Restaurant review: Arriba Grill

Arriba Grill is a great concept. The Lutwyche shop features a black and white cartoon style mural over one wall, and everything is clean and brand new looking.

You fill out a menu card (as above) with your selections for a freshly made organic burrito. All the meat selections are marinated in chilli, so I ended up changing mine to black beans. Matt had the chicken with pinto beans, mild tomato salsa, and lettuce, cheese and guacamole as extras. I had the black beans burrito with mild corn salsa, lime rice and lettuce.

The coriander gives it a nice flavour. My burrito was filling as it was packed with rice. The price is right at around $10 depending on extras.

A healthy way to enjoy Mexican cuisine.

Arriba Grill Lutwyche
Shop 1, 554 Lutwyche Road
Lutwyche
Ph: 07 3357 7072
Open Lunch and Dinner, 7 days
www.arribagrill.com.au

Restaurant review: Montrachet

The day of our special occasion, we received a text asking to confirm our reservation. We both appreciated the small touches of good old fashioned customer service.

We were looking forward to dining at Montrachet in Paddington and dressed up for the event.

Of course, it has a very French decor with red leather chairs and benches. The tables are crowded up against each other to make the most of the available floor space. It wasn’t full on a Monday night, but there were only a handful of empty tables.

The waiters and waitresses were attentive and wore cute stripped waistcoats.

The menu is very French and we started with entrees of:

Escargots en Cocotte – Snails baked in little pots with garlic butter, tomato, spinach and topped with puff pastry lids
A very generous serve with 3 snails in each pot (so in total 9 snails).

Bouillon Richelieux – Foie gras with a trio of ravioli: chicken and black truffle; Prawn; beetroot and goat cheese cooked in a beetroot broth
Melt in your mouth pasta pockets.

Followed by mains of:

Bouillabaisse – Reef fish, scallops, fresh green prawns and scored cuttlefish served in a rich seafood broth with aioli and garlic French toast
Large pieces of fresh seafood in a divine tomato based soup.

Canard aux Deux Façons – Confit roasted duck leg and roasted duck breast served with a pea and vegetable ragoût
Crispy skin with moist meat in a sauce of summer vegetables.

And perfect homemade Pommes Frites (potato chips). I normally like them cut thin, but I guess most Australian like them thick as they were served.

Sadly we were too full to be tempted by the chocolate truffles, Grand Marnier souffle, crème brûlée, or the french cheeses.

You can also eat at the marbled comptoir (counter).

The opening hours are not what you’d expect, but civilized for the staff. Lunches are Monday – Friday from 12.00pm and Dinners are Monday – Thursday from 6.00pm.

Please leave your jeans at home!

Highly recommended.

Montrachet
224 Given Terrace
Paddington Q 4064
Phone: 07 3367 0030

Restaurant review: Mount Gravatt Hotel

I couldn’t find a decent review of the Mount Gravatt Hotel online so I decided to write one. I used to live in the neighbourhood, but couldn’t remember what it looked like, nor find an image of the outside on google.

We discovered that the Hotel is across the road from the car yards on Logan Road, with a drive-through liquor shop out the front. The loud mosaic coloured carpet and decor, hinted at the pokies in the corner room, and a kids play area the other side.

The staff were unenthusiastic to be working on a public holiday.

The meals were what you’d expect at a pub chain. My Graziers beef rump was cooked well, with a side of vegetables tossed in butter. Big M’s steak was more expensive, but not a very good cut of rib fillet and overcooked.

We decided not to have dessert, but I was intrigued by the Fanta cake.

There is a work day lunch special of $10 meals which might tempt me if I still lived nearby.

Mount Gravatt Hotel
1315 Logan Rd, Mt Gravatt, Queensland, 4122
Phone:  07 3349 2276
http://www.mountgravatthotel.com.au/

Restaurant review: South Bank Surf Club

It was a little strange to walk through the French Festival and not sample any of the food, but we were on our way to the South Bank Surf Club for lunch.

It was an obvious choice, but we both ended up ordering the Surf Club Fish and Chips. The service was friendly and excellent, and our food arrived quickly in clam shaped dishes. My Mulloway fillets had a good beer batter, although it was just starting to go brown. The fish inside was cooked to perfection. The tartar sauce was on the mild side, but moorish nevertheless. Big M said the meal was let down by run-of-the-mill chips, and thought it could be improved with homemade ones.

The décor was clean and modern, and I love their motto of “life savour”. It would be good if they had their own toilets rather than using the communal Southbank ones. We were surprised to see a busy Ben O’Donoghue in the kitchen.

I ordered the infamous chocolate nemesis for dessert. A decadent mousse-like cake invented by the River Café – even the crème fraiche wasn’t enough to cut through the richness and bitterness of the chocolate (and I’m a self-confessed dark chocoholic). It was still an guilty enjoyable treat.

My peppermint tea came with an unusual strainer, and we couldn’t work out how to use it!

Let’s hope the Surf Club will revitalise the Southbank dining scene – with a few little tweaks, I’m confident it will become a firm favourite with the locals in the nearby high rises and throughout Brisbane.

South Bank Surf Club
30aa Stanley Plaza
Parklands, South Brisbane 4101
Phone: 07 3844 7301
http://www.southbanksurfclub.com.au/
@SthBankSouthClub

Review: Brisbane Delis

Before our car became unpredictable, we used to enjoy exploring all the delicatessen and foreign food shops in Baklava Street, Brisbane. Behind the pub on the corner there is a small fresh fruit and vegetable market on Saturdays. Since our last visit Samios Foods has closed down and the prices have predictably risen.

As our challenge is about trying to reduce our carbon footprint, I am more conscious of the decision to purchase locally and Australian made products. I was pleased to discover the Indian Foods shop contained many Australian products at wholesale prices. I felt I was less tempted than I have been in the past, and trying a new product just because it was foreign has lost some of is novelty.

Pennisi Cuisine
17 Balaclava Street, Woolloongabba,
Phone: 07 3891 7643
Open 7 days

Pennisi has goodies from Italy, Spain, Balkans, Russia, Poland, Czech, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Middle East, Brazil, Argentina and Latin America. Known as the best place to buy cheese in Brisbane. We purchased aborio rice, polenta, bread, black beans, jamon, smoked paprika and tapas pottery dishes.

All India Foods Wholesaler
31 Balaclava St, Woolloongabba
Phone: (07) 3391 1420
Open 7 days

All India Foods has a vast array of spices, pulses and rice at affordable prices. They also have a number of gluten-free flours and almond meal at a fraction of the prices you’d find at the health shop. Here we bought chutney, cumin, coriander, green split peas, and pappadums.

Restaurant review: Atomica Eat Drink

‘Atomica Eat Drink’ is in the middle of the main shopping area of West End at 173 Boundary Street. The menu is reasonably priced and offers all day breakfasts, fancy rolls and several specials. I had the vegetarian breakfast with poached eggs. I don’t like mushrooms and fortunately I was allowed to replaced them with some bacon (otherwise my plate might have been a bit bare!) My meal had fantastic bread and sweet potato hash, and a side of spinach and a watery tomato. Big M had a fancy sandwich with roast pumpkin, mushroom, feta, babganoush and rocket on Turkish bread, which was too light with only one slice of bread. The service was slow and the décor was standard café. Overall the place needs a little pepping up.

Restaurant review: Cafe Conti

Cafe Conti has been named “Brisbane’s Best Breakfast”. Holy, that’s something we couldn’t pass up. We were one of the first people to arrive at the Wilston corner cafe last Sunday. I ordered one ‘Conti’ (2 poached eggs, doorstop toast, bacon, roast tomato for $10.50) and Big M ordered the generously served plate of 2 Beef sausages, bacon, 3 poached eggs, roast tomato, toast all for only $14.00. We both polished off our meals and after licking our lips agreed on 4.5 stars for the meal. With very reasonable prices – it was easy to see why the breakfast was a finalist. Highly recommended.

P.S. If you are lucky you’ll catch Graham in the same shirt (like we did!)…. and the photo of the breakfast is pretty accurate too!

(Photo and article above from Brisbane Style Magazine)

Road Trip: Hervey Bay

Big M and I went off to Hervey Bay for a few nights. We went mainly to go whale-watching. Our big mistake was choosing a cruise based on the “gourmet lunch”. It was a lovely lunch, but we hardly ate any for fear of the sea-sicknesses! Lots of whales, but make sure you pick a large vessel for your whale-watching experience.

Holidays are always a good excuse for eating out, so we tried a number of the local restaurants.

The first night I had “Lamb shanks and vegetables” – normally nothing to write home [or blog] about, except the waif-thin waitress said “I often have the shanks after work, but I can only manage one!”. I replied that I’d had a some help from Big M. Then she said “Just imagine, in the old days they used to be considered dog food!”

There were two food spots we would recommend. “Gringo’s” do excellent and affordable Mexican food. Big M had the nachos, and I had two tacos with Mexican rice. They can adjust the chilli level to your liking, or in my case leave it out.

The other place we enjoyed was ”Arkarra” restaurant and Balinese tea gardens. There is a lovely walk around the lagoons with plenty of wildlife (mainly birds) to look out for. Big M had the “club sandwich”, and I had “calamari with sweet potato spiral fries”. Both were good, so….

We decided to visit again for breakfast. I was in an adventurous frame of mind and decided to try the ”Lamb’s fry and bacon with onion gravy”. Big M had “scrambled eggs and bacon”. Lamb’s Fry is usually liver, and maybe other pieces of offal. It’s robust texture goes well in pies. I really enjoyed it, although perhaps a little too overpowering for breakfast regularly.