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Archive for 29/06/2009

ally | 29/06/2009

West End Markets Round-Up

Skimpy samples, bountiful bread

I have this Paul Frank tee shirt that says ‘I heart carbs’ on it, with a picture of a bread, bagle, and muffin-rid food pyramid. If you appreciate this shirt, get yourself along to the West End Markets next weekend.

After my recent feeding frenzy at the New Farm markets, I was eager to flex my cheapskate muscle and garner some samples at a new locale (note: I never sample something I’d never buy. I’m not that bad). There weren’t that many samples at West End, but then again, it is a slightly different kind of market. While there’s seafood, cheeses, fudges, and the like, there’s also a huge range of clothing and jewelery stalls. The focus also seems to be more on fruit and vege, and baked goods.

You can expect to find:

A plethora of fresh breads, both from popular bakeries like Sol, as well as smaller independent stores. Look out for pumpkin bread; fruit loaves; and larger-than-life loaves of Turkish.
danishes, croissants, doughnuts
greek yoghurt and museli
actual meals like burgers (these looked awesome), brekkie, hot dogs, german sausages, wraps, and Indian food
seafood and meats
deli items, cheeses, and nuts
cupcakes, licorice, and fudge
chai tea, coffee, fresh lemonade and juices
popcorn and danish pancakes
clothing, jewelery, used books, antiques, toys, and soaps
and of course, stall upon stall of fruit and vege. This stuff ranges slightly in price between stalls, but they all have the same thing in common: they’re cheap and nasty (not nasty by any means. But I have to slip that in every now and again. That’s what she said. I’m here all night, folks).

The pumpkin bread I picked up was absolutely amazing. A $4 loaf was huge, but that didn’t really mean much-30 hours later it’s nearly gone (and I only live with one other person).

There’s a cool, chilled-out atmosphere, and there’s also lots of seating. It gets busy, but I’d rather do my weekly produce shop here than at the suburban Woolies any day.

West End Markets
Off Montague Road & end of Jane Street (Davies Park), West End map

(07) 3844 2440

www.westendmarkets.com.au

Every Saturday, 6am-2pm

Category: SPOTLIGHT |

nick | 26/06/2009

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Quick bites: 26 June

Calendar fillers: ways to chalk up your foodie diary

1. Where do you think young Ally will be this Saturday afternoon? Catching up on chores at home? Prancing around in a field somewhere, enjoying the sunshine? Hell no, fools. She’ll be at the Brisbane Fine Wine Festival at the Mercure. She’ll be spoilt for choice with 600 wines to taste, from labels like Sirromet, Barambah, and Red Hill Estate. She’ll be able to meet winemakers and learn about the fine art of vino in a masterclass. She’ll be nibbling on accompanying canapes from a variety of award-winning Brisbane chefs (like Scott Johnston from Vino’s and Brenda Fawdon from Mondo Organics). At the end of it, she’ll never need to buy a cask of Sunnyvale ever again. Find out more on how you, too, can become a learned soul. Tickets from $30 via Ticketek (Masterclass tickets can be purchased by themselves).

2. Let me tell you, we were freaking disappointed when Paniyiri was cancelled last month. I’d spent several weeks prior training for the honey puff eating competition, and was really pumped. But all is forgiven, as it’s on next weekend! Mark Saturday the 4/7 and Sunday the 5/7 firmly in your food-stained, grubby little journals. The food, music, and arts festival celebrates all things Greek, and will be held at The Greek Club and Musgrave Park, both in South Brisbane. There will be the said honey puff eating competition, an olive eating competition, food stalls, Zorba dancing competitions, fireworks, sideshow alley, cooking demonstrations, and public lectures (just to name a few events). $7 adults, $2 pensioners, free for kiddies. Get your honey puff on. Get a little taste of what’s in store and read Nick’s preview of the event that he posted a few weeks ago.

3. Amazingly enough, this next event doesn’t include alcohol. It does, however, include three of my other vices: coffee, chocolate, and affairs (I kid, I kid. I gave up coffee last year). The Coffee and Chocolate Affair is on Sunday the 12/7 at Hamilton’s Portside Wharf, and attracted more than 7 000 people last year. There will be a market, stalls, chocolate Lindt fountains, and appreciation classes. You hear that, people? Stalls. That might mean samples!! It’ll be on from 10am-4pm, and it’s free. If you see a chick attempting to swim in the Lindt fountain, come say hi.

Category: QUICK BITES |

nick | 25/06/2009

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Boardwalk Bar and Bistro Review

Ah, 5pm on Friday. The end of the working week and the start of the weekend. I, like so many city dwellers mark this point in the week by grabbing my sociable co-workers and making a beeline for the pub.

Over the years I’ve tried pretty much every bar there is in the CBD, and have established a list of criteria in my head that will ensure a good start to the weekend. A decent Friday night pub must have:

Cheap drinks, so that you can start to forget the week that was… in bulk,
Snack options, because drinking on an empty stomach is just going to end in tears (and the gutter),
An atmosphere that is relaxed, bubbling and welcoming (if a place is popular with pretentious wanker banker types then count me out), and
Available seats on which to sit.

Some may say that I’m being unreasonable to expect all of this from a venue, and I’m sure more than a few of you would consider point 1 as being the only criteria worth considering.

There is, however, a place I’ve found that consistently meets all the above: Boardwalk Bar and Bistro on Eagle St, at the base of the Riparian plaza.

On a Friday night you can get a jug of beer with a bowl of chips for less than $14, so that satisfies the drinks and nibbles (basics are $6 and winos can join the fray from $7 a glass). Boardwalk also has an excellent view of the Story Bridge which you can appreciate when you’re not examining the contents of your glass. On my most recent Friday night escapade Boardwalk even had table service! I must say, the concept of sending attractive women to the bar to do my bidding was rather appealing.

There’s a lot of seating, both inside and out, and the whole place manages to make me feel comfortable-whether it’s been a serious tie and shirt kinda day or I’m slumming it in jeans and tee.

They also have food options all day but experience has taught me that a decent bowl of chips isn’t necessarily an accurate representation of the kitchen’s ability to do anything else. I’d subsequently recommend you try elsewhere when the deep fried carbs are no longer cutting it and the 7pm hunger pains kick in. If you need ideas try Verve or Groove Train.

A couple of hours at Boardwalk on a Friday afternoon is an excellent way to start your weekend. Bottoms up.

Boardwalk Bar + Bistro

Boardwalk Level Riparian Plaza
71 Eagle St
CBD map

(07) 3221 0026

http://www.boardwalkbar.com.au

Category: BAR, CAFE, CBD, CBD |

ally | 23/06/2009

3 comments

Mado Review

Turkish Delight

I’m an old-fashioned girl. I like my VB cold and my tablecloths washable. Alas, every damn restaurant I walk into nowadays is just too cool for proper napkins and linen – it’s either funky, bare table tops, or crappy plain surfaces with some paper serviettes plonked down. Unless potato scallops and battered sav are on the menu, it irritates me.

Imagine my delight then, when I sat down at Mado in South Bank and saw a large yellow napkin on the plate in front of me, both on top of a proper tablecloth. “Proper napkins!” I sang, waving the little cloth happily in the face of my partner. I needn’t have worried about embarrassing myself – the space at Mado is large and can seat up to 250, both inside and out. Inside is very cosy and decorated in traditional Turkish designs – think warm colours, traditional ornaments on the walls, and big bench seats with large cushions. The said bench seats and the banquet dinner options make the place ideal for groups, but it’s also intimate enough for two (ooh la la).

Mado is fully licensed, but you can BYO bottled wine. Not sure about bags of Fruity Lexia though. Food-wise, we decided to share a Mixed Mezze Platter ($15.50), and a Lamb Pide (Turkish pizza, $21.90). The waitress was happy to bring them out both at once, and they arrived in a very short time. The Mezze Platter held little dishes of olives, roasted capsicum, fetta cubes, and artichoke hearts. A basket crammed with warm Turkish bread came with it, which was impressive – ever suffered the too much dip, not enough bread syndrome? No chance of that happening here. Speaking of dip, the Mezze Platter could have benefitted with a little dish of it in place of a vegie serve.

The generously-sized Pide was packed with tender lamb mince and fresh herbs, and was really tasty. A dab of some sort of yoghurt sauce would have contrasted nicely though.

We didn’t have dessert there (we are Cold Rock fiends and there is one just nearby), but I really regret it now-the cabinet was brimming with rows of fresh little baklavas. The cheeky things were gleaming with honey, begging me to have a nibble. If glaze isn’t your thing, there’s also fresh turkish delight, ice cream, cakes, and pudding (from $2.90).

Service was very friendly and swift. We were even offered some complimentary Turkish tea after we paid the bill, which was a sweet touch. The tea was quite refreshing and was a pleasant sweet end to the meal.

Turkish and Mediterranean food is quite ‘in’ and trendy at the moment, but Mado has a distinct point of difference in that they seem like a genuine Turkish-run, Turkish-owned restaurant. The menu is more extensive than others, and seems to be more value for money. Touches like proper place settings, a family atmosphere, and belly dancing make this place something that isn’t so homogenized.

Mado Cafe & Restaurant

Shops 1, 2, and 3 Galleria Apts
15 Tribune St
South Bank map

07 3844 7111

www.madorestaurant.com.au

Open Tuesday – Sunday

Category: CAFE, CBD, CBD, RESTAURANT |

nick | 21/06/2009

No comments

South Bank Regional Flavours Round-Up

Last weekend marked what I hope is the start of something special. It’s not every day you get to sample your way through 80 local producers covering the best of Queensland’s regional food and wine. Add to this some tasting and education sessions and you have what was in my opinion the best food and wine event I’ve seen in Brissy to date.

And it was free.

For those of you who skipped it, I suggest you stop reading now as by the time you’ve finished you’ll probably be bashing your head against the desk, and will have to come to realise your blinding stupidity at missing this great opportunity.

South Bank Regional Flavours is a South Bank Corporation and QLD Government initiative to showcase the great food and wine to be found in our state. Most of the exhibitors were from the Granite Belt, Darling Downs and South Burnett regions, but blah blah blah you probably don’t care about that. It started at 10am last Saturday (13/6) and if you went from one end of the strip of tents to the other and tried everything, you would have ended up both full and pissed without spending a dime. My kind of day.

To make sure you know what you are tasting, and to give you the ability to appreciate it, wine education sessions were running throughout the day for the low entry price of $5. My wine knowledge is limited: I can pick a red from a white and determine whether or not something has bubbles in it. After a couple of sessions with Paula Tewksbury on Chardonnay, Verdelho and Viognier, however, I was dissecting and analysing with confidence, comparing acid, oak and texture. I even learnt how to correctly pronounce their French names (Viognier is “vee-on-yay”). Definitely the best $5 I’ve ever spent on wine.

Armed with this new knowledge I hit the tents and met many of the friendly and helpful winemakers who were happily offering their wares left, right and centre along Little Stanley St.

At least half of the 80 tents were showcasing something alcoholic, which is probably a reflection of Queenslanders’ remarkable ability to imbibe. All bases were covered, from Shiraz to Chardonnay, to fortified wines and apple cider, including something called Grappa. Distilled from apples, it tastes like rocket fuel and has the weighty alcohol strength of 40%. There was also a fair selection of food and other products including meats, soaps, chillies, jams, tea, coffee, spiral donuts, cheeses and bees wax candles. Cooking demos were being conducted as well but for me (and I think most other people) it was all about the wine.

Now the main reason for my disinterest in wine to date is that it seems so hard to know what you’re buying when you’re actually buying it. How do you know what a ’06 Verdelho from the South Burnett tastes like when you see it on the shelf at the bottle-o? So this event was the perfect opportunity to spend some time and identify the characteristics that I like in a wine and how to verbalise them. Many of the wines I tried had strong acids and not a whole lot else, but after an exhaustive comparison over the course of the day I was able to find three that were a cut above the rest:

Bridgeman Downs Cellars Stump Block Fortified Shiraz ($19~, 375ml)
My first comment on tasting this was “oh, it’s a port”, which resulted in a quick lesson from the winemaker: ‘port’ is in fact a reserved word, similar to ‘champagne’ and it can only be used to describe wines originating in Portugal. Point taken, knowledge expanded. Irrespective of this, the Stump Block is an amazing concoction. Fortified with Brandy, it has a sweet, juicy, full flavour that really fills your mouth with happiness. There are lots of berry tones and I wish I’d appreciated how good this wine was when I tasted it, as I would have bought a bottle there and then. I was punished for this mistake as by the time I realised this was a standout, the Shiraz had long sold out.

Granite Ridge Wines 2004 First Oak Chardonnay ($18~)
I don’t normally like Chardonnay. I find it very acidic and dry, and if a wine maker tries to add some oak I end up with a mouthful of tannins. Bleh. Because of this I normally stick to sauvignon blanc when I want a white. My earlier chardonnay appreciation session had all but confirmed that chardonnay and I and were just not going to be friends.

So when I asked the Granite Ridge Wines winemaker what he suggested I try, it was with some reluctance that I accepted the 04 Oaked Chard. Boy was I wrong. Instead of being everything bad that I was expecting, this was rounded in flavour, creamy in texture and all-round delicious. I was floored. On the basis of this wine alone I will be rethinking my entire position on chardonnay.

Barambah Wines 2007 Rack Dried Semillon ($24, 375ml)
After missing a bottle of the Fortified Shiraz, I needed to find something else for dessert on Saturday night and the guys at Bridgeman Downs Cellars sent me to Lyn at Barambah Wines and her rack-dried Semillon. I barely know where the Semillon grape fits in the wine world, so when someone adds ‘rack-dried’ to the mix I’m well and truly lost. However, Lyn was only too happy to bring me up to speed on the term, which means that some of the fruit (50% in this case) is picked and dried so it looks like sultanas. The fruit becomes very sweet, and is then combined with the ‘normal’, drier Semillon grapes, to produce a fantastic product.

This dessert wine didn’t have the sickly sweet sticky taste that I’ve experienced in the past. It really struck a great balance on the sugar and a little bit of oak to give a creamy texture while managing to leave a clean taste in my mouth. So I snagged the last bottle there and then and my friends were suitably impressed with it at dinner later that night.

I really, really hope the South Bank Regional Flavours becomes a recurring event as it a great way to spend a Saturday in the winter sun. After trying some great stuff I’m feeling quite motivated to jump in a car and head on up to South Burnet and explore some cellar doors. Hopefully you were one of the clever ones who made it on the day, but if you weren’t I’d recommend you check out the South Burnett and Granite Belt wine regions and plan a weekend away. You won’t be disappointed.

South Bank Regional Flavours
www.southbankcorporation.com.au/media-releases/south-banks-regional-flavours-best-growers-and-producers-in-one-location

Bridgeman Downs Cellars
Barambah Rd
Moffatdale
www.bridgemandowns.com
(07) 4168 4784

Granite Ridge Wines
157 Sundown Rd
Ballandean
www.graniteridgewines.com.au
07 4684 1263

Barambah Wines
79 Goshnicks Rd
Murgon
www.barambah.com.au
07 4168 4766

Category: SPOTLIGHT |

ally | 19/06/2009

No comments

Quick bites: 19 June

Beat the chill: ways to warm your belly this week

1. Take note from other cold climates and do as the English do: High Tea, dahling. Old Government House re-opened a couple of weeks ago, and has been brought to life with refurbishments, guided tours, and a very awesome High Tea. There’s a little cafe/tea house tucked away inside (near the old stables-cool!), offering a full High Tea with ribbon sandwiches, cakes, leaf tea, and lamingtons. It’s said that OGH is the birthplace of the lamington. I think that just made the $25 High Tea pricetag worth it! Visit www.ogh.qut.edu.au for more information on getting some hot tea into your tum.

2. Wrap your hands around a mug of liquid heaven. Shock horror, I’m not referring to beer! Get yourself to the new Max Brenner at Robina Town Centre, to try one of the many delicious chocolate-y drinks on offer. I was so excited when I found out that the successful chocolate cafe franchise had opened in Queensland. It’s at the Gold Coast, so that hour drive may tire you out. I therefore recommend you also get a chocolate pizza to replenish your energy levels. Once you’ve warmed your mits, you might want to head down the road and try the first ever Queensland Max Brenner at Main Beach. Got to keep the body moving to warm up, right?

3. Speaking of getting the body moving, why not watch a bunch of other people exert themselves why you sit calmly, scoff some chips, and sip a beer (or four?). Game Two of The State of Origin is on this Wednesday (24/6), and is also a good chance to warm up by jumping around like a dickhead cheering for your favourite team. Head to your local to grab dinner and watch the game, because secretly we all love a greasy, slightly nasty pub meal. Or you could huddle under the bed covers with some Tim Tams, turn your phone off, and say, “Oh yeah I was at my cousin’s friend’s brother’s places for it.” Not that I’m planning on doing that. Go the…Reds? MAROOOOOOONS!!!! QUEENSLANDER!!!! (EDIT by Nick, sorry Ally)

Category: QUICK BITES |

ally | 17/06/2009

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He said/She said: Brother Espresso Review

Escape the city rush

What a treat we have for you guys. Nick and I are reviewing a place together! Two foodie forces, combined at last! Who knows what will happen when both of our taste buds and opinions churn out the one review. I’m hoping for something coherent.

ALLY: If you’re not one of the lucky buggers who works in the hub of the city (yeah, I’m talking to you, Queen Streeters: you with your plethora of food choices and your options for lunchtime shopping sprees) it can be difficult to find a good, fairly quiet place for lunch. Brother Espresso is a cafe tucked away in Margaret St (also Wickham Terrace and Bulimba) that is like a little haven: think little nooks with couches and tables, quality coffee, and winter-worthy fare.

NICK: Brother Espresso is a place I’ve been hearing about for a while and I have actually walked past their Wickham Terrace location many times without realizing it existed. It’s a similar story with the Margaret Street store. You could definitely be forgiven for not knowing about it, as from the outside it’s very inconspicuous with just a couple of small stools and a sign. This unremarkable façade masks a fantastic space that has a bit of a grungy style, brought about by lots of old brick work and varnished concert floors. The rough parts are contrasted with clean rich colours, and lots of new and old wooden furniture. The first thing that grabbed my attention was actually the menu, which was about three meters wide and projected on to the entry wall. This unique approach presented the lunch time selection, with pricings hovering around the very reasonable $10 mark.

A: The range of salads ($10.50) they have looked good, but the Turkish Pockets sounded like they’d be the ticket. Nick ordered a Thai Beef pocket, and figuring I’d probably have food envy, I ordered a Tandoori Chicken version (both $9.50).

N: We also grabbed a couple of coffees (from $2.90). Brother Espresso has a reputation for great coffee and I was certainly keen to put them to the test. They roast their own coffee and my strong flat white was certainly above average. Initially I was frustrated by the lack of white sugar (raw sugar erks me, give me highly refined processed goodness any day) but my coffee really didn’t need much ‘adjusting’ as it turned out. There was very little bitterness and it tasted strong and rich. I was impressed.

A: My coffee was also pretty strong, but whatever, I can handle it (the lack of refined carbohydrates to accompany it was also not a problem). The food puzzled me at first-I’m a very wordy person. I hear ‘pocket’ and I think of a little sandwich with chicken and salad tucked away inside, all sealed up and piping hot. Instead the Turkish pockets are pretty much toasted sandwiches made with Turkish buns. Don’t get me wrong-mine was delicious. The tandoori chicken was tender, and the accompanying marinated mushrooms, cucumber, tomato, and rocket balanced the flavours nicely. I think poor Nick lost out on this round with his though.

N: I’m definitely with Ally on this, the word pocket does not mean toasted sandwich. Mine was disappointing; yes it was hot and filling, but the beef was chewy and the combination of olives, roasted capsicum, and smoked tomatoes made it very salty. I should have stuck with my first impulse, which was a salad.

A: Mine was perfectly toasted (ha ha!), but it did get a little messy towards the end. We were both having dripping issues (do not bring first dates here, people). Service was fast, and the waitress remembered who ordered what. Surprisingly, it was fairly quiet for a mid-week lunch time, but I’ve been there when it’s busy and waiting times are a bit longer.

N: Oddly, Brother Espresso is a week days only operation. They have a pretty decent and well-priced breakfast menu and it’s the kind of place I would enjoy sitting in for a few hours on a Saturday morning. Obviously the CBD just isn’t a popular brekky place.

A: Outrage. We need to fuel up before we hit the shops! I also wish that the breakfast menu were offered past midday (who in their right mind waits that long until their first meal anyway?)-it would also give the menu more range. As it stands, the lunch menu consists of just Turkish pockets, salads, and pizza. All tasty, but no ‘smaller’ snack-like options. Some of us like to have more than one lunch a day, alright?

N: Despite my sandwich only being average, I’ll be heading back sometime in the future to check out the rest of their menu. I just love the space and the feel of the café and their coffee alone is worth the walk from the core of the CBD. Check ‘em out.

Brother Espresso

Watson’s Building
127 Margaret Street
CBD map

(also Wickham Terrace in CBD and Bulimba)

(07) 3003 1346

www.brotherespresso.com.au

Weekdays 7am – 4pm

Visited: Thursday, 9 June 2009

Category: CAFE, CBD, CBD, TAKE-AWAY |

ally | 15/06/2009

5 comments

Gelateria Cremona Review

Yeah, it’s been freaking cold in Brisbane this week. It’s hard to get out of bed. You can see your breath in the air. You yelp whenever your partner’s icy feet repeatedly touch yours in bed (you know who you are). Well, I say suck it up. This is Brisbane. It’s not that damn cold. Take off your beanie (you can’t pull it off anyway), brave the chill, and head over to Gelateria Cremona.

“It’s too cold for ice cream!” I hear you wail. Is it? Is it too cold for Ferrero Rocher gelati, with actual chunks of Ferrero Rocher? Is it too chilly for a fresh waffle cone topped with Tiramisu, perhaps a little double chocolate? Yeah. I didn’t think so.

On a recent visit to this Rosalie gelati shop I ordered the said Ferrero and the Tiramisu, with the latter being the best. It actually tasted just like the coffee and sponge layered dessert; most places wack ‘Tiramisu’ on a coffee gelati and think they can get away with it. The Ferrero was also good, but wasn’t as creamy as ones that I’ve had before.

I went with my fellow ice cream fiend, D, who ordered Chocolate and the Rum’n'Raisin (below, on the left). The Rum’n'Raisin tasted like the Bundy bear was having a party in your mouth. A few more scoops and I might have started picking fights and busting a move on a dancefloor somewhere. The chocolate was, well, chocolatey. A good basic that wasn’t overly sweet.

Call me crazy but none of them tasted as creamy as they usually do. I might just be smoking something though; D mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate something that sounded like, “you are nuts it is delicious.” There you go.

One thing that is very admirable about Gelateria Cremona is they usually have very unusual flavours. I know you can get Red Bull and the like at some places, but think more along the lines of seasonal offerings: ANZAC cookies! Hot cross buns! Christmas Pudding! I will be tearing into the place come December 1, and I don’t even like the holiday dessert.

There’s seating inside and out, and service is fine but it can get a little tedious waiting in line when it’s busy. Prices are a little on the steep side compared to other gelati places (from memory, about $3.30 for a single and rather smallish scoop), but the stuff tastes pretty fresh with no chemically-enhanced aftertaste.

So c’mon. Forget hot chocolate. Wave a (temporary) goodbye to a baked pudding. Slurp up some gelati, and if you still aren’t man enough for it, wear some mittens.

Gelateria Cremona
5/151 Baroona Road
Rosalie map

(07) 3367 0212

gelateriacremona@yahoo.com.au

Category: CAFE, DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY |

nick | 13/06/2009

No comments

Blue Gulabi Review

Curry with a cause

I’m a terrible social activist.

I don’t give money to charity as often as I should; I shy away from people waving copies of The Big Issue; and I change the channel to The Simpsons when Somalia comes on TV.

It’s not that I don’t want to help. But why must it always involve me handing over my credit card details? Isn’t there something else I can do? And can’t it be really simple?

Luckily for unengaged, lazy, tight-arse people such as myself, Blue Gulabi has made it easy to give and feel good about it. All you have to do is eat their curry once a month.

Eat curry? Is that it? Well, in that case I’ll be happy to help. Pass me a fork!

Blue Gulabi is a family run Indian take-away / restaurant in Woolloongabba that on the first day of each month will donate 15% of the day’s income to a charity. To make this even easier, they have a special $10 curry buffet on the day which gets you a plate with as many curries as you can fit on it and a complimentary entrée and dessert.

This is my kind of cause and I’m proud to say that I made it along this month and dragged seven of my friends with me to support Blue Gulabi’s charity of the month, SHE, which helps stop child prostitution in Cambodia.

I made a booking a couple of days in advance thinking that every man and his dog were going to be as excited about $10 curry as I. Interestingly, I called a few hours prior to arriving to adjust numbers slightly and was told, “Oh but we don’t take bookings.” Eh?! Then what did I book?

It turns out we needn’t have bothered as Blue Gulabi is basically a hole-in-the-wall take away restaurant with seating for about eight inside and another six outside. When we arrived we had a 10 minute wait while an earlier group finished their desserts and headed off. This lack of popularity floored me – does no one know that there is $10 curry here? Or am I about to find out that there’s a good reason to stay away?

The $10 special gets you an entrée of half a pappadum and what I think was a large vegetable pakora, with a large plate of rice and your choice of curries. You also get dessert, which is a small Styrofoam cup containing ‘pudding’ made from sweet sticky rice. Not quite what I had mind when I read ‘complimentary entrée and dessert’ but for $10, who the hell cares as long as it tastes good. We also ordered a stack of naans ($3 ea) to accompany our curry because eating Indian curry without naan is like eating a snag without bread – people will look at you funny.

The curry was good all in all. 14 different varieties to choose from (five veg, nine meat) with all the bases covered. There was vindaloo for the cowboys and butter chicken and lamb korma for those with a delicate rear-end. Bizarrely, even though we were eating quite early (at 6:45pm) the butter chicken had been exhausted and a couple of the other dishes were looking to be in short supply. But we all ended up with a plate piled with curry and I didn’t hear any complaints.

Unfortunately the naan really wasn’t up to scratch. It was hard, crispy, and almost biscuit-like in texture. There was simply no way it was going to mop anything up off the plate. Although we ordered a variety of flavours I really couldn’t tell them from each other and we ended up not touching a lot of it.

It’s worth noting our meals were served on throwaway Styrofoam plates and cups with plastic knives and forks. Normally I don’t really have a problem with this considering the price point, but one of my friends made the keen observation that it was all headed for landfill and it seemed a shame we had to punish the environment while trying to support a good cause.

Service throughout was warm, friendly and chatty, exactly what you’d expect from a family business, but it was obvious that they really weren’t expecting much of a turn out and seemed very happy to have us.

The bottom line on Blue Gulabi is that for $10 I can’t complain. Yes, you can get better curry elsewhere and there’s no doubt that Blue Gulabi has a lot of work to do if they hope to make regular patrons out of any of us. But I’m happy to throw some support behind them on the 1st of the month and hope that you will too. Next month the Heart Foundation will be benefiting and it’s definitely a easy way to help.

Blue Gulabi

Gabba Central
Shop 19C / 803 Stanley St
Woolloongabba map

07 3391 1576

www.bluegulabi.com.au

Visited on Monday, 1 June 2009

Category: INNER CITY, RESTAURANT, TAKE-AWAY |

ally | 12/06/2009

No comments

South Bank Regional Flavours

Peeps, because it’s Friday and because I have just ingested a large amount of jelly belly jelly beans that have put me in a very good (albeit sugar-induced) mood, I am double-posting.

If you’re like me and are planning your weekend around food, mark the South Bank Regional Flavours in your diary for tomorrow (Saturday 13/6). More than 80 growers, including those from the Granite Belt and Scenic Rim, will be offering their specialty home land grub. Think fresh produce, market stalls, wine, and even cooking demonstrations.

You can visit http://www.visitsouthbank.com.au/regionalflavours for more info, or you can just rock up tomorrow between 10am and 3pm at Little Stanley St and show those farmers just what your stomach can do. Giddy up.

Category: SPOTLIGHT |

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