Queensland Cricketers' Club

The other day I was lucky enough to score a ticket for the first day of the test against New Zealand at the Gabba. Even better, it was a ticket to seats in the Queensland Cricketers' Club.

The tickets included a 3 course set menu lunch at the Cricketers' Club. I usually think of club food as being a bit stuck in a time warp, so my lunch expectations weren't particularly high. Boy did I turn out to be wrong. The lunch we had was excellent.

Things started off well when our table was right against the glass. It was floor to ceiling glass, so we had an amazing view of the entire field. It feels a bit surreal having someone serve you a delicious lunch while the cricket is going on out the window, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Our entree was a delicious prawn & fennel salad. This was probably the best dish of the whole lunch. It had already been plated up on our table when we sat down, so again I was a bit sceptical. But the prawns were fresh, sweet and tasty. They were a perfect match with the fennel salad. A bottle of 2005 Jim Barry "The Florita" Riesling ($79) made this probably the best start to any meal I've ever had a sporting venue. It sure beats a box of tired old chicken & chips.

By this stage my expectations of lunch had risen remarkably and I was looking forward to the next course. The main meal turned out to be a very generous chunk of medium rare beef, served with asparagus, grilled tomato and a slice of a potato dauphinoise type dish. Although it wasn't quite in the league of the prawn & fennel salad, it was very good. After finding a bottle of 1995 Katnook Estate cabernet sauvignon on the wine list for $99, we couldn't pass it up, and it turned out to be a lovely match with the steak.

Dessert was a baked cheesecake. I'd already had a few drinks by this stage of the day, so I can't actually remember what flavour it was. I do remember though that it was good. We rounded off a great lunch with one of Australia's classic dessert wines - De Bortoli Noble One botrytis semillon ($33.50).

It really was a decadent way to watch a few hours of cricket. If you're ever offered a ticket to the Cricketers' Club, grab it with both hands - you'll have a brilliant day.

Queensland Cricketers' Club
411 Vulture Street
East Brisbane 4169
P - (07) 3896 4533
E - qcc@qldcricketersclub.com.au
W - http://www.qldcricketersclub.com.au/

Euro 2008 - Poland

Poland will be be counting their lucky stars if they make it through to the quarter finals. After only picking up one point from their first two games, Poland can only progress if they have a big win against Croatia, and hope that the result in the Germany v Austria game goes their way. It's going to be tough, but Poland still has a chance of progressing.

If you're looking for somewhere to support the Polish team or just to try some terrific Polish vodka, head to the Polish Club at Milton. Here is what Natascha Mirosch from The Courier Mail had to say about the Polish Club:

Forget trendy and expensive bars, if you're a vodka fan head instead to the real deal – the home of vodka (it's said the Russians appropriated it from the Poles). The Polish club (now called Polonia) has at least 20 Polish vodkas, from the innocuous-sounding Balsam Herb Vodka to the sledgehammer Spirytus which is 95 per cent proof. Try a herb-infused vodka with real slivers of silver or the Wild Bee Honey Vodka. Prices range from a ridiculous $3 to a silly $5. There are also Polish beers like Okocim Palone, Perla or Zywiec and Polish liqueurs at $2.50 each.

At the bar or the club's restaurant you can sample some traditional Polish staples like pierogi (dumplings stuffed with meat), or the national dish, bigos (a hunter's stew made with venison, lamb or beef, wild mushrooms, and juniper berries, or apples). Golabki are the famous Polish cabbage rolls, stuffed with minced meat and rice, while fasolka po bretonsku is a rustic bean and sausage stew.

Many of the local businesses have discovered the Polish Club, says manager Kamilla Serek, and the clientele is eclectic, from students to pensioners. Every second Friday, the club also hosts a small market in the downstairs hall, where you can buy Polish cakes, doughnuts and delicatessen goods as well as Polish sausages. Smacznego!

You can read the full article at The Courier Mail's website here. My favourite Polish vodka is Zubrowka (bison grass vodka) which I got hooked on in Poland. You can try it for yourself at the Polish Club, otherwise it's popping up at more and more good bottle shops in Brisbane.

Another Polish restaurant to try is The Polish Place at Mt Tamborine. At the Polish Place, you can taste Polish specialties like pierogi (dumplings), gołąbek (cabbage rolls in tomato sauce), bigos (sauerkraut cooked with smoked meats, porcini mushroom, prunes and herbs, served with Polish sausage) or kaczka z jabkami (duck confit stuffed with apples and marjoram, baked and served with red cabbage, apples, sour cherries & Polish gnocchi). If you decide it's too far to drive to Mt Tamborine for dinner, then book one of their chalets and make a weekend of it.

Polonia (Polish Association of Queensland)

10 Marie Street

Milton 4064

P - 07 3369 2747

W - http://www.polonia.org.au/

The Polish Place

333 Main Western Road

Tamborine Mountain 4572

P - 07 5545 1603

E - info@polishplace.com.au

W - http://www.polishplace.com.au/

Euro 2008 - Germany

Germany was hotly tipped before the tournament started to be this year's champions. But after their loss to Croatia the other day, Germany now has a must win against Austria tomorrow. Austria, as one of the co-hosts, will be pulling out all stops to win that game, so there are no guarantees we'll see Germany going through.

Whether or not Germany does manage to progress, winter is a great time in Brisbane to check out a few of our German eateries. If it's a big, hearty meal you're craving, take a trip to the Black Forest German Cafe Restaurant at Highgate Hill. I've only eaten there once, and the meals were so big, most of us couldn't even finish them. So make sure you work up an appetite beforehand. You can kick off your meal with bratwurst, herring salad or cold cucumber soup with onion. Be warned though, go easy on the entrees or you're going to have a few problems cleaning up your main course. Mains cover German specialties like Muenchener schweinshaxe (oven roasted pork hock with sauerkraut and Bavarian dumplings), bregenwurst & gruenkohl (mettwurst, kaiserfleisch and kasseler served with kale and mashed potatoes) and Deutsche rinder roulade (thin slices of beef filled with ham, pork mince and sweet/sour cucumber, served with red cabbage and mashed potatoes). There is a good selection of German beers here to accompany your Muenchener schweinshaxe, or if beer isn't your thing, try the schnapps or Asbach Uralt brandy.

Another place where you can be assured of a good German feed is at the German Club. The German Club is across the road from the Gabba, and holds various events during the year including the Brisbane Oktoberfest. I've never eaten at the German Club, but have been in there for a few German beers before and after games at the Gabba. At the restaurant, you can try herring & apple salad ($8.50), kassler (smoked pork loin chop with fried potatoes & sauerkraut or red cabbage - $14.50), grilled Atlantic salmon with potato rosti, braised cabbage & fennel and dill hollandaise sauce ($17.90) or roasted pork knuckle with fried potatoes, sauerkraut & beer gravy ($14.90). It goes without saying that there is a range of German beers and schnapps to wash down your meals.

If you're anywhere near Maleny, you can pop into King Ludwig's Restaurant and Klaushouse Mountain Bar. King Ludwig's serves morning & afternoon teas, lunch and dinner. Meals here include Bayrische brotzeit (Black Forest ham, Swiss meat loaf, Hungarian salami, beer stick and cheese served with pickled gherkin, rye bread and butter - $17.50), rinderfilet “Schwaebische Art”, risotto und gemuese (grilled medallions of beef eye fillet on a piquant mild mustard sauce with herb risotto and garden vegetables - $34.50) and schweinekotlett, kartoffel puree und blaukraut (grilled pork cutlet on a sage and red wine gravy served with garlic mash and red cabbage - $29.50).

If you are in the Cleveland area, you can try Bavarian Blue and Ditche's Rheinkeller Restaurant. I haven't been able to track down their menus on the web, but I've put contact details for both restaurants below.

Guten Appetit!

Black Forest German Cafe Restaurant

196 Gladstone Road

Highgate Hill 4101

P - 07 3217 2180

W - http://www.blackforestrestaurant.com.au/

Brisbane German Club

416 Vulture Street

East Brisbane 4169

P - 07 3391 2434

W - http://www.brisbanegermanclub.com/

King Ludwig's Restaurant and Klaushouse Mountain Bar

401 Mountain View Road

Maleny 4552

P - 07 5499 9377

W - http://www.kingludwigs.com.au/

Bavarian Blue

Shop 9, 381 Main Road

Wellington Point 4160

P - 3207 2255

Ditche's Rheinkeller Restaurant

Shop 7, 22 Middle Street

Cleveland 4163

P - 07 3286 7756

Euro 2008 - Czech Republic

The Czech Republic's next match against Turkey is a real crunch game. Whichever team wins will go through to the next round, so it should be a great game. The Czech team had a good first up win against Switzerland, but were unlucky to be beaten 3-1 by Portugal this week.

If you're after some Czech food in Brisbane, head along to the Czechoslovakia Club. I haven't been able to find out too much about the Czechoslovakia Club, but here is what Natascha Mirosch from The Courier Mail had to say about it:

It's not one of the biggest, but its patrons are fiercely loyal, many driving across town to eat the traditional Czech food lovingly prepared by chef Lyn Kratochvil and other volunteers.
The club has about 300 members, and this year celebrates 50 years. It's possible to dine like a kaiser for a pauper's price with three courses, a soup, main, dessert and coffee costing a paltry $12.

This is not the tasteless tepid stuff of bain maries though. The Czechs are proud of their food, and everything is cooked fresh on the day.

So what exactly is Czech food?

"We Slav nations all have similar food. The Russian, Polish, and Czech, we might call them different things but they are very similar. It's careful, slow-cooked, hearty food," says club president Stanya Bilek. Pork is a particular Czech favourite as well as hearty marinated meats. "We have a special potato and wild mushroom soup, too, but of course it's very hard to get wild mushrooms here."

Bilek does concede that Czech food is rich "but everything in moderation", she says. The club has around eight Czech beers, including Velkopopovicky Kozel and Breznak at $4.50 for half a litre, as well as Czech liqueurs for $2.50.

The Czechs have a sweet tooth, too, it seems, with a delicious array of pastries, streudels and fruit dumplings to round off a meal. The club is renowned for its friendliness and welcomes everyone, says Bilek, with no Czech heritage required.

You can read the full article about Brisbane clubs here. If the Czech team wins the game against Turkey, it could be a big night at the Czechoslovakia Club.

Czechoslovakia Club
25 Upfield Road
Burbank 4156
P - 07 3343 3489

German Beer & Wine Festival

Sticking on the subject of all things European, I've just found out about the German Beer & Wine Festival, which is on at the German Club this weekend.

It actually started tonight, but it's continuing tomorrow night, from 6pm. Entry is $5 and you can expect German food and German beers on tap, together with German dancing and entertainment.

German Beer & Wine Festival
6pm - midnight, Saturday 14 June 2008
Brisbane German Club
416 Vulture Street
East Brisbane 4169
P - 07 3391 2434
W - www.brisbanegermanclub.com

Kingscliff Beach Club

The Kingscliff Beach Club is not, as you might expect, a surf club, but is in fact the Kingscliff bowls club. It's right on the ocean though, and has views of the beach out the window.

The club is enormous and the restaurant only forms one part of the buidling. If its big meals at good prices you are looking for, then the Kingscliff Beach Club hits the spot. The club is popular with both locals and families visiting Kingscliff on holidays.

The menu covers seafood, steaks, pasta, salads and roasts. In keeping with "club" style, some of the dishes are already prepared, while other items are cooked to order. There are also specials on certain nights of the week. If you head down here on a Monday night, for $10 you can have a roast, a rump steak, fish & chips or an Aussie steak with bacon and egg.

I ordered the roast pork, which was $15.90. As I was pretty hungry, I orderd the large serving. This turned out to be a big mistake. When our meals arrived, my plate of roast was enormous. I counted 9 big slices of pork on the plate, together with some roast potatoes, broccoli, beans, carrot and gravy. The pork itself was good. As much as I love roast pork though, I just couldn't get through it all. Unless you've just jogged to Cabarita and back, you're unlikely to get through a large serving of a roast at the club - order the small instead and save a few dollars. As for the accompanying vegetables, they were ok - the potatoes had been cooked a fair while earlier - but it was a solid roast.

We also had the pumpkin salad, which was again a huge serving. It was a delicious dish - plenty of big pieces of roast pumpkin, with cos lettuce, red onion, good tomatoes, snow pea sprouts and julienned raw beetroot. There seemed to be two dressings - one a balsamic and the other a garlic aoli. This was a good salad, made up of lovely fresh ingredients and much improved on vegetarian options we've had at the club in previous years.

Other than the view, the other great attraction of eating here is the great drink prices. Two glasses of their house red were only $4.80. Sure it wasn't Grange, but it was fine with our two meals.

If you are looking for a hearty roast or steak next time you're at Kingscliff, give the Beach Club a try. Its the perfect place for a quick holiday dinner with the family on those nights when you just can't bring yourself to whip something up in the kitchen.

What does all this mean? Hearty food, giant servings and cheap drinks right on the beach.

food bling ratings
Food - OK
Service - Its pretty much self service
Ambience - Modern style bowls club
Value for Money - Great
Wine - OK (but priced very well)
Vegetarian - OK

Kingscliff Beach Club
Marine Parade
Kingscliff NSW 2487
P - 02 6674 1404