EatDrinkBrisbane

ally | 29/10/2010

Sangrita Challenge

There are two types of people in this world: those who dunk their cookies into hot drinks, and those who do not. I am a dunker and damn proud of it. I love dunking buttery, sweet treats into a cup of freshly brewed coffee. I also love tequila. I also love cocktails.

Wait – this isn’t a crazy tangent I’m going off on. The other night I had the pleasure of trying the top three Queensland entries for Sangrita, in the World Class competition.

World Class is a global competition that celebrates cocktail culture, and the art of bartending. Run by Diageo RESERVE Brands (these guys make Johnnie Walker, Ketel One, and Don Julio), the competition kicks off with three heats throughout Australia. State finalists are then decided, then one winner per state, and then 15 final barentenders compete in a national final in 2011, with the winner chosen to represent Australia against the best bartenders around the world.

The Mexican Sangrita Ritual round recently finished, with the three state winners all hailing from Brisbane. The original Sangrita Ritual involves a spicy, tomato-citrus drink that’s sipped alternately with a shot of tequila. The flavours bring out the tequila’s natural flavour, and the drink is one to savor. In this round, bartenders were asked to put their own spin on this 90-year-old tradition, using either Jose Cuervo Platino or Don Julio tequila.
Our first stop was Cloudland, where we tried Adam Brewer’s creation that earned him third place. At first I was a little nervous when informed I’d have to sip the Don Julio tequila straight up. Um, excuse me? Where is the lime and sachet of salt? Jay from RESERVE and Adam explained that a big part of the appeal of the sangrita challenge was to change people’s perceptions of tequila. Everyone thinks you just shot the stuff – not so. In fact, our comrades over in Mexico have been sippin’ on the agave-based spirit forever.

To my surprise, it was very easy to drink. We sipped it after trying the food component of Adam’s sangrita experience – oytsers with white chocolate shavings, coriander, and a cucumber sorbet. Again, I was surprised to see such a pairing of flavours, but they worked so well: the white chocolate cut through the overpowering oyster taste, and the coriander providied a burst of fresh flavour that matched perfectly with the sweeter-tasting highland tequila. Adam took his inspiration from the connection Mexico has to the sea, using natural influences.

Next, we moved on to Canvas for a quick nosh (I will review the grub in a upcoming post), and got ready to try the winner’s sangrita – Angus Buton”s “A Little Blood for a Silver Peace”. Angus was inspired by French-Mexican hitsory and Western movies. The food component was macarons. MACARONS. I played it cool but was pretty excited to see the little chewy treats appear on the table.

The macarons were from Monsieur Macaron (who, by the way, is fantastic – get to the New Farm Markets or his Rocklea shop and try them!), and he also incorporated coffee from West End’s Cup Coffee. The speciality Guatemala blend (‘El Injerto’) was brewed through a very elaborate contraption, which was time intensive, thus getting a broader range of aromatics. Indeed, the coffee was very smooth and drinkable – I’d happily down it even without milk.

Angus instructed us to dunk a macaron in a cup of coffee, then eat it. WHAT. Finally, I could dunk in public without judgement. It was exactly how I’d hoped: the coffee injected the macaron with a spicy flavour, and made all the buttercream inside melt and ooze into my mouth. I mean, seriously. All this time I’ve been using my Tim Tams as a straw, when I could have been submerging it totally? I’ve been missing out.

After the macaron, we took a sip of Jose Cuervo Platino tequila. This was the good stuff – a family receipe, it’s a premium white tequila and only been on the market for a short time.

Finally, we tried second place (and Canvas owner) Marco’s creation – “Noble’s Consort”. Marco’s ritual had us eating white pepper and tequila sausage, then taking a sip of tequila, then a sip of an earthy, spicy fruit juice. I loved the sausage (that’s what she said), and the smoky flavours paired surprisingly well with the clean taste of the tequila. The spicy juice was my favourite – it had a wonderful peppery flavour, and had been chilled through an absinthe chamber.

During the night all of the guys kept talking about the idea of drinks and experiences. Rather than knocking back a cheap stubby of beer, it’s much more enjoyable to be involved in the theatrics of creating a truly amazing cocktail. Lately I have been getting over slamming $8 jugs (Momma T will be pleased), and have really started to appreciate just one or two quality drinks. Sadly, the rest of Brisbane has some catching up to do, but it is very reassuring to see that guys like Angus, Marco, and Adam are slowly leading the way.

Anyone who advocates public cookie dunking and quality drinks gets my vote.

WorldClass

www.weareworldclass.com

Cloudland

641 Ann St, Fortitude Valley

(07) 3872 6600

www.cloudland.tv

Canvas

16B Logan Road,. Woolloongabba

(07) 3891 2111

www.canvasclub.com.au/

Many thanks to Splendid Communications, Reserve, Canvas, and Cloudland.

Category: BAR, INNER CITY, SPOTLIGHT |

ally | 20/10/2010

One comment

Because I’m Awesome

I keep saying I’m a mad baker. Well, here is proof:

Have a great, sugary week.

Category: DESSERT, NEWS |

ally | 13/10/2010

One comment

Vapiano Pizza Class

D and I are a little bit competitive. I blame the fact that neither of us were competitive with our respective siblings growing up. I was the cute little sister, whose eight-year-old brother changed her diapers, and D was the annoying, creepy eldest brother in his family.

So, it made sense that at a recent pizza making class – which the folk at Vapiano so kindly invited me to – we were trying to out-do eachother with our pizzas.

Step 1: Kneading.

It started with kneading some of Vapiano’s freshly made dough. D had a go first at shaping the semolina/flour based dough in a pizza base shape. The semolina gives the dough a bit of a crunch to it. D’s result on his kneading? All good except for a gaping hole in the centre.

I stepped up to the plate, put the guns to work, and banged out a pretty good hole-free base.

Verdict: Ally – 1. D – 0.

Step 2: Flipping and Spinning.

Next up, Tomic – one of Vapiano’s skilled chefs – showed us how to spin the doughy discs high into the air, shaping them out even more. These guys know what they’re doing – during one of their busiest services, they banged out over 700 pizzas.

I gave mine a tentative, girlish little hoist into the air. Pretty sub-par, but at least I didn’t drop it.

Verdict: Unknown! D tells me he threw his high up into the air. I was busy eyeing off the cabinets of fresh pasta and didn’t notice.

Step 3: The Sauce.

The Vapiano boys showed us how to expertly swirl tomato sauce onto our bases. Make sure you do it quickly, otherwise the bases will start to get soggy if they’re left out too long. No one likes a soggy base.

I was quite chuffed with my efforts: the key is to start in the middle and slowly spiral your way out. D gave it a try, and sucked.

Verdict: Ally – 2. D – 0.

Step 4: The Toppings.

I started to panic a bit when faced with the sheer variety of toppings. Parma ham, smoked cheese, fresh buffalo mozarella, prawns?? The choices. I blindly threw a whole bunch of stuff on my pizza and hoped for the best. Meanwhile, D was assembling the most boring pizza ever. There were essentially scraps of vegies and a crapload of cheese.

Verdict: Draw. I think we both failed.

Step 5: The Taste.

The pizzas cooked for about five minutes, then we garnished them with fresh rocket, parma, and other herbs and spices. Once again, I blindly threw parma and rocket on. D carefully assembled parma on his too. Then we ate.

Verdict: Ally – 2. D – 2.

I have to give D an extra point because his pizza (left) was so much better than mine. As I suspected, my pizza (right) was thoroughly confused. The mish mash of ingredients I’d thrown on had resulted in something that was tasty, but weird. In fact, the best pizza of the night was one the Vapiano guys had made for us as a demo – it simply had pesto, fresh chopped spinach, and cheese on it. This is keeping with the true Italian roots of pizza: simple, fresh, quality ingredients.

Overall Verdict

So, it is to my disgust that I announce a draw with D on our pizza making class. This pains me, but at least he didn’t win. I suppose we’ll just have to have a re-match…

Vapiano

Pizza & Pasta

191 Albert St (Albert Lane)
Brisbane

(07) 3221 4933

www.vapiano.com.au

Other Vapiano Posts:

http://www.eatdrinkbrisbane.com/2010/02/quick-bites-vapiano-launch.html

Category: CBD, RESTAURANT, SPOTLIGHT |

ally | 12/10/2010

3 comments

Hosokawa

I’ve got a very special guest post for you guys this week. Meet Emma! We used to sell phones and teh internetz at a telecomm shop. We’re cool like that. Nowadays we both prefer writing about food to smiling through a stream of cusomter abuse.

Enjoy!

Recently a work pal and myself broke a dirty force of habit, all thanks to the lure of a newish Japanese
haunt at Hamilton. Instead of saying that we should go out to dinner together and then end up ‘drinking’ the equivalent of entrée, dinner and dessert in a bevy of tasty cocktails we actually made a formal reservation with the new Japanese kid on the block, Hosokawa on Racecourse Rd.

Hailing from a suburban west side upbringing, even just mentioning I had dins at Racecourse Rd on a school night makes me cool by association. The idea was to have achieve the near impossible- go out for a midweek meal that’s tasty and yet healthy without having to run a half marathon at the gym the next day. After all, summer is menacingly close now!Japanese seemed the obvious answer.

We had both heard good reports from friends and family that had already tried the place which recently opened, so maybe we placed our expectations a little high. The décor was what you would expect from a casual Japanese restaurant, simple, clean and minimalist. Service was friendly and speedy, although admittedly we had booked the ‘senior’ timeslot of 6pm so we could go straight after work.

I have a penchant for good hearty Udon soups with big chunks of vegies and crazy mushrooms or fresh seafood, however the menu had little variety on this front, with half served as cold. I however was still enthusiastic with our choices: scallops wrapped in bacon (Hotate- $7 for 2 pieces), simmered vegetables (Yasai Nimono, $12), handmade fishcakes (Satsuma Age, $8) and grilled squid with teriyaki sauce (Ikayaki, $12).

The scallops and vegie dish were the first to hit our table and we eyed them off with gusto. The vegie dish was great, all sorts of interesting and tasty vegetables and types of tofu to expand on my rich mental catalogue of vegetables from other cultures I might never know the name to- delicious regardless, with my favourite part being the soft fluffy potato balls, all in a tasty sauce and cute bowl. The scallops wrapped in bacon were also delicious and succulent with a more natural flavour, however rather small in portion size
for the price.

The first two dishes were followed in quick succession by the squid (which I was particularly looking forward to) and fishcake, not to mention the obligatory must of miso soup. I had high hopes for the squid, it looked rather special when it arrived- and had I taken it on surface value alone it would have scored top points. However I was disappointed to be greeted with a chewy texture and sauce that tasted suspiciously
the same as my vegie dish in flavour and consistency. I wanted to like it, I really did. Maybe they had an apprentice chef on, maybe they had their favourite episodes of 2 and a half men playing as their distraction, but this particular dish missed the mark a bit. The fish cake was good, succulent but lacking in flavour or condiments, the miso…..well it was miso!

We pondered our eclectic feelings over a glass or three of reasonably priced bubbly, which is always a winner. I would definitely be interested to try some of their other dishes, especially ones that had enticed the good reports from our friends and their larger sushi selection ($8- $12 for two pieces, or $32 for a platter of 11 pieces). Perhaps a lunch date is in order…followed by a dessert cocktail at a new schmick looking joint back towards the city I eyed off on the drive home- some habits never die hard!

Hosokawa

Japanese Restaurant

Shop 3/53 Racecourse Rd
Hamilton

(07) 3868 3762

Category: INNER CITY, RESTAURANT |

ally | 06/10/2010

No comments

Espresso Garage

I feel like there are two categories of people in this world: cyclists and runners. Not too fond of the way my ass looks in spandex, I am a runner. I proudly pound the pavement, bits jiggling everywhere, sweating my little heart out, and ignoring the fact that every kilometre brings me closer to a knee reconstruction.

I know there are people who enjoy both activities, but when you hit a run/cycle track, you can definitely sense the separation. And I’m just going to say it: there is some animosity. Not from everyone, sure, but I know that a lot of cyclists think they are better than runners, and that a lot of runners scoff at those who are bike-bound.

I don’t have a problem with cyclists per se, but they intimidate me when they whiz by in ultra-fit packs, taut bums in the air, taunting me with their firmness.

That was why D warned me recently as we were about to visit Espresso Garage, a cafe in South Bank: “It is a cyclist hangout.”

And sure enough, there they all were: lapping up the sunshine at the few tables Espresso Garage has, admiring the pretty view of South Bank, reading the basic but thoughtful menu, chatting with the friendly waitstaff, and stretching out their legs with their perfect patellas inside.

I, in my little running shoes and sweaty hair, cautiously sat down and let D order. He had been raving about Espresso Garage’s avocado toast, so we shared an order. A thick serve of toasted turkish bread was served with half an avocado, and a little tub of tomato salsa. This salsa was crazy good: sweet, salty, spicy, hearty, and it paired so well with the avo. This was simple food, but done so freaking well. A bit of salt and pepper on top brought out the flavours even more. I know people might think avo toast is not rocket science, but food like this is surprisingly difficult to do well. Take vegemite toast: no one makes it better than your mum, correct?

The coffees were pretty good too; my skim capp was smooth and had a lovely after taste, and D’s flat white was milky and tasty. But the winner here really was the toast. This toast could write tax returns; it could prevent stock market crashes and win presidential elections. It could, even, narrow the divide between cyclists and runners. If there’s one thing that can draw the two of us to the same place willingly, it will be this avocado toast.

Espresso Garage

176 Grey St

South Bank

(07) 3846 6162

Category: CAFE, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, TAKE-AWAY |

ally | 29/09/2010

No comments

Quick Bites: September 29

What up! There are a few things in this life that give me pleasure: chocolate. Pad Thai. Small, furry animals. This week’s Quick Bites looks at events in Brisbane that (sort of) feature this magic triumvirate.

1. Get out the elastic pants and prepare for the Chocolate Buffet. The 40 days and 40 nights of chocolate event is back at the Bistro Allure in the Sebel hotel. Just $25 gets you an absolute feast of chocolate cakes, puddings, slices, etc. For more information, pick up your jaw off the floor and then visit http://www.mirvachotels.com/sebel-king-george-square-brisbane/40-days-and-40-nights-of-chocolate

2. Get out your dream kitchen scrapbook. Dreamfarm (a Brisbane-based cooking gadget desinger) is hosting a coffee morning and gadet sale this Saturday. Joanna from Dreamfarm tells me it is “not quite a petting zoo, not quite a garden party, and not quite a cafe”. So I’m not totally sure on whether there will be baby lambs (squeee!) or wee piglets (oooh!), but you can count on grabbing a new kitchen tool at a steal. Plus there’s free espresso and treats! Yay! From 10am to 1pm, at 9 Amy Street Albion (Opposite the Breakfast Creek Hotel).

3. Get your Thai on. The inaugural Thai Culture and Food Festival is on this Sunday, October 3 from 10am to 8pm. There will be a Buddhist ceremony, Thai cultural shows, Muay Thai demos, plus heaps of Thai food, dessert, and produce stalls. Visit http://www.thaifestvic.com/ for more info.

Category: QUICK BITES |

ally | 27/09/2010

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Monty’s Chocolates

Sometimes I think I am a masochist. You would think that a month in Europe (where I scoffed pastries, beer, full-fat milky coffees, and huge wedges of cheese on a daily basis) would make me sick of rich food by the time I got home.

Err, no. I like to torture my liver and my blood glucose levels, it seems. One of my first outings since arriving back in Brisbane was to Monty’s Chocolates, a little cafe and chocolate shop in Paddington. Chocolate shops are basically the equivalent of S & M for me.

Monty’s is very small, but it’s cosy and there are a few tables inside. We ordered the chocolate sampler ($8.80), which came with a hot chocolate, one liquid salted caramel, fruit and nut candies, plain chocolate, a truffle, and chocolate covered coffee beans. We also got a mocha. Because we are nasty, nasty people.

The salted caramels seem to be a popular item at Monty’s, but I wasn’t too sold on them. I love the idea of sweet and salty, but the bitter cocoa dusting on the shell threw the taste off for me a bit. Naughty.

The chocolate-covered fruit and nut candies were delicious; like grown up M & Ms. I also liked the chocolate-covered cocoa beans, which didn’t have the overly bitter taste I was expecting. The plain chocolate was good. It had this great balance between milk and dark. Finally, the strawberry truffle was gooey and sweet, and pretty tasty. Cheeky little thing.

The hot chocolate was a bit average. It was done in an ‘Italian style’, true, but I found it to be too sickly. This could be a matter of personal taste, and it is hard to make a milkier hot chocolate that is still rich and chocolatey. Note too that it’s a very, very small cup of hot chocolate that comes with the sampler – although trust me, it’s more than enough. The mocha was fantastic – creamy, smooth, and chocolatey, with a hint of coffee flavour. Definitely no punishing your tastebuds here.

We bought some hand made chocolates to take home, because I am a bad, bad girl who likes to mess with my insulin levels. The Hazelnut Cup was my favourite, and was filled with a whipped hazelnut chocolate filling; the Cookies & Cream cup was delicious and had a filling that reminded me of icing; the Peanut Butter Fudge was a bit average, and the filling was too sugary and not buttery enough; the Black Forest Bomb had a liquor-like bite to it; and the Sticky Date Fudge was amazing. The smooth chocolate filling hid a very strong date and caramel flavour.

Monty’s Chocolates definitely satisfies a sweet tooth and is a cute spot for a coffee and truffle. If you’re into that kind of thing.

Monty’s Chocolates

Cafe & Chocolate Shop

155 Latrobe Terrace

Paddington

07 3369 3135

http://www.montyschocolates.com.au/

Category: CAFE, DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, TAKE-AWAY |

ally | 21/09/2010

No comments

Dello Mano – New PB Brownies

D and I are a brilliant team. Not only do we often accidently dress in complementary colours (sick, but true), but we also acheive very brilliant things when we work together.

Case in point: I was idly surfing on twitter the other afternoon while eating a late lunch, when I noticed a cheeky little tweet from Dello Mano: “Dello Mano New Peanut Butter Brownie”. I literally live for peanut butter. D loves brownies more than he loves me (fair). So therefore I told him about it straight away:

Boom. That’s just how we roll. Except D forgot to bring the brownie home, which nearly had me in tears. I eventually got my hands on it though.

I was surprised to see that the pb brownie looks just like an original brownie, except with a pretty swirl of pb on the top. Now, I swear up and down that Dello Mano brownies are the BEST brownies out there, so of course the pb brownie was delicious. But if you’re after something that screams pb, this is not it. The pb flavour is firmly on top, and is definitely not dispersed through the whole brownie as I thought it would be.

As a die-hard pb lover, this disapointed me a bit, but I think the majority of people would quite like the subtle flavour.

I’ll stick with the original flavour, and satisfy my urges with a finger in the Kraft pb jar.

Dello Mano

Luxury Brownies

1300 661 682

http://www.dellomano.com.au/

(available at various markets and their Bowen Hills store)

Category: CBD, CBD, DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, SPOTLIGHT, TAKE-AWAY |

ally | 17/09/2010

No comments

Kingsley’s Blogger Dinner

Yes, that is steak on a chair.

Sometimes I feel a little silly when I tell people I blog. You know those people who have the knack for making you feel like a dick, simply by repeating words back to you? I.e.:

Ally: “I have a food blog! Whee!”
Mean Person: “You have a food blog?”
Ally: “Yes! I take pictures of food and write about it!”
MP: “You..take pictures of your food. And then you write about it?”

Know what I’m talking about? Recently my fears of being ridiculed for being a blogger were momentarily silenced. Why? Because a prominent Brisbane restaurant organised a blogger dinner and invited me to it.

It is so refreshing to see that more Brisbane establishments are cluing in to the power of social media. Blogs are here to stay and it’s brilliant that people have noticed the opportunities for promotion. (Free meals are always good too.)

Kingsley’s is a steakhouse, and certainly has that classic steakhouse feel. Dark colours, plush booth seating, and wooden panelling make the riverside restaurant a warm and cosy place. It’s a little old-school men’s club, but with plenty of modern chic thrown in – and not forgetting the awesome view of the river and Storey Bridge.

The menu we were served sampled a range of Kinglsey’s dishes, including oysters (usually from $4.90), steak tartare ($23.90 for 120 grams), and kingfish sashimi ($16.90). The oysters – a bloody mary shooter, natural Alaskan, and a tempura – were fantastic and tasted very fresh. I was a bit unsure about the steak tartare, and felt it might have been missing a bit more spice. The sashimi was wonderful, and had a delicate flavour and melty texture.

The next course was simply ridiculous. Crab legs. Fresh crab legs. Fresh crab legs, practically overflowing on the plate. Fresh crab legs that with meat that was so plump and juicy, it simply popped out of the shell. The whole table basically moaned their way through these legs (from $19.90). Absolutely fantastic.

Unfortunately I was disapointed by the main course, the steak. I ordered the New York Striploin ($34.90), and was at first impressed by the size of the cut (300g) and the perfect grill marks. The steak itself was very thick and very chewy. I have certainly had worse steaks, but was expecting more from a steakhouse. The table seemed to have mixed reviews – some agreed with the chewiness, but others proclaimed their steaks marvelous.

We also were served a variety of sides, including thick steakhouse fries, salad, broccolini, and green beans. I loved the salad and the greens – they were fresh and flavoursome. The fries were very hearty and not too oily.

We may have been divided on the steak, but we could all agree that the seafood, service, and ambience was unbeatable.The prices seem very reasonable for the serving sizes, and the wine list is wide-ranging and well priced.

Many thanks to Belinda and the rest of the Kinglsey’s team for hosting us. It is nice to have at least one night where you can whip out your camera and snap away with no judegement.

Kingsley’s
Steak & Cran House
71 Eagle St (Riparian Plaza)
Brisbane Riverside
(locations also in Sydney and Canberra)

1300 KINGLSEYS (1300 546 475)

www.kingsleys.com.au

Category: CBD, RESTAURANT, SPOTLIGHT |

ally | 26/08/2010

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Quick Bites: Father’s Day

On September 5, it’s all about Papa Bear. Yes, Father’s Day may be another commercial holiday, and it may just be a cheap way to get us to buy more stuff, but it’s also a chance to celebrate your patriarch. And what better way to do that than with food?

Learn the Way of the BBQ

You may be like me, and already be awesome at using a BBQ. Or you could be one of those filthy people who never clean the grill, arguing that it’ll give the next batch of meat ‘extra flavour’. No matter what your skill level, The Barracks is running a free barbecue cooking demo on Saturday September 4. Outback Matty (Matthew McKenzie) will be playing host. Who is this hat-wearing young gun, you ask? Just Jamie Oliver’s protege. No big. Check it out from 11am-1pm. www.thebarracks.info

Protect Papa’s Prostate

So I think I may have gone just a little too far with that title. But seriously, have you thought about hosting a BBQ for Father’s Day/Blue September? September is prostate cancer awareness month, and the Blue September group and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia are encouraging everyone to host BBQs and raise money. This disease is a bitch, and kills nearly 3300 men annually. This is EQUAL to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually. Consider the BBQ an added bonus in this terrific cause. Visit www.prostate.org.au or www.blueseptember.org

BBQ on the River

From a weird title to a downright boring one. Sorry. At least the activity I’m referring to is exciting – a special BBQ brunch on a beautiful riverside deck, followed by rock climbing, abseiling, or kayaking. It’s all happening at Riverlife Adventure Centre in Kangaroo Point on Sunday September 5. Tickets are$145 for a family of four. www.riverlife.com.au

Category: QUICK BITES |

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