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/

Kabuki 2 Go

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to eating sushi for lunch, because I've got an LR Sushi shop just across the road. I still haven't got around to putting up a post about its great sushi, but it will happen sooner or later. (By the way - if you want to avoid the crazy queue, go before 12pm).

In the meantime, it now has a quality competitor about 50 metres down the road, in the shape of Kabuki 2 Go. As you probably know, Kabuki is the Japanese restaurant at the Stamford Plaza Hotel. In the last week or so, it's opened up a take away sushi bar, just off Felix Street.

I wandered in the other day to see if it was as good as the rolls I've been buying from LR Sushi. The first thing I noticed was that the selection of rolls is smaller. There were only about 8-10 to choose from - at least that makes the choice easier. I bought 3 rolls - tofu, avocado & ginger, fresh salmon & avocado and a California roll. Each of the rolls was a good size - no skimping on ingredients here.

So what did they taste like? The short answer - excellent. I started with the California roll, because it looked like it was actually full of good crab (not seafood extender). It was probably the best of the three. The crab had a lovely, delicate flavour and by the time I'd finished it, I wished I had another. Next was the tofu, avocado & ginger, which I'd bought out of curiosity. Again this roll turned out to be delicious. The tofu and avocado were fresh and the pickled ginger provided a great contrast, both in flavour and texture. In comparison, the fresh salmon & avocado roll didn't bowl me over, but I think that's because its more delicate flavours were overwhelmed by the strong taste of the ginger in the tofu roll that I'd just eaten.

Although there isn't a huge selection of rolls, the quality is good. Kabuki 2 Go is also great value (considering the quality) with the rolls around the $2.20-$2.50 mark. You can also arrange take away catering platters if you call ahead.

With such good sushi on offer, I wonder how long it will be before Kabuki 2 Go starts eating into the long queue at LR Sushi just down the road? They are both streets ahead of the standard sushi rolls that you find in food courts around the city.

Kabuki 2 Go
Stamford Plaza Brisbane
Felix Street
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3221 1999

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/

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

Sassafras

Sassafras has been seving up popular breakfasts and lunches at Paddington for years.

I hadn't eaten there for ages, but we popped in for a Sunday breakfast recently. If you haven't been to Sassafras before, it occupies an old cottage, with a yard area out the back. You can either sit inside at a table in one of the rooms, or outside which is a bit quieter.

The other thing about Sassafras is that it is usually very busy on weekends. Today was no exception. Although you order and pay at the counter, in busy times its usually a good idea to find yourself a seat first, or risk not having anywhere to eat when your food is ready. Luckily most of the diners are a pretty friendly lot, and there was no problem with us sharing a table with another couple out in the backyard. After we'd ordered, we watched the resident magpie walking around the backyard, picking up scraps as if he owned the place. Everyone is well catered for at Sassafras.

Sassafras has a good variety in its breakfast menu. If you're looking for something sweet, there is French toast with syrupy caramelised apples & double cream ($10.90) or the delicious sounding ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter & maple syrup ($13.50). There are also some different savoury options, like chilli corn cakes with hummus, spinach, crispy bacon & relish ($13.50) or more standard fare such as eggs benedict with baby spinach, toasted turkish bread, hollandaise & your choice of ham or avocado ($13.50).

Vegetarians are also very well catered for, with a great selection on the menu including a vegetarian big breakfast of scrambled tofu, toasted turkish bread, relish, avocado, grilled tomato, baked beans & mushrooms ($15.90) and mushrooms & tomatoes on toasted turkish bread ($10.90). Sassafras also has a good range of gluten free options, with all breakfasts being able to be prepared gluten free (except the scrambled tofu) for $1 extra.

There is also a wide selection of drinks to match with your Sunday breakfast. Cold drinks cover some refreshing sounding frappes ($5.50), fresh juices ($6), smoothies ($6), milkshakes ($4.50-$5) and iced chocolate/coffee/mocha ($4.50). Coffee is Grinders, and a flat white here is $3.50. There is also a good range of T2 teas, which seem to be popping up everwhere. You can get anything from a Darjeeling to a monk pear spi chai (whatever that might be) for $3.80.

There was a bit of a wait for our breakfasts, which was to be expected, given how busy it was. There are plenty of magazines and papers floating around to read, and we certainly weren't in a hurry.

Our coffees came out first. They were fine, but both had a decent amount spilt out of them into the saucer on the trip out from the kitchen.

Somehow the people sitting next to us, who had ordered after us, got their cooked breakfasts before we did, but ours came out shortly after. Unfortunately my poached eggs with "crispy bacon" and gluten free bread ($13) weren't the best. The eggs were great - a generous serving of 3 free range eggs, nicely runny. However, when the kitchen had plated up the poached eggs, they had also plonked on a fair bit of the water out of the saucepan onto my plate, which was basically swimming in water. That was bearable I suppose, but it quickly turned my toast soggy and watery - not exactly the most appetising breakfast. Also I am a big fan of crispy bacon, and if the menu says "crispy bacon" you'd hope it was actually crispy. This bacon was cooked, but definitely not crispy. If your bacon isn't going to be crispy, then just list it as bacon on your menu.

On the other hand, the mushrooms & tomatoes on toasted turkish bread with a side serve of avocado ($13.90) was very good. Although it came out without the avocado, we tracked down a staff member who quickly brought out a side serve, as it had been ordered. The mushrooms were perfectly cooked, still with a bit of bite, and were delicious. The tomatoes were also beautiful, and it was a pretty generous breakfast all round.

So our food here was a bit hit and miss. I know we were there at a busy time, but standards shouldn't slip just because there are plenty of orders coming in. A little more attention to service and presentation would have made an enormous difference to my meal in particular.

Sassafras is also open for lunch, and serves up some great sandwiches, salads and other meals. Next time you're in the Paddington area and looking for a tasty lunch, it's definitely worth a try. Sassafras also offers a catering service - check out their website for further details.

What does all this mean? A very popular, casual cafe for breakfast and lunch, but our food was a bit hit and miss.

food bling ratings
Food - OK
Service - OK
Ambience - Relaxed, casual spot with a great outside area
Value for Money - Good
Wine - BYO
Vegetarian - Great
Gluten Free - Great

Sassafras
88 Latrobe Terrace
Paddington 4064
P - 07 3369 0600
E - info@sassafrasfoods.com.au
W - http://www.sassafrasfoods.com.au/