The Smoke BBQ

Friendly owner mingling with the crowd ; )

The clan was out with full force for lunch at The Smoke yesterday. With the men in tow, there were no reservations when it came down to ordering big quantities of meat. So there we have it our feast....

Dudley Street Espresso

We have passed Dudley Street Espresso a gazillion times and finally, we made it a point to visit 

on this very bright & cool saturday morning! Dudley was busy busy but we managed to nab 2 stools at the far end of a long wooden communal table.

Kim Thanh

To be honest, our actual destination was Quan Thanh a few doors away and we didn't think of making reservations (you'd have to!) as the next day was start of work day. It was going to be a half hour wait with no where to sit, so we decided to dine at Kim Thanh's instead. I was reluctant then as we have brought Miss food hunter's cousin to Kim Thanh's a year ago but was relieved when she said she didn't mind it again as she remembered the food to be delicious!

Spicy Green Papaya Salad- Refreshing with plenty of peanuts & cooked onions for flavour and texture, but not your typical punchy asian salad. Not sure where the Spice comes in this dish??

Gelateria Cremona

This is just a v. quick post to Announce that our all-time favourite gelati shop has re-opened!! YAY to the newly refurbished Gelateria Cremona @ Rosalie. We were quick to tuck into our cones of gelati that we had forgotten to take snapshots of it...Oooops! But surely, the time will come when we make our way there soon again!

Just to let you in on a couple of interesting flavours available at the moment; Anzac biscuit, Trifle, Hot Cross Bun, Sweet Potato, Honey, mixed Raspberry & Mandarin and Pear. Gelateria Cremona offers an array of interesting flavours according to season, special occasions, festivities etc. I remembered there was Earl Grey Tea over Valentine's which i absolutely loved and also Jackfruit sometime in the 3rd quarter of the year!!

Gelateria Cremona

Shop 5 151 Baroona road

Rosalie

Mecca Bah

Day 2 of Miss food hunter's cousin meet up, we decided on somewhere non-asian that is close to the DFO airport and Mecca Bah sprang to mind. As our guests prefer to have share-type dishes we thought this turkish/ middle-eastern joint would be highly appropriate. As it was a public holiday, the restaurant was trading very well with big family groups, couples, girly luncheons etc. etc!

Thai Orchid

Last night, we had dinner with Miss food hunter's cousin and her friend who have flown from Sydney to Brisbane for the nationals synchronized swimming competition. The competition was held over the Easter weekend at the Sleeman Sports Complex and thus, their team resided at Chandler's. Due to the location, we thought we'd head out to Royal Thai at Springwood as we remembered the food to be pretty good...this was about 8 years ago! And so, armed with a bottle of Marlborough Sauv blanc we marched in ready for a feast for four!

MOS Burger

We finally made it to MOS! That is because we were there at 1055am for a supa dupa early lunch and already, there were intermittent short queues and dozens waiting in line for their takeaway bags. We have had MOS burgers in Singapore a fair number of times between the two of us and personally, we prefer the rice to their bun-type burgers. 

Haoke Chinese Restaurant

Good Friday YAY...and we were off to try a new dim sum restaurant at Sunnybank Hills. We have passed this restaurant more than a dozen times (to Just Soy Cafe) and have seen how very busy it is every weekend. Therefore, it is of no surprise to have to wait for about 25 mins for our table today. Haoke has a large interior with a grand setting, on a scale similar to Landmark's.

Yummy Paradise

 

It's been past a week since our last post as Miss food hunter was down with gastroenteritis but is now well on track with recovery and decided on Thai for some punchy flavours. Unfortunately, Kai Gai at Centro Pinelands was closed for lunch and we ventured to a new joint that specializes in Gui Zhou (贵州) cuisine. We aren't familiar with China geography but judging by the menu fare, Miss food hunter took a guess that it was probably near Sichuan. Indeed, both are neighbouring south west provinces of China.

Home Store + Cafe

After a trip down the sunday Bardon market to pick up some fresh produce and as always have a few nibbles (coffee from Xpresso & a Jam Brioche from Ferny Hills Bakery) we went straight to Ashgrove hoping to find Home Store to get some brunch. We couldn't recall the exact address but knew it was somewhere near Milk Cafe @ Ashgrove. We wandered around for just a while and hey presto...we found it! Judging by the name, we were expecting to see a big store; scale on par with a home centre/store but this is really opposite from what we thought.

Half Time Tea Bar

Half-Time Tea Bar is one of Mr food hunter's favourite lunch spots. They offer a business set lunch menu that costs around $9.50. The set lunch comes with a bowl of their daily soup (e.g. miso, tofu, black fungus & pork soup) and up to 3 different sides of vegetables (e.g. stewed egg, deep-fried tofu cubes, cabbage stir-fry, tomato & egg). Today, with our mains, we had a bowl of sweet & sour soup and sides of stir-fried eggplant, braised tofu & 1/2 egg in soy and pickled vegetables.

Tra Vinh

Tra Vinh is one of the latest addition to the Vietnamese food scene in Inala. The interior is just like any other restaurant in the area; simple, basic settings with always a wide-screen TV to entertain. Tra Vinh offers dishes that are typical of most Vietnamese menus but they do proclaim to specialize in noodles and so...oodles of noodles on order it is!

The Norman Hotel

When Mr food hunter manages to get out with his brothers for a meal, you can be assured there will always be steak or a big heavy serving of meat on the menu.  Its not surprising as Mr food hunter and his brothers have always been big eaters and nothing is more satisfying than a good steak!  The Norman Hotel proclaims to be brisbane's worst vegetarian restaurant, the perfect place for Mr food hunter and the boys...

In a Pickle

Miss food hunter has been talking about In a Pickle (IAP) for more than a year now and we finally made it there for lunch! The cafe isn't big, with just a couple of tables outdoors and several indoor window seatings. The cabinets and benchtops brimmed with goodies galore! There were turkish sandwiches, gourmet salads, homestyle bakes & sweets as well as a few bottled condiments available for purchase.

Kerith Brook Cafe

After some fresh-produce & gift shopping at the Kelvin Grove markets on a Saturday mid-morning, and in our tummies- a cuppa Bunker cappuccino, Bunker Iced 70% chocolate milk (do give this bittersweet drink a go!) and some hand-made steamed buns, we built up an appetite, ready for an early lunch. We headed towards West End, to Atomica supposedly, but passed by Kerith Brook Cafe which had a couple of outdoor seatings, perfect for accommodating our lil' dog!

Chumley Warner's

Lunch was a little haphazard yesterday....We had the lunch specials at Thai River which was just next door to Chumley Warner's. While we were eating, we couldn't help but peek continuously (stared shamelessly rather) through the tinted windows at those unwrapped paper packages of battered fish & chips with gravy and mushy peas...That's not to say that our Thai meal was bad. In fact we were delightfully surprised, the Red Curry and Tom Yum (all ~ $8) were some of the better tasting ones around...sorry no pics!