Treacle

I'd previously tried to visit Treacle at the Grange for dinner, only to find it booked out. This time we headed back for breakfast. Although it was really busy on the Sunday morning of our visit, we managed to grab a table on the outside terrace.

Menus were brought to our table promptly, along with a bottle of water and a couple of glasses. So far, so good. The breakfast menu is pretty comprehensive, which means you should be able to find something that takes your fancy, no matter which way your tummy is grumbling.

After checking that they had gluten free toast (which they did) I ordered the zesty avocado on sourdough with bacon, halloumi cheese and two poached eggs ($16.90). I keep meaning to order more avocado dishes for breakfast, but usually forget when it comes to the crucial moment.

When my breakfast arrived, it was a good serving - two slices of toast smothered in "zesty" avocado, layered with rashers of bacon and halloumi slices, with two poached eggs sitting on the top. There was also a decent sized pile of rocket on the side of the plate, which remained untouched. I enjoyed most of the dish - the eggs, bacon and halloumi were all cooked perfectly, but I wasn't so keen on the zesty avocado. It tasted a bit like a guacamole (which is fine) but the pieces of raw red onion in the avocado mix overpowered everything else on the plate. Towards the end I began scraping the avocado off the toast, and found it more enjoyable.

My wife ordered the ricotta pikelets with lemon curd and berry coulis ($14.90). Unfortunately these were disappointing, mainly because the pikelets didn't taste like much ricotta (if any) had made it into the mix. On top of that, $15 for three large-ish pikelets with a bit of lemon curd isn't exactly great value.

We both ordered flat whites, which I found a bit weak compared to my daily Merlo fix, but were otherwise ok.

Other breakfast options include Treacle's home-made muesli with natural yoghurt and honey ($9.90), gypsy pocket filled with double smoked ham off the bone & Swiss cheese ($14.90) and
free range eggs Benedict on organic cornbread topped with fresh hollandaise, which is served with sautéed spinach and roast tomato ($13.90), double smoked ham off the bone ($14.90) or
Treacle's homemade salmon gravlax ($14.90).

While service was friendly throughout our meal, we waited a very long time for our breakfasts to arrive at the table. It was almost an hour after we had sat down when our meals were served. In my book, that's too long to wait for a couple of breakfasts.

Overall, if the service had been better, our visit to Treacle would have been so much more enjoyable. As it was, we waited too long for the food to arrive and when it did, our breakfasts didn't blow our socks off.

Treacle is also open for lunch and dinner. The lunch menu in particular looked good, and we'll have to pop back to try it out. (Sorry there are no photos - I only realised my phone battery was dead when we sat down at the table).

What does all this mean? A wide ranging breakfast menu that should keep everyone happy, but our visit was held back by slow service.

food bling ratings
Food - Ok
Service - Poor
Value for Money - Ok
Ambience - Relaxed suburban cafe/restaurant, with a sunny outside terrace
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Ok

Treacle
Shops 2-3, 8 Days Road
The Grange 4051
P - 07 3352 4144
E - info@treaclecafe.com.au
W - http://www.treaclecafe.com.au/

Utopia

If I had to pick an idyllic spot to live somewhere in the South-East Queensland/Northern New South Wales area, it would be in the lush green hills around Bangalow. It's such beautiful countryside - amazing views out over the ocean, only a short drive to the beach and best of all the town of Bangalow would be the local "metropolis". The town itself is fantastic - a really unique range of shops, some great restaurants & cafes, a butcher that sells Bangalow sweet pork and a small grocery store that stocks a quirky range of food that covers all the essentials.

Very very sadly, my bank balance doesn't allow me relocate to Bangalow just at the moment, so we have to make do with short visits instead. I've already written an earlier post about Utopia, but we popped in again on our last trip and had such a memorable morning tea that it would be mean not to share it with you.

One of the reasons I keep going back to Utopia is because they always have a selection of gluten free cakes. So many cafes around Brisbane mistakenly seem to think that having a couple of friands or a Byron Bay gluten free cookie is all you need to keep gluten free customers happy. Luckily places like Utopia are 10 steps ahead of the pack, always offering a good selection, which usually makes my job of ordering pretty tough. Not only are there always a good selection of cakes and pastries, but they are all cooked on the premises.

On this occasion I couldn't go past the lemon curd boat. As you'd guess from the name, this was a pastry shell in the shape of a boat, filled with lemon curd. The pastry was lovely & crisp, but held together well (a rarity for gluten free pastry). The filling was the complete opposite - slightly runny and very tangy. The pastry boat was served with a slice of lime and some creme Anglaise. I'd have to say that the lemon curd boat was the best gluten free pastries I have eaten for a long, long time. After it disappeared off my plate and I'd cleaned up all the delicious creme Anglaise, I seriously thought about ordering another. I only stopped because I knew we were driving down to Byron for lunch, and wanted to leave room for a serve of nachos from Ozymex (which are my favourite nachos anywhere).

My wife ordered a mascarpone tart with passionfruit curd, which looked equally as impressive as the lemon curd boat. The base of the tart contained plenty of coconut, and was filled with a lovely light, tangy mascarpone. The tart was generously drizzled with passionfruit curd and was another memorable morning tea staple. Of course my lemon curd tart was better, but I'd happily eat one of these any day (even if I couldn't eat the base).

We each had a flat white, made with Zentveld's coffee. They were both good coffees, and were served with a little biscuit on the side of the saucer.

If you've never been to Bangalow, make a trip there one of your new year's resolutions. You can start the day with coffee and morning tea at Utopia, wander around the shops for a few hours (make sure you visit the very cool Japanese gift store) and then have a late lunch at Ate or Fresca on the deck of the Bangalow Hotel. High on our travel agenda this year is a weekend at Bangalow. Not only would I love to have morning tea and lunch at Utopia, I'm very keen to try out the degustation dinner at Satiate, which sounds like an absolute bargain at $65.

In the meantime, if anyone's selling any cheap properties in the hills of Bangalow, please think of me...

Utopia
13 Byron Street
Bangalow NSW 2479
P - 02 6687 2088
E - utopia.bangalow@gmail.com
W - http://www.utopiacafe.com.au/

Green Oven

A couple of years ago, Green Oven at Alderley was one of my favourite Brisbane breakfast spots. That was until they decided to close on Saturdays (apparently because of staff costs), which meant no more breakfasts for me. Luckily we drove past a couple of months ago and noticed they had re-opened on Saturday mornings, so we popped in one lazy weekend for breakfast.

Green Oven is situated in a fairly drab row of shops on Samford Road, just up from the Alderley Hotel. Don't let the surrounding shops put you off. The real attraction of Green Oven is that where possible, the produce is organic. Although the prices are probably a tad higher than your usual suburban cafe, you can really taste the difference. Having eaten there plenty of times, the food at Green Oven actually tastes like someone has made a concerted effort to source quality organic ingredients.

Although the weekday breakfast menu is fairly brief, there are a few more options on Saturdays. I was after something fairly simple, so I ordered the tw'eggs with free range bacon ($13.50). Green Oven has plenty of gluten free options, so there was no trouble having the sourdough replaced with something more coeliac friendly. My breakfast came out with the two poached eggs sitting aside a gluten free muffin, with the bacon placed over the top and garnished with a small rocket & herb salad. The gluten free muffin was excellent, and one of the best gluten free alternatives to normal toast that I've come across anywhere. Although I prefer my bacon a bit crispier, it tasted lovely and the eggs came out soft, just as I'd ordered them. I was pleasantly surprised when our waitress actually asked how long I would like the eggs poached. I thought the rocket was a bit unnecessary in the scheme of things, so I left it on the side of the plate.

My wife ordered a serve of home made beans with sourdough ($16.50). This turned out to be a big serve of beans, sitting on top of a couple of slices of good sourdough. The beans were flavoured with a tasty (but not overly rich) tomato sauce, including capsicum, celery and onion. The plate was garnished with rocket, which worked better with the flavours of the beans than it did with my bacon & eggs.

Other Breakfast options we've tried on past visits include buckwheat pancakes, eggs benedict and organic fruit toast.

We both ordered a couple of flat whites with our breakfasts. Green Oven uses fair trade coffee, and both our coffees were well made.

Green Oven is also open for lunch, offering burgers, BLTs, quiche and specials which are written up on the big blackboard behind the counter.

There's also a cake cabinet next to the counter, that usually contains 3 or 4 gluten free delights, so I always have to pick up something sweet to take away. This time it was a triple chocolate brownie. Although it was very rich, it hadn't been cooked through, which was a bit disappointing, especially as it was $6.

The decor at Green Oven is pretty rustic and relaxed - non-matching tables & chairs are spread around the fairly small room. Service was fine on this visit, although we weren't in any hurry.

While there are plenty of places around that spruik organic, or "wholesome" food, Green Oven has taken the conscious decision to limit its menu and focus on organic ingredients. Not only that, but the organic produce is put together on your plate with care. The best comparison I can think of to explain the food at Green Oven is this - it tastes as good as the fresh breakfasts I used to eat at my grandparents' farm when I was a little kid - the free range eggs, real bacon and home-made bread still stick in my memory. It's hard to explain the food at Green Oven any better than that - you'll have to drop in to try it yourself.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Good
Value for Money - Good
Ambience - Rustic, casual & mis-matched
Gluten Free - Great
Vegetarian - Good

Green Oven
28 Samford Road
Alderley 4051
P - 07 3352 7225

Grub Street

Although we used to live around the corner from Grub Street at Gaythorne, it was only a couple of weeks ago that we finally made it there for breakfast.

We'd tried to pop in a couple of times over the last few months, but the small dining room had been full, so we moved our ravenous stomachs on elsewhere. This time we managed to walk in when the room was almost empty, so we snagged a table without a wait. The dining room at Grub Street only seats 18 people, so if you wander in at a busy time, you might need to sit outside for 10 minutes or so until a table clears.

Grub Street has a pretty compact, but very interesting breakfast menu. Options include grilled grapefruit with house granola & yoghurt ($9.50), ‘Green eggs & ham’ - pesto scrambled eggs with ham off the bone & roasted tomato ($15), haloumi & zucchini fritters with poached eggs, spinach & dukkah ($14) and salmon gravalax & asparagus omelette with dill mayo on rye ($17).

Such a good menu makes breakfast decisions pretty tough. Although I was initially leaning towards the green eggs & ham (mainly because of the imaginative name), I eventually settled on the chorizo & potato baked eggs with chimichurri ($16), one of the gluten free options on the menu. It was served in a small round dish, which was full of big chunks of chorizo & potato. The eggs had been cracked on top, and were baked so they were just cooked & still fairly runny (exactly how I love them). The contents were drizzled with a good amount of chimichurri. Once I had busted open the egg yolks, the eggs and chimichurri mixed though the chorizo and potato, which resulted in a very tasty breakfast. The eggs, potato & chorizo were served with two slices of gluten free toast, much to my (happy) amazement. Grub Street must be one of the very few places in Brisbane where gluten free toast is a fixture on the menu, rather than an option at extra cost.

My wife ordered the toasted Turkish bread with avocado & tomato salsa, to which she added a serve of mushrooms ($11.50). Although it wasn't mentioned on the menu, this was also served with pesto that was spread over the Turkish toast. My wife loved it, with the pesto getting special praise. It looked delicious.

We also ordered one of the specials for the day - a corn cake with poached eggs & avocado. The presentation of this dish was impressive - rows of asparagus on the bottom of the plate, on which sat the corn cake, followed by mushrooms and the poached eggs on top. Not only did it look excellent, but my friend really enjoyed this breakfast.

We drank flat whites with our breakfast ($3.50), which my wife and I found a bit weak.

Each of us enjoyed our breakfasts at Grub Street. I found the breakfast menu very impressive. There are so many places in Brisbane that serve up almost exactly the same breakfast menu - luckily at Grub Street some serious thought has gone into putting together a menu that stands out from the crowd.

As I mentioned earlier, it's a small room, so service was both friendly and snappy.

Grub Street is also open for lunch. I'll have to come back to try their lunch options, which include burgers, salads and Turkish bread or ciabatta sandwiches. And to complete the all round food package, Grub Street offers catering for functions and cooking classes.

What does all this mean? Tasty food, and a thoughtful & interesting breakfast menu at reasonable prices. Every Brisbane suburb should have a local cafe as good as Grub Street.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Good
Ambience - Casual, small, relaxed suburban cafe
Value for Money - Good
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good

Grub Street
440 Samford Road
Gaythorne 4051
T - 07 3855 9580
E - eat@grubst.com
W - http://www.grubst.com/

Des Alpes

Next time it's a cold, wet, miserable winter night, Des Alpes is the perfect restaurant to visit for some homely, warming food.

Des Alpes is a Swiss restaurant on Blackwood Street at Mitchelton. It's basically in my neighbourhood, so I've eaten there a couple of times in the last few months. My most recent visit was just last week, on a cold, rainy night.

Entrees at Des Alpes include walliser suppe (Swiss style tomato soup with cheese and cream glazing - $7.50), Bundnerfleisch mit nussbrot (thin slices of Swiss style smoked beef, served with homemade bread, butter, pickles and sour cream - $12.50) and a country terrine made with chicken, pork, walnuts, mushrooms, herbs and wrapped in bacon, served with homemade red wine jelly ($11.50).

Knowing how filling the main courses are, we skipped entrees. I'd ordered the Zurich geschentzeltes (sliced veal in mushroom cream sauce - $25.50) on my last visit, and enjoyed it so much I had it again. This dish is served as half a plate of the sliced veal, with the other half full of Swiss rosti potatoes. The rosti potatoes are delicious, and they're a perfect way to mop up the mushroom sauce from your plate. My only complaint was I ran out of rosti potatoes (because they tasted so good).

Other main course options are kassler (smoked pork tenderloin served with sauerkraut and mild pepper sauce - $25.50), monsieur Roquefort (pork fillets topped with red wine poached pears and blue cheese - $26.50) and fillet Des Alpes (three pork and beef fillets topped with homemade béarnaise, herb and pepper sauces - $26.50). All of the main courses are served with the lovely rosti potatoes and a green salad for the table to share.

If you want to give cutlery a skip for the night, then there are a few different fondues to enjoy. The cheese fondue is served with pieces of baguette to dip into melted Swiss cheese, with garlic, white wine and kirsch ($10.50/person for entree or $19.50/person for main). Then there's the meat fondue, where you can dip slices of beef, pork and veal fillets in beef stock. The meat fondue is also served with a variety of homemade sauces, mixed pickles and rosti potatoes ($27.50/person).

Given that it was particularly cold outside (at least by Brisbane standards) we ordered the chocolate fondue for dessert to share amongst the table ($12.50/person). The fondue burner was brought out to our table, followed by a pot of gooey looking melted chocolate. The chocolate fondue was served with marshmellows, meringues, almonds, strawberries, apple and grapes. We were all given fondue forks and proceeded to cover everything in the thick chocolate. As someone who generally doesn't eat a lot of fruit, this could be the perfect way to convert me - although I'm sure coating tiny bits of fruit in thick chocolate probably wipes out any health benefits. Apart from its taste, a fondue is a great communal way of eating, that gets everyone at the table involved in the food.


If you really want to go fondue crazy, then your table can order the three course fondue party - cheese fondue for entree, meat fondue for main and chocolate fondue for dessert ($44.50/person). But be warned - if you have a big table wanting to eat fondue, you'll need to give Des Alpes some advance notice.

Des Alpes goes out of its way for diners with special dietary requirements. It's the only restaurant I've been to in Brisbane that has separate vegetarian, gluten free and dairy free menus. There were loads of gluten free options for me to enjoy.

Service was extremely friendly on our visit, and all our food came out without any noticeable delay. Des Alpes has a small wine list, but you can also bring your own wine, with corkage $3.00 per person. There's a small bottle shop a few doors up Blackwood Street.

Des Alpes is all about generous, warming Swiss and European food. Sure it's not cutting edge cuisine, but sometimes we all need a plate of hearty, tasty food, which is Des Alpes' forte. Des Alpes has been operating as a family business since 1993, so it must have plenty of dedicated customers.

What does all this mean? Good value, homely, generous Swiss food, with BYO wine and friendly service.

food bling ratings
Food - Good
Service - Good
Ambience - Relaxed, homely, European feel to the room
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Compact list or BYO
Vegetarian - Great
Gluten Free - Great

Des Alpes
47 Blackwood Street
Mitchelton 4053
P - 07 3355 9627
W - http://www.desalpes.com.au/

Grapevine Gourmet Cafe & Deli

The Grapevine Gourmet Cafe & Deli is a local spot which we hadn't visited until recently. It's a pretty innocuous looking cafe on Blackwood Street, and I've probably walked past it a hundred times without ever setting foot inside.

After showing up to Cafe Urbano at Stafford, only to find the place completely booked out (for breakfast!), we ended up back at the Grapevine Gourmet Cafe & Deli.

On receiving the menu, I was impressed to see that they adopt the "build your own breakfast" idea. Toast is $2.20, and then you just add whatever takes your fancy. Each addition is another $2.20. So my order of gluten free toast, bacon, poached eggs and their house made baked beans was a bargain at $8.80. If you're ravenous, you can keep adding mushrooms, sausages, potatoes, tomato etc until your stomach is happy. The Grapevine Gourmet Cafe is one of the very few places in Brisbane that actually has a choice of gluten free bread (fruit toast, white or grain).

Our food came out quickly, because the cafe was pretty quiet when we arrived. Although I'd have to say that the serving of bacon was a bit on the skimpy side, that was the only (very minor) quibble I had. Otherwise the gluten free toast was perfectly cooked, the poached eggs were excellent, and the house made beans rounded out a great breakfast. For under $9, it was super value.

My wife ordered a house made sweet potato and apple muffin, which was served with a drizzle of maple syrup. To keep the healthy theme going, she also had a bowl of fruit salad and yoghurt. The muffin was a star - it had lovely spice through it, was nice and moist and turned out to be a great alternative to a savoury breakfast.

Our coffees were good (it's Coffee Mio), but the real winner on the drinks front was the mango frappe ($4.40). This was basically a big glass of almost frozen, pureed mango. It was absolutely divine, and exactly what you want to be drinking on a sunny Brisbane morning. I'll definitely be ordering one next time.

The surroundings are pretty basic, with tables both inside and out. Sure it's not the place you'd take the Queen for breakfast, but for me, the most important thing is always the standard of the food, which has been very good on both our visits. I'm glad we finally made it through the door at the Grapevine, because it serves up much better breakfasts than many more overpriced options around Brisbane.

Last but not least, the service was very friendly. There only appeared to be two staff on, who were basically doing all the cooking, as well as the service. But even so, they went out of their way to make us feel welcome, and took the time to talk to all of us, both during and after the meal. A few personal touches like that really make a difference. I've also noticed that there seem to be a good proportion of regular customers, who the staff know by name, which is always a good sign.

What does all this mean? A great value, friendly, build-your-own breakfast spot in Mitchelton.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Casual, suburban cafe
Value for money - Top Shelf
Vegetarian - Great
Gluten Free - Great

Grapevine Gourmet Cafe & Deli
32 Blackwood Street
Mitchelton 4053
P - 07 3355 2204

d'lish cafe

After being sadly rejected by my previous favourite breakfast spot on Tedder Avenue, Main Beach Delicatessen, we wandered around until we found d'lish cafe. The main factor influencing my choice for breakfast was the amount of gluten free options on the menu.

The friendly waitress at d'lish confirmed they had gluten free toast - happy days! After having a look at their giant breakfast menu, we were sold and quickly shown to a table on the footpath. At d'lish you can order anything from a bowl of muesli to a breakfast burrito.

I was in one of my "simple is good" moods, and ordered the bacon and eggs with gluten free toast ($10.90). My poached eggs had a fantastic orange colour, were obviously fresh and had been perfectly cooked. They needed the slightest nudge to burst open across my plate. Coupled with some multi grain gluten free toast and good bacon, this was a great breakfast for the price (especially when you consider we were sitting on Tedder Avenue, known for its inflated prices). No complaints from me.

My wife ordered the sauteed mushrooms with wilted spinach, tomato and goat's cheese on Italian bread ($12.90). This was really delicious. It was a plate of chopped up field mushrooms, which had been sauteed with the spinach and plenty of high quality goat's cheese. The Italian bread was also excellent. A great vegetarian breakfast all round. It even looked good to me, but I was too busy munching away on my bacon.

Coffee at d'lish is Piazza del Oro. We both had flat whites ($3.50), which were well made.

Service was quick and friendly. d'lish served us two very good breakfasts at great prices. When you throw in the always fascinating parade of Tedder Avenue locals that stroll past, what more could you want for breakfast?

What does all this mean? A great range of breakfasts at low prices, with friendly, snappy service.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Relaxed Tedder Avenue cafe vibe
Value for Money - Great
Vegetarian - Great
Gluten Free - Good

d'lish cafe
Corner of Tedder & Cronin Avenues
Main Beach 4217
P - 07 5561 1595

Choux Box

I've just come back from our annual relaxing beach trip to Kingscliff, where once again we enjoyed some terrific food.

Choux Box is one of the cafes on Marine Parade at Kingscliff that is perennially busy. That's because it is an excellent cafe.

On our first visit, we ambled up for morning tea after a swim at the beach. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling the best, so I couldn't enjoy any of the scrumptious looking cakes sitting in the display cabinet. My wife on the other hand was only there for the cakes.

Part of the Kingscliff experience is walking past cafes like Choux Box every day, checking out the range of cakes they have on offer every day. On this visit, the daily specials were chocolate eclairs or a variety of friands. One of those cakes and a coffee or tea was only $7.50, which was a great deal. I had to settle for a black tea, while I watched the chocolate eclair vanish off the plate in front of me.

Next time round though I was over the stomach bug and was looking forward to a tasty beach breakfast. Tables at Choux Box fill up quickly for breakfasts on the weekends, so it can be a bit hit and miss if you show up at the wrong time. Luckily we were a little bit later than peak breakfast hour, so we snagged a table out the front.

The breakfast menu at Choux Box isn't huge, but it's very tempting. After a bit of indecision, I fell back to my old favourite, bacon and eggs. It turned out to be a good choice. The eggs were perfectly poached, with the whites straggling across my plate. There was also loads of bacon, which just so happened to be crunchy, exactly how I love my bacon to be cooked. It was the biggest serving of bacon I've come across on a breakfast plate for a long time. I also had half a cooked tomato and some good gluten free toast. Sometimes a simple breakfast, cooked well, takes a lot of beating. I washed this heavenly breakfast down with a good strong flat white.

We also ordered a corn fritter with avocado and tomato. When this dish arrived at the table, it turned out to be a large, almost pancake sized corn fritter, that had been drizzled with basil pesto. It was topped with half an avocado, some cooked tomato and a bit of rocket. I was too busy wolfing down my bacon and eggs to try any, but I was assured that the corn fritter was one of the best vegetarian breakfasts my wife had eaten for a long time. The corn fritter had a good, light consistency, the pesto was obviously freshly made and the avocado was perfectly ripe. I did manage to steal a bit of avocado and immediately made a mental note to order more avocado for breakfast.

As well as the flat white, we had a coffee frappe. Although we were expecting it to be an icy frappe, it turned out to be more like a coffee thickshake. But it was a good coffee thickshake, with a proper coffee bitterness to it. Miles better than the sweet iced coffees that tend to be the norm in the cafe world.

All up our breakfast was $37. Service was very snappy, and we hardly waited at all for our breakfasts to arrive (not that we were in any kind of hurry). Heading back to Brisbane after a swim and such an excellent breakfast sure was hard to take. I could easily be convinced to have breakfast at Choux Box every weekend.

Sorry there are no photos, but my excuse was I was on holidays.

What does all this mean? Excellent breakfasts, cakes and coffees served in a casual beach-side atmosphere.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Relaxed, beach feel with outside tables on the footpath
Value for Money - Good
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good selection

Choux Box
94 Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 1993

Boardwalk Bar + Bistro

I've been to the Boardwalk Bar + Bistro a couple of times now with a few work buddies. It's in an excellent spot - right on the river below Riparian Plaza. There's a great view out over the river of the Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point.

The Boardwalk Bar + Bistro has inside and outside seating. Both times I've been for lunch, and sitting outside, even in the shade, wasn't that appealing on steamy summer days. I'm sure the outside tables are popular with tourists, looking to soak up some sun while admiring the river views. There are a decent amount of inside tables, which are definitely cooler.

The menu covers grills, seafood, pizza, pasta and salads. Other than the salads, there aren't a lot of options you'll find for under $20. A few of the better value meals on the menu are the steak sandwich ($17.90), battered fish & chips ($19.90) and the pizzas ($17.20 to $19.90).

On my first visit, I ordered the braised lamb shank ($27.50). This was described on the menu as braised lamb shank with creamy mashed potato, baby carrots and a lamb jus. I was a bit disappointed with portion size when it arrived at the table. There was just the one lamb shank, and it wasn't a particularly big one, nor was there a lot of meat on it. The shank was sitting on a small serving of mash, with a few baby carrots on the side. Not exactly what I was expecting a bar to serve for $27.50. The lamb shank itself was ok, but not memorable.

On the next visit, it was time to give another meal a try. I thought maybe I'd just been unlucky with the lamb shank episode. This time I ordered the clay pot chicken ($27.90), described as chicken braised in a clay pot with white wine, onions, mushrooms, lemon and parsley. The hot pot was brought to the table, and looked impressive. Until I opened it. The pot had one chicken leg in it, with a bit of the thigh attached. It was a particularly small chicken leg, and I'd be surprised if there was enough meat on it to satisfy anyone for lunch. The chicken leg was sitting in what appeared to be a chicken broth, which contained a few bits of celery, some onions and a couple of mushroom pieces. It was basically a chicken broth served with one chicken leg. There were two small pieces of bread that came with the dish. Luckily when my friends saw the size of the portion, they were all too happy to ply me with plenty of chips from their plates. Even so, I had to stop at McDonalds on the way back to work for an emergency serve of fries, to stop my stomach from rumbling around all afternoon.

Although the food was disappointing, the bar does have a decent selection of wines by the glass, including a few Queensland wines. The 25 wines by the glass range in price from $6.90 to $9.90. There are also plenty of beers and a few cocktails.

Service was pretty snappy on both visits. You order and pay at the counter when you arrive. The meals are then brought out to your table when they are ready. We only waited about 10-15 minutes for our meals to come out, which is a good turnaround time.

The Boardwalk Bar + Bistro website proudly proclaims "More bang for your buck". Unfortunately, based on my two visits, I can't agree. The clay pot chicken was particularly disappointing, and both my meals were overpriced. I know they must be paying some hefty rent at such a great spot, but I really think the value for money can be improved.

What does all this mean? A bar & bistro with a great location overlooking the river, serving a range of pub type food, but not particularly good value for money.

food bling ratings
Food - Ok
Service - Good
Ambience - Modern bar, with lovely river views
Value for Money - Poor
Wine - Good selection by the glass
Vegetarian - Ok
Gluten Free - Very limited selection

Boardwalk Bar + Bistro
Boardwalk Level, Riparian Plaza
71 Eagle Street
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3221 0026
E - info@boardwalkbar.com.au
W - http://www.boardwalkbar.com.au/

Av-a-Chat Cafe

I was thrilled when I recently found out that Av-a-Chat Cafe, a local Blackwood Street eatery, had undergone a change of management and become a Vietnamese restaurant. No longer do I have to drive to the Valley to get a fix of good Vietnamese food.

At this stage I've only had a few takeaway meals from Av-a-Chat. At the moment, the current takeaway menu is pretty compact, with 6 appetizers ($6-$7), 7 main courses (all $11) and 5 desserts ($4-$8). They've told me that they're still working out the local market, and hope to increase the takeaway menu options in the future.

I've had a couple of the Vietnamese rice vermicelli salads, and my favourite so far is the grilled pork salad (pictured). Along with the obvious grilled pork and vermicelli, the salad also includes cucumber, lettuce, carrot and plenty of fresh mint, with some fish sauce to pour over the top. It's great value at $11, and is currently my number one emergency dinner, when I get home too late or just couldn't be bothered cooking anything. At least I can convince myself it's healthy.

If you eat in (which I will sooner or later), there's a bigger menu to choose from. Av-a-Chat also does breakfast and lunch, which I'll have to try out. In the meantime, it's great to see a new Vietnamese restaurant opening on the Northside.

Av-a-Chat Cafe

6/48 Grovely Terrace

Mitchelton 4053

P - 07 3855 1328

Main Beach Delicatessen

Until just recently, the Main Beach Delicatessen had been my favourite breakfast spot at the Gold Coast. But I went there for breakfast a couple of weeks ago, and the breakfast menu has really changed since my last trip. It was sad to see some of the delicious breakfast options have been taken off the menu and gluten free bread, although listed on the blackboard, was apparently no longer available.

Grudgingly we decided to give it a skip, despite memories of all the great breakfasts I've had there in the past. So if you head along to the Main Beach Delicatessen after reading my previous post, you might be a little disappointed.

There was a happy ending to the story though - I found a great place just around the corner called D'Lish Cafe, where we had an excellent breakfast (there's a post about D'Lish to come).

Main Beach Delicatessen
Shop 10, 14-16 Tedder Avenue
Main Beach 4217
P - 07 5564 0288

Pandemonium Cafe

Pandemonium Cafe has been a popular spot in Paddington for as long as I can remember. I've eaten breakfast and lunch there plenty of times over the years, even when it used to be a bit further up Given Terrace.

Pandemonium has a retro/70's feel to it inside, with old mis-matched chairs and tables for an authentic touch. On this visit we were after some breakfast. It was about 9.30 on a Sunday morning, and the only spot inside (which is air conditioned) was on the couches in the corner. Not thinking our co-ordination was up to juggling bacon & eggs with a coffee on the couch after a big night out, we sat out the front instead. There are a few tables out the front, which really don't have the ambience of inside, and I think are a bit pokey. But weekend breakfasts at Pandemonium are always busy, so outside it was.

Pandemonium's breakfast menu covers toast, muesli and a good selection of hot options. I was really in need of something a bit greasy to help with a hangover, so although the spinach and feta omelette sounded delicious (three eggs, spinach, feta, tasty cheese & thick toast with Pando's sauce on the side - $12.50), I ordered the bacon & eggs instead ($12.50 with gluten free toast).

It was a big serving of bacon rashers, with two poached eggs that had been poached in moulds. Whenever I'm served eggs from a mould it brings back memories of cooking poached eggs when I was about 6 years old. They don't exactly look as cool as eggs which have been freely poached in a big saucepan of water. Anyway they were perfectly cooked, so once I'd busted them open, their shape was quickly forgotten. The bacon & eggs were served with a cooked tomato and one piece of gluten free toast (which I thought was a bit miserly given all the bacon and eggs). Next time I'll have to remember to order two pieces.

My partner in partying the night before ordered the avocado toast with a side serve of baked beans ($9.50). This was two enormous thick pieces of toast, smothered with fresh avocado. The toast wasn't gluten free, so I couldn't eat it, but it looked (and apparently tasted) fantastic.

There are plenty of other breakfast possibilities, including French toast ($9), a breaky panini ($8), pancakes with mixed berries or seasonal fruit & ice cream ($12.50) and the steak breakfast if you are ravenous (150g rib fillet, bacon, sausages, eggs, homemade hash browns, mushrooms, tomato & thick toast - $19.50).

I had a flat white ($3) with my breakfast, which was good. We also ordered a coffee frappe, which turned out to be terrific. I don't normally order iced coffees, because I usually find them way too sweet. This one however actually had an authentic coffee bitterness to it and, coupled with the icy/slushy texture, made for a great start to a very warm day.

My only gripe with Pandemonium was the water. They don't serve any water for free. A small bottle of water will set you back $1. I know it's not much, but I really can't understand why a cafe can't serve water free of charge.

Pandemonium is a good place to visit if you're looking for tasty, home style food. There's a good reason why its been popular for so long - prices are very reasonable, service is usually snappy and the portions are healthy. They are also happy to accommodate coeliacs, vegetarians and vegans.

Pandemonium is now open for dinner on Thursday and Friday nights and also offers a catering service.

What does all this mean? Tasty, home-style food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with good sized servings and friendly staff.

food bling ratings
Food - Good
Service - Good
Ambience - Retro/70's feel inside
Value for Money - Great
Wine - Small selection or BYO
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good

Pandemonium Cafe
215 Given Terrace
Paddington 4064
P - (07) 3369 4420
F - (07) 3876 2094
E - info@pandemoniumcafe.com.au
W - http://pandemoniumcafe.com.au/

Atomica Eat Drink

I used to go to Atomica Eat Drink for breakfast all the time. But I haven't been there for about 3 or 4 years, after waiting more than an hour for breakfast on my last visit.

We were trying to find a breakfast spot before braving the crowds at Ikea. Our first choice was The Boys House of Coffee at Kelvin Grove, but that turned out to be shut on Sunday morning. Trying to think of somewhere vaguely on the way, we ended up in West End, at Atomica Eat Drink.

Every time I walk past Atomica I always remember having breakfast there one day and a guy at the table next to me complaining that the three breakfasts they had ordered were all too big. Who complains about their breakfast being too big? If you've got too much, then just don't eat it. Better to have too much than not enough. At least that's what I think.

So I decided to give Atomica another go. The first trick at Atomica is getting a seat. Luckily a lady at one of the tables on the footpath heard me talking about the gluten free bread on the menu. She had just finished breakfast and was just waiting for her bill. She jumped up, told me the gluten free toast was fantastic and then offered her table to us. It's days like this when you just know you're going to have a good breakfast.

A very friendly waitress came out not long after to clear the table and give us a couple of menus. Atomica's breakfast menu covers most bases - bircher museli, fruit toast with ricotta, pancakes, lamb & rosemary sausages, eggs benedict and a big breakfast for customers with nasty hangovers.

At the moment I'm finding it hard to go past plain old bacon & eggs for breakfast. I know it's a bit boring, but when you come across a plate of crunchy bacon and nice runny poached eggs, it's happy days (at least in my world). So I ordered the poached free range eggs with bacon and roast tomato jam. This is usually served with sourdough, but I had some gluten free toast instead. When it comes to gluten free toast, Atomica gets two thumbs up from me. This is the first place I've been to that actually had a selection of gluten free toast - pumpkin or multi-seed. I had the pumpkin toast, and it was delicious. Although I didn't ask, I'm pretty sure it was the pumpkin bread from Sol Breads.

Boring as they might be, the bacon and eggs were terrific. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the bacon was a little bit crispy. I found the roast tomato jam a bit sweet, but it was good to have another contrasting flavour on the plate. At $10.50 this was a great breakfast.

We also ordered one of the vegetarian breakfasts, which was a plate of Swiss brown mushrooms, tomatoes, bubble & squeak, spinach and sourdough ($10.50, extra with eggs). This was another winner. The Swiss brown mushrooms were the standout though - a lovely flavour, and cooked so they still had that distinctive mushroom squeakiness on your teeth, which I love. There's nothing worse than an overcooked, soggy mushroom if you ask me.

Atomica Eat Drink only uses free range eggs (I wish more places would) and Barambah Organics milk. After making plenty of coffees at home over the last few years, I'm convinced that Barambah milk makes such a difference.

After this breakfast, I'll definitely be back to Atomica Eat Drink on a more regular basis. The food was delicious, the service very friendly, and it's great value for money.

What does all this mean? A busy West End breakfast spot, serving delicious food with an extra attention to detail and topped off with friendly, attentive service.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Casual, modern cafe feel
Value for Money - Great
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good

Atomica Eat Drink
Shop 3, 173 Boundary Street
West End 4101
P - 07 3844 0333

Euro 2008 - Austria

Seeing as I'm going through the countries in alphabetical order, Austria is first up.

Austria is one of the co-hosts of the tournament, so there is plenty of pressure on their team to perform. They are also the lowest ranked team in Euro 2008, so its not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. Losing their first game to Croatia means they might be gone after the first round, but hopefully their home crowd will get them through.

When it comes to Austrian food in Brisbane, head out to K&K Austrian Bakery and Coffee House at Sinnamon Park. I haven't been there, but the menu on their website has a pretty extensive range of Austrian food, covering breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu includes Tiroler speckknodel (bacon dumpling soup), beuschel (braised veal heart in sauce with steamed dumpling), a range of schnitzel, sausages and their signature dessert of kaiserschmarren mit zwetschgenroster (souffle pancakes with a plum compote). You can even have an Austrian wine or beer with your schnitzel, to complete the Austrian experience.

K&K Austrian Bakery and Coffee House

Shop 7, Sinnamon Park Village

58 Oldfield Road

Sinnamon Park 4073

P - 07 3376 1822

E - info@kank.com.au

W - http://www.kandk.com.au/index.html

Harveys Bistro & Bar

I recently caught up with a few of my wine buddies for lunch, and we each brought along a special bottle. The hard part turned out to be finding a BYO restaurant that was open for Saturday lunch. After I had hunted around the internet for a while, it came down to a shortlist of Harveys or Sprout. We ended up going to Harveys because we were all coming from the Northside, and it was the easiest to get to.

Usually I try to avoid James Street like the plague, because parking is always an absolute nightmare. Although I wasn't driving after lunch, I had to drive in, and I ran into the usual parking terrors. I eventually got to lunch 20 minutes late, after finding a park about 10 minutes walk away.

I'd only ever been to Harveys for breakfast before, and that was before PJ McMillan had taken over, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We started off with a bottle of 1996 Bruno Paillard Champagne, which is a pretty fine way to kick off any lunch. It was a beautiful wine, with a few years ahead of it yet. After lingering over a glass or two of the Champagne, it was time to order.

I knew we had a bottle of aged chardonnay up next, so I tried to pick an entree that would match the wine. Entrees on the menu include Jerusalem artichoke tart with blue cheese, date, bitter leaves and red wine vinegar ($18), seafood risotto with chorizo, paprika, chilli and rocket ($19.50) and quail saltimbocca, grilled fig, mustard fruits, rocket and cress salad ($18.50). After a fair bit of indecision, I reminisced about the great tapas I had in Spain and ordered the Jamón serrano reserva, simply shaved with artichoke, rocket and goat's curd ($17).

It was about now when we opened the second bottle, a 1999 Giaconda Chardonnay, which sits in the upper echelons of Australian chardonnay. I know Jamon serrano isn't exactly what you'd call the perfect match with an aged chardonnay, but I love the stuff. Although the Jamon serrano was good, with its amazing depth of flavour, it wasn't as simple as the menu had made it out to be. The artichoke, rocket and goats curd had a tad too much dressing on it, which seemed to be mainly balsamic vinegar. It was a shame, because the dressing took away from the flavour of the Jamon serrano, which should have been the focus of the dish. Personally I would have preferred to have no dressing at all (the menu didn't mention a dressing) or maybe just a touch of good olive oil, which is all these lovely ingredients needed. The goat's curd was divine.

We also had one of the salt & pepper calamari with lime aioli and citrus on the table ($15.90) which disappeared pretty quickly.

After the two great white wines, it was time to open a red before the main courses arrived. We eventually had the waiter decant our bottle of 1992 Bests Thomson Family shiraz, which I was really looking forward to. The Thomson Family shiraz is one of those wines that is very hard to find, even if you are on Bests mailing list. One that's 16 years old is something pretty special. It was of course a lovely aged red, that still had time ahead of it in the cellar.

I knew the shiraz was on the way, so it had to be some kind of red meat for my main course. That narrowed the options to lamb rump with pumpkin, sage, roasted onion, peas and horseradish cream ($29) or the grilled eye fillet with potato rosti, wilted spinach, crisp prosciutto and shallot confit ($34). The mains also included Atlantic salmon with crushed potatoes, sweet corn, bacon, fennel and chive cream ($27) and chicken breast with garlic butter on mash with roasted mushrooms and pancetta ($27).

The lamb rump was good, and a perfect match for the aged Victorian shiraz. So good that I was trying to scrape up every last bit off the plate. It was delicious comfort food.

By the time dessert came around, we had already gone through three bottles of wine, so we decided on just a couple of cheeses ($9.50 for one, $13.00 for two, $16.50 for three or $19.00 for four). There are of course other desserts, like passionfruit and lemon mascarpone terrine with papaya and mint salad and autumn fruit crumble with fresh cream, white chocolate and macadamia ice cream (both $11).

Harveys is licenced and BYO. The wine list is compact, but excellent - exactly how a wine list should be. There is a very well thought out selection of wines by the glass, and the whole list is extremely well priced. Harveys also offers a selection of older vintage wines (which you'll find on the blackboard) that have been carefully cellared at Wineaway.

If you're looking for something other than wine, Harveys have a selection of coffees ($3.20 for flat white) and tea to end the meal, but we decided to wander up James Street to Merlos, and grab a coffee there instead.

Service was a little bit patchy to start with, until the more senior waiter realised we had brought along some pretty decent wines. After that small hiccup, the service was seamless.

If you're heading out to a BYO lunch on the weekend, it's pretty hard to go past Harveys. You can sit either inside or out, depending on the weather, and the restaurant has a welcoming, relaxed feel. Harveys is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What does all this mean? A relaxed modern bistro, perfect for a weekend lunch, where you can either enjoy the smart wine list, or bring your own bottle.

food bling ratings
Food - Good
Service - Good
Ambience - Relaxed, modern bistro
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Licensed & BYO
Vegetarian - OK

Harveys Bistro and Bar
Shop 4, 31 James Street
Fortitude Valley 4006
P - 07 3852 3700
E - info@harveys.net.au
W - http://www.harveys.net.au/

Restaurant Vue

Restaurant Vue is the in-house restaurant at the Boonah Valley Motel. We stayed here for a couple of nights recently, and thought we'd give the impressive looking restaurant a try for dinner.

It's a pretty enormous restaurant. There are seats inside, and also a big outside deck. It was a bit cool on the night, so the deck had been closed in with those clear plastic shutter things.

Anyway, we sat inside, where there was also a combustion fire going. The first thing we noticed on the menu was that cocktails were $8. $8 for a cocktail is a bargain in anyone's language, so we ordered a couple of those. They were a bit hit and miss, but at $8, who cares?

I was planning to leave room for dessert, so we ordered a bowl of the hand cut potato, sweet potato and eggplant chips with aioli ($6) for an entree. This turned out to be an absolutely enormous bowl of the various chips. The aioli was good, but we didn't get close to eating all the chips. This dish was great value at the price.

There is a compact wine list, including wines by the glass, at reasonable prices. I ordered a glass of pinot noir with my main course. I was amazed to find out it was served cold. I know some people like to slightly chill red wine in the warmer months, but it wasn't remotely warm weather, and this wine wasn't just chilled, it was cold. Of course the flavours of the pinot were completely masked by the temperature at which it was served. If restaurants are going to serve red wine cold, they should at least check with the customer first. I didn't order any more red wine after that glass. I should have stuck to the cocktails.

Next was main course. There were some interesting sounding mains, like tempura salmon in sea salt with purple wakame ($25), prawn, pumpkin, opal blue, salmon and black sesame tortellini ($17) and marinated char grilled lamb rump with Israeli cous cous, green olives, preserved lemon and eggplant ($25). There are a number of gluten free options, which are clearly marked on the menu.

The roasted duck breast on fig and mandarin salad with orange blossom and cinnamon water and warm chickpea falafel ($25) took my fancy. I don't see mandarin in many main courses, so I thought I'd give it a try. Unfortunately the dish wasn't as good as it sounded. Although the duck had been spiced with some lovely flavours, I found it overcooked and a bit tough. When it comes to duck breasts, I enjoy them when they are just cooked, still pink, juicy and tender. The fig and mandarin salad was ok - the figs in particular were a good match with the spiced duck. The falafel turned out to be a giant size and seemed to overwhelm the rest of the ingredients. It was also a really floury consistency once you broke into it. Overall, this dish just didn't work for me. I think a smaller portion of each of the accompaniments would have worked much better. With less mandarin and a much smaller, chunkier falafel, the flavours and textures would have been more balanced. A good idea, but not quite carried off on the plate.

Vue Restaurant has a separate vegetarian menu, which is always good to see. We ordered the halloumi with with falafel and fig & mandarin salad from the vegetarian menu. This was basically the same dish I had ordered, but with halloumi instead of the duck. The halloumi turned out to be a great match with the mandarin segments - the salty, squeaky texture of the cheese a perfect foil for the juicy, sweet mandarin. Again though the falafel was very powdery and overwhelmed the other ingredients due to its size.

We were both a bit disappointed with our mains, but decided to give dessert a run. We ordered the trio of house made ice cream tasting plate with sides of figs, rosewater Turkish delight and fresh berries ($8.50). Other desserts include pumpkin brioche bread and butter pudding with double cream and vanilla bean ice-cream ($8.50) and poached nectarines in amaretto with buttermilk puddings, fresh passionfruit and Italian meringue (also $8.50).

Our dessert turned out to be a winner. We had fresh figs at a few places in Boonah, and they were delicious every time. The ice cream flavours tonight were Midori, rosewater and mango. All of the ice creams were beautifully made, but the rosewater was the standout. A lovely delicate flavour, churned into an extra creamy ice cream - I could have eaten about 4 scoops of it. The Turkish delight was also good, its customary chewiness providing a good contrast of texture to the ice cream, figs and berries.

Other than the cold glass of pinot, service was excellent throughout our meal. There were only 2 waitresses for the entire restaurant, but they were both friendly and efficient, and no-one seemed to be waiting for meals.

The servings at Restaurant Vue are big, and prices are good. But our main courses didn't quite hit the mark. Maybe we just made bad choices for mains (after all we did almost have the same dish). It's certainly an ambitious menu.

Restaurant Vue is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was doing a good trade with the locals on the night we were there. Hopefully there will be more restaurants like this popping up in country towns all over Queensland.

What does all this mean? Big servings, good prices and an ambitious menu, but some dishes don't quite hit the mark.

food bling ratings
Food - Ok
Service - Good
Ambience - Modern, stylish interior and outside deck seating
Value for Money - Great
Wine - Compact selection
Vegetarian - Great
Gluten Free - Great

Restaurant Vue
Boonah Valley Motel
3908 Boonah-Ipswich Road
Boonah 4310
P - 07 5463 4738
W - http://www.boonahvalleymotel.com.au/restaurant.htm

Gourmet Haus

I recently headed over to Racecourse Road for breakfast at one of my favourite spots, the Ascot Continental Deli, only to find it was closed. It always had a great selection of gluten-free breakfasts, so I was sad to see it gone. Obviously there weren't enough other people out there who liked it as much as I did.

After a quick scout around, we decided to go to Gourmet Haus over the road, and it was a good find. I hadn't eaten there before, but they have a great breakfast menu. If you're sick and tired of seeing bacon and eggs or pancakes with maple syrup on your local cafe's breakfast menu, head over to Gourmet Haus, where you can try kippers, black pudding and a range of wursts to get your day started. If wurst isn't your bag, then there are vegetarian breakfasts, gluten-free options, breakfast specials and even bacon & eggs.

The service during our meal was excellent and friendly. Although there was a bit of a mix up with our initial order, it was fixed up quickly, without any hassle.

Gourmet Haus is also a deli, and there is a tempting range of sandwiches that you can order for breakfast, lunch or to take away.

Next time you're looking for something a bit different for breakfast, head over to Gourmet Haus. Its imaginative menu and friendly service stand out from the usual breakfast crowd.

Gourmet Haus
68 Racecourse Road
Ascot 4007
P - 07 3216 4899
E - gourmethaus@bigpond.com

JJ Jackson

I've been lucky enough to eat at JJ Jackson's twice in the last week or so. You wouldn't guess it from the name, but JJ Jackson is a Korean restaurant in the city.

If you're fortunate enough to stroll in when the place isn't full (which isn't very often), you'll probably notice is the two video screens pretty much straight away. When we were there today we had Christina Aguilera featured for most of our lunch. I'd rather be watching a video screen than another boring restaurant wall, so its fine with me.

Anyway, we weren't here for Christina, we were here for the great Korean food. JJ Jackson has one of those handy menus which has a picture of most of the meals on it. It's great if you're not entirely sure what the octopus ball might turn out to be. At least you can get some kind of reassurance that it looks ok in the picture.

The menu offers a good selection of Korean food. If you are looking for something fairly safe, there's the Korean style marinated chicken fillet with vegetables on steamed rice ($10) or the beef stir fried udon noodles ($11). But if you're looking for something a bit different, then JJ Jackson is going to oblige. Try the octopus ball ($7), grilled eel with rice and salad ($19), BBQ beef with rice, kimchi, seaweed and flying fish eggs ($15) or the steamed pork hock with special sauce ($28).

Last time we were here for dinner I tried the Korean style marinated beef fillet with vegetables on steamed rice ($10) which was a good, tasty meal. Most of the meals are garnished with what looks like shredded beetroot, but I think its actually coloured vegetable noodles. Today for lunch I went for the Korean style marinated chicken fillet, vegetables and rice cake with spicy sauce on steamed rice ($12). Yes it sounds very similar to the beef fillet I had last time, and yes it tasted pretty similar. But it was a good meal, so I'm not complaining. The rice cakes though made for a contrast in textures, which always adds a little extra to the dish.

In my last few visits we've also ordered the Korean style marinated pork and vegetables with spicy sauce on steamed rice ($12), the vegetarian stir fried sweet potato noodles ($10) and the salt and pepper squid salad ($13.90) all of which quickly disappeared off the plate. The sweet potato noodles in particular were excellent, and not something you come across every day.

Most of the meals are served with kimchi, which I find severely addictive (luckily it only comes out in small dishes).

The best thing about JJ Jackson is the low, low prices. Most of the meals are between $10 and $12, and the servings are very generous. It's the perfect place for a quick lunch or dinner.

If you really want to round out the whole Korean experience, order some of the Korean alcohol. I've had the rice wine a couple of times now, with a tiro mixer, and it makes for a refreshing change.

Service is friendly and efficient. The staff here are more than happy to explain the menu (and the Korean alcohol) to make sure that you have a great meal.

Unless you aren't in a hurry, it's a good idea to book ahead. JJ Jackson can get very busy at both lunch and dinner, so don't expect to walk straight in and grab a table. Also, the meals are very generous. I'd be surprised if you could eat more than one of the meals off the menu, so its not the kind of place where you will spend hours lingering over your meals.

What does all this mean? Tasty, interesting Korean food at excellent prices.

food bling ratings
Food - Good
Service - Good
Ambience - Modern furnishings with music videos in the background
Value for Money - Top Shelf
Vegetarian - Limited

JJ Jackson Restaurant & Bar
Shop 4, 120 Edward Street
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3210 0007

Cafe Sbiza

Cafe Sbiza is a busy cafe on Marine Parade, the main food street at Kingscliff.

Most of the seats are outside, and it's a relaxed, casual atmosphere for most of the week. Come the weekend however, and Cafe Sbiza gets packed for breakfast and lunch. So busy that if you don't make a booking for breakfast, you're going to have to wait a while.

We'd been at Kingscliff all week, and after having a coffee at Cafe Sbiza earlier, we took their advice and made a booking for Saturday breakfast.

When it comes to breakfast, Cafe Sbiza has a two page menu, that is loaded with all kinds of breakfast options - sweet, savoury, vegetarian or fruit - they've got it covered. It's one of the biggest and best breakfast menus I've come across.

After working our way through all the amazing sounding breakfasts (and the four specials on the blackboard) it was time to order. I went with the eggs benedict. I ordered it with their gluten free corn bread, which they were happy to substitute. This was two poached eggs, good thick slices of black forest ham, roasted cherry tomatoes, thick hollandaise sauce and tasty, crunchy corn bread. This was pretty much my perfect breakfast. The eggs were perfectly softly poached, the hollandaise sauce was thick and tasty, but didn't overpower the eggs, and the ham, roasted tomatoes and corn bread were terrific accompaniments.

The other breakfast we had was pancakes with yoghurt and fruit salad. This was a huge breakfast made up of two fluffy pancakes, a side dish of maple syrup, banana, rockmelon, honeydew melon, pineapple, watermelon, strawberries and natural yoghurt. The fruit was fresh and plentiful. This really was two breakfasts in one, but we weren't complaining.

The coffee was Merlo, and was very good. As with most of the places we ate at in Kingscliff, the service was friendly and attentive.

All up, this really was a fantastic breakfast. Both our meals were excellent. With the huge range of options on the breakfast menu, you could go every day for a week and eat something different every day. Next time you're in Kingscliff, you really have to pop in to Cafe Sbiza for breakfast.

What does all this mean? Excellent breakfasts, a huge menu and friendly service - the perfect breakfast cafe.

food bling ratings
Food - Top Shelf
Service - Great
Ambience - Outdoor cafe setting
Value for Money - Great
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good selection

Cafe Sbiza
Shop 2, 86 Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - (02) 6674 4140

Moray Cafe

Moray Cafe has been pulling in loyal diners for years, situated in a great spot under a giant fig tree in New Farm.

Over the years I've eaten here for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food is usually tasty and well-priced. On this trip we went for breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning. As usual for this time on a Sunday, the place was pretty busy. We went for a seat inside, as there were a few dogs out the front which I wasn't really keen on sitting next to. I don't really see why dogs need to come to cafes for breakfast, but that's just me.

After sitting down, we were told by our waitress that there would be a 20-30 minute wait for our breakfasts, which we weren't too worried about at that stage.

The breakfast menu is pretty compact, and good value. If you're not after a savoury breakfast, try the French toast of golden crusted brioche with baked peaches and vanilla syrup ($13) or the bircher muesli with Greek yoghurt and honey ($10).

There are also plenty of savoury options, including bubble & squeak - roast pumpkin, sweet potato, tomato, peas, corn, halloumi, hollandaise and Vienna toast ($12), smoked salmon with rocket, dill mayonnaise, lemon oil, scrambled eggs and sourdough ($13.50) or the eggs benedict served with ham and hollandaise on an English muffin ($12).

Unfortunately they don't have any gluten free bread, which cuts down my breakfast options, but I decided to order the chorizo, goats cheese and caramelised onion omelette ($12) with a hash brown ($3 extra). I'm always on the lookout for something new to try for breakfast, and the omelette sounded particularly appetising. We also ordered the forest mushrooms, served with rosemary & garlic and brie and truffle dressing on sourdough ($12.50) with some added tomatoes ($3 extra).

Unfortunately, there was then an inordinate wait until our meals came out. If we had been told that the wait would actually be 45-50 minutes for our two orders, then we would have gone elsewhere. The tables on both sides of us both waited similar times or longer for their breakfasts and were looking as frustrated as we felt. We've never had to wait so long on any previous trips to the Moray Cafe, so hopefully this was just a small service blip rather than an ongoing problem.

When the food eventually came out, it was very good. The omelette was perfectly cooked, and the chorizo, goats cheese and caramelised onion all added differing tastes and textures. The tangy goats cheese was particularly good. The omelette was a great match for my crunchy home-made hash brown, which together was a very filling breakfast.

The mushrooms were also delicious, with at least three varieties of mushrooms adding to the overall taste. The tomatoes turned out to be roasted cherry tomatoes, which make a nice change to what many cafes have on the menu for breakfast.

The drinks menu covers coffee, juices and some tasty frappes - the pineapple and mint frappe makes a great start to the day.

The Moray Cafe is a perennially popular place, and both our breakfasts were delicious. However, the service delay was so long that by the time the food came out, we both just wanted to leave. If they can improve the breakfast service times, it would be so much more enjoyable.

What does all this mean? Beautiful breakfasts in a relaxed setting, but the service was terribly slow.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Poor
Ambience - Relaxed, casual tables outside or a more modern setting inside
Value for Money - Good
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Limited breakfast options

Moray Cafe
Shop 1, 158 Moray Street
New Farm 4060
P - 07 3254 1342
E - themoray@moraycafe.com.au
W - http://www.moraycafe.com.au/