in Italy that I've seen on SBS food and travel shows; with long wooden tables, covered with bowls of assorted olives, sitting it's oil and tall glasses filled with crispy mini bread sticks. I could easily see a big Italian family coming to sit at this table and sharing a meal together.

Fortune Well Sichuan Restaurant

My experience with Sichuan cuisine is very limited, partially due to the lack of Sichuan restuarants in Brisbane. I've heard good things about this place from friends who grew up eating Sichuan food in China so it sounded promising.

The menu had fairly non-descriptive english translations which made the dishes seem completely boring. Luckily I went with Chinese friends and they took over the ordering. We ordered 3 main dishes - all were spicy dishes and had it accompanied with steamed rice. 

Shui Zhu Yu - Chef's Special fish fillets

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

Kapsali Taverna

Kapsali Taverna is located in a prime location behind South Bank's iconic pool and beach and also has promises of Brisbane's river views. It's a nice lunch spot for diners not looking for anything too fancy but a nice place to stop and relax in South Bank.

Seared scallop, prawn and mussel salad with garlic and chilli infused vinaigrette 

Shucked

Shucked was highly recommended to me for it's corn fritters. I was forewarned that there wasn't much to Shucked, very small, terrible service but great food. Sounded typical of any popular brunch spot in Brisbane these days. 

Shucked is located behind Austral Honda on a commercial street in Newstead. There were cars parked all along the side streets and seeing as it was outside business hours and the only cafe in sight, everyone must've been there for a Shucked breakfast.

The main seating area inside the cafe was completely full so I ended up in the outdoor seating which looked like it once used to be an alley way. The brick walls were now covered in quirky contemporary artwork. Some of the tables and chairs were a tad too small for the average bloke and some were just crates with cardboard on top. This all fitted in nicely with their trendy laid back fit out but wasn't very comfortable to eat at.

 Stone the Crows - Corn and feta fritters w. hollandaise, tomato relish and avocado