Wine List of the Year Awards

As I have been known to hunt down restaurants with a great wine selection, I was keen to find out see the winners of this year's Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine wine list of the year awards.

This year the overall winner (Australia wide) was Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne, which pipped the other finalists - Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Est., Glass Brasserie, Pilu at Freshwater, Quay and Vue de Monde. Fittingly, David Lawler from Rockpool Bar & Grill also picked up the Judy Hirst award for best sommelier. If you're feeling thirsty, you can read through the winning Rockpool Bar & Grill list here.

Looking at the local scene, The Brisbane Club picked up the award for the best club list in Australia, which is a terrific result. I've only eaten at the Brisbane Club once, but wasn't in charge of ordering the wine for that meal, so I'm keen to get an invite back there to really get stuck into their wine list. Wine Magazine noted that it's not just the depth of the list which is impressive (covering over 350 wines), but the prices are also excellent (including a magnum of 1997 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay for $223 and a magnum of 1996 Penfolds Grange for $915).

The Queensland state winner for best restaurant wine list was Ortiga. I haven't yet eaten at Ortiga, but I now have a compelling reason to visit soon. Ortiga pipped Absynthe and Cru Bar to take out the Queensland prize. Have a look at Ortiga's list here.

If you're looking for great restaurant wine lists in and around Brisbane, pay a visit to Absynthe, Aria, Cru Bar, E'cco, 1889 Enoteca, Era Bistro, Ortiga, Restaurant Two, Ristorante Fellini, The Brisbane Club and Vanitas - all of which picked up the highest ranking of three glasses in the awards.

There are 49 Queensland restaurants included in this year's guide, so it's well worth getting your hands on a copy. Unfortunately, this year the guide is included in the body of the magazine, rather than in a separate booklet. I have no idea why they've changed the format, because I always found it much handier to keep the little booklet rather than lugging the whole magazine around for 12 months. Format aside, it's a great way to track down the top wine lists all across the country. For the full guide, pick up the current edition of Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine.

e'cco

I've eaten at e'cco quite a few times, but for some reason I hadn't made it back there in the last couple of years. So when a friend from London and I were trying to find a restaurant that would let us bring along a few good bottles of wine, e'cco was the first place that popped into my head.

The room at e'cco hasn't changed much since the last time I visited. If you haven't been, there's a bar on the right hand side as you walk in, most of the tables are to the left and you'll find the kitchen at the back of the room. Despite the high quality food on offer, the restaurant still has a casual bistro feel to it, with wooden chairs and no tablecloths.

We sat down and our waiter opened up the bottle of 1997 Gardet Cuvee Charles Gardet champagne which I'd rustled up. In the meantime, we'd started on the hard task of choosing what to eat for dinner. The menu is fairly compact - there were 7 starters (including a soup) and 6 mains. I was surprised that there were no specials, as I'd had some great specials at e'cco in the past.

The starters included star anise cured salmon terrine, herb mascarpone, avruga caviar, croutons & green tea salt; grilled quail, salad of orange, witlof, bocconcini & pecan dressing, and grilled sardines, roast kipflers, watercress, smoked eggplant, capsicum & olive salsa. Each of the starters are $24.50, other than the soup of the day which is $14.50.

I was having a hard time picking between the salmon terrine and the sardines. I'd almost decided to go for the terrine, but changed my mind at the last minute and ordered the sardines instead. I'd never had sardines at a restaurant before, so I thought e'cco would be the perfect place to start.

I was pleasantly surprised when the sardines arrived - I'd been expecting the tiny sized ones you see in tins, but these were much larger - not far off the size of a small whiting fillet. It was a good starter - there were 4 or 5 sardines, sitting on top of the watercress and smoked eggplant, with the kipflers and salsa arranged around the edge of the plate. I enjoyed the delicate flavour of the sardines, as I'd been expecting a much stronger, fishier flavour. All the ingredients on the plate worked well together - I particularly liked the smoked eggplant and the kipflers. My only minor gripes were 1) there was too much watercress for the size of the serving (which I ended up leaving on the plate) and 2) there were slices of raw red onion that weren't mentioned on the menu (unless somehow they were part of a deconstructed salsa).

My wine buddy ordered the seared scallops with curry-spiced cauliflower, wild rocket, raisins and flaked almonds. When the dish arrived I was impressed with the size of the scallops - they were three of the biggest scallops I've ever seen. Although the raisins ended up being left on the plate, the rest of the dish got a vote of approval, with the scallops well and truly the star.

The Gardet champagne (which I hadn't come across until recently) was lovely - its good weight and power really stood up to the starters. If I kicked off every meal with a 12 year old bottle of vintage champagne I'd be a very happy camper.

I knew we were drinking a red with main course, which limited the menu choice to some extent. Mains at e'cco include roast spatchcock, sweet corn risotto, tomato pickle, chilli & spring onion; seared ocean trout, shaved fennel, zucchini flowers, pickled red onion & soft herb beurre blanc; lamb loin, scorched tomatoes, sumac croutons, Persian feta, sugar snap peas & olives, and chilli & fennel spiced pork belly, eggplant relish, bok choy & crispy garlic. All of the mains are $42.50.

Neither of the red meat dishes on the menu really jumped out at me, so I opted for the pork belly instead. Pork belly is one of my favourite meats, so I was really just looking for an excuse to order it. As it turned out, we both really enjoyed the pork belly - the pork itself had been subtly flavoured by the chilli and fennel, and was lovely and tender. However my favourite part of the dish was the excellently crunchy, salty top layer of the pork belly. I didn't realise I'd ordered two dishes in a row featuring eggplant, but the eggplant in this dish took more of a back seat to the other flavours. The thin slices of crispy garlic and the bok choy added some contrasting textures to the dish. All up, a great Asian-influenced dish.

With our mains we enjoyed a bottle of 2007 Le Cent Cornas La Geynale from the Northern Rhone. This is a shiraz made by Vincent Paris, one of the leading Rhone winemakers, with grapes sourced from the small La Geynale vineyard. Although there aren't too many bottles of 2007 Australian shiraz I'd attempt to drink with pork belly, this turned out to be a terrific match. Initially it was wonderfully spicy, which really worked well with the flavours on the plate, but over time the lovely fruit started to shine through. Although this wine won't be commercially available in Australia, if you're interested in a bottle or two, let me know. I will be putting a few away in the cellar.

We didn't have time for dessert, after spending too much time nattering on about wine, but there were six on the menu, including grapefruit & mint granita, lemonade sorbet & rose foam (which I would have ordered) and a strawberry & basil crème brûlée with vanilla madeleines. Each of the desserts are $16.50.

Although the food at e'cco was very good across the board as usual, e'cco is also a wine destination. Without a doubt it has one of the best wine lists in Brisbane - I could easily write a post entirely about the gems on the list. However e'cco also allows diners to bring up to four bottles of wine, at a corkage charge of $10 per bottle. As far as I know, e'cco is the only one of Brisbane's top 5 or so restaurants which allow you to bring your own wine. Personally I think it's an excellent policy, which means you can enjoy a special bottle or two from your cellar (as we did) or choose to drink from their own wonderful selection.

Service during the night was attentive, although a bit cold. I've had friendlier service at e'cco in the past, but our wines glasses were topped up without fail during the night and our meals came out in good time, with a nice pause between courses to allow us to enjoy the vintage champagne.

e'cco has now been open for 14 years, and has for much of that time been in the top handful of Brisbane's restaurants. If I had to pick a restaurant that summed up Brisbane, it would be e'cco - a relaxed, understated room, excellent ingredients cooked to perfection and an attitude to wine which is two steps ahead of its competitors.

Sorry there are no pictures - the low light meant that my photos came out far too grainy.

What does all this mean? e'cco consistently serves up some of the best food in Brisbane, has a brilliant wine list and even allows you to bring your own bottles - it's one of Brisbane's must visit food & wine destinations

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Good
Ambience - Relaxed, casual feel, but can be noisy
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Brilliant list or BYO
Vegetarian - Great

e'cco
100 Boundary Street
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3831 8344
W - http://www.eccobistro.com/

Jellyfish

Jellyfish is John Kilroy's newish seafood restaurant in the city. Not content with having the best meat eatery in town, he's now stepped out to conquer the seafood side of things.

Jellyfish is in an excellent spot. Right on the river (well as close as you can get in the city), with excellent views across to the Story Bridge.

We were shown to our table, at which time our waiter explained the menu. There's a selection of 8 line caught fish every day, cooked as the chef chooses. If you don't like the chef's choice, then there are 10 different ways you can have each of the fillets cooked, including with tarragon & star anise batter, or perhaps gluten free crumbs if, like me, you've never come across gluten free crumbed fish in your life before.

And if you don't just want a simple fish option, there are 9 entrees and 8 mains to catch your attention (including non-seafood options like beef, duck and lamb).

But if you wander in to Jellyfish, you're here to eat seafood. Always being one to trust a chef's instinct, I couldn't go past a couple of the line caught options. Plus it's not every day of the week that you get a choice of 8 line caught fish. The hard part was picking which two to have ($38 for two fillets). The choices were:

• Seared hiramasa king from Port Lincoln with olive & caper sauce
• Crumbed coral bream from Bowen with home made chilli sauce
• Grilled butterfish from Bowen with chermoula emulsion
• Oven baked coral trout from Bowen with saffron emulsion
• Crumbed flathead from Auckland with home made chilli sauce
• Deep fried whole flounder from the south island of NZ with Asian dressing
• Tempura goldband snapper from Gladstone with Vietnamese sauce
• Oven baked barramundi from Cone Bay with lemon & shallot sauce

As you can see from that excellent list, it's pretty hard to narrow it down to two fillets. After a lot of thought, I went for the butterfish (because I'd never tried it before) and the barramundi (because really good barramundi is hard to beat).

Accompaniments are $6 each, and include shoe string fries, seasonal veges and an Asian salad with cucumber, chilli & mint.

By this stage of the meal we definitely needed a glass of white wine to accompany the seafood which was soon to arrive at the table. I was really impressed with the wine list at Jellyfish - they have really done their homework. It must be one of the best wine by the glass selections anywhere in Brisbane. How many other Brisbane restaurants serve 5 rieslings by the glass? None as far as I know. Sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, pinot gris, gewurztraminer, semillon sauvignon blanc, chardonnnay and Chablis round out a fantastic selection of whites. All the white wines by the glass are priced between $9 and $16.50.

I ordered a glass of the Spring Vale gewurztraminer from Tasmania ($11), which was excellent. If you've got plenty of time up your sleeve, there are of course plenty of bottles on the list as well. I had to go back to work, so sadly a bottle of wine just wasn't an option.

My fish came out fairly quickly. The fillets are served with their sauces in separate little containers, which I think is a great idea. That stops one strong sauce completely overpowering all the fish on your plate. The butterfish turned out to be one of the best fish fillets I've had in a long time. It was only just cooked and had a perfect texture. It just melted in my mouth, and I wish I'd ordered two fillets instead of one. The chermoula emulsion was also a good match with the butterfish.

Unfortunately though the barramundi was underwhelming. It was a fairly small fillet, and really came off second best next to the butterfish. I wish I had gone with my first thought and ordered the coral trout instead.

Although my barramundi was a bit disappointing, Jellyfish is exactly what Brisbane needs. A clever selection of line caught fish, coupled with a great view and a super wine list. It's the perfect spot for lunch on a Summer's day. No doubt it will be a hit with both tourists and locals alike.

I have to say though that the service wasn't up to the standard of the food. Our waiter was a bit lost when it came to wine selections (luckily we knew what we wanted anyway), and also told us that jamon serrano was French ham. With a bit of tweaking, the service can be improved to make Jellyfish a memorable spot for your next seafood meal. It's not exactly cheap though, so you won't be able to pop in for a weekly feed.

It's good to see a new restaurant throwing down the gauntlet to Brett's Wharf, which I've considered to be Brisbane's best seafood restaurant for the last 5 or so years.

If it's seafood and white wine you're after, toddle along to Jellyfish. It's the perfect spot for a lazy lunch.

What does all this mean? An excellent selection of line caught fish, a great position and a brilliant wine list.

Jellyfish
Boardwalk Level, Riverside Centre
123 Eagle Street
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3220 2202
E - info@jellyfishrestaurant.com.au
W - http://www.jellyfishrestaurant.com.au

Absynthe

I've been wanting to visit Absynthe for a while now. Gourmet Traveller have considered it to be the best restaurant in Queensland for the last two years, which meant my expectations were very high.

Before you read too much further, I'm warning that this is a very long post. I wouldn't be doing justice to the 7 course degustation menu if I didn't write about each of the amazing meals we tasted. I also apologise for the lack of photos. It was a bit of a celebration dinner, and I was more focused on enjoying the food than madly trying to take photos of wasabi ice cream before it melted in front of me.

We managed to sneak into the bottom of the Q1 tower just before a storm broke on us. It was a cool feeling sitting inside this really modern room, at the bottom of an enormous tower, listening to thunder cracking around outside, with occasional flashes of lightning. I guess it just added to the whole experience.

The room was surprisingly half-full for a Saturday night. Perhaps the presence of schoolies still at the coast put off more discerning diners - who knows?

On Friday and Saturday nights, it's a degustation menu only at Absynthe. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were only too happy to put together a vegetarian degustation menu for my wife. The menus were on the table as we sat down, and were headed "A Journey into Taste".

The first stop on the journey was "soft green olive, vanilla crouton". The theatrics of this amuse-bouche added to our enjoyment of it. We had two Asian-style large soup spoons, each with a tiny vanilla crouton sitting on them. Our waitress arrived at the table with a jar of green olives, and ladled out an olive onto each of the spoons. We then devoured the whole lot in one go. Although you couldn't really taste a lot of the crouton, apart from its crunchiness, the olive was divinely soft. It didn't have the usual harshness of green olives, rather tasted like you were eating the best extra virgin olive oil you can imagine. It was a great start to the night, leaving us anticipating what was to follow.

Next up was the imaginatively named "Bite Me Un, Deux, Trois!!!". The un, deux, trois were a golden egg, a beetroot soda and a cauliflower velouté & pesto. The presentation of this course was amazing. The golden egg was an egg shell, filled with an extremely rich, eggy mousse. Perched on top of the egg mousse was a small square of soy & maple jelly, which was in turn topped with a piece of gold leaf. Just to complete the presentation, the egg was sitting in the coolest metal snail shaped egg cup I have ever seen (it even had little snail feelers sticking out of it). I enjoyed this, but after I'd eaten the soy & maple jelly with the first mouthful of mousse, I found the rest of the mousse extremely rich. The beetroot soda was served in a tall shot glass, with a handle on the side and a straw sticking out the top. It tasted like an extremely concentrated glass of borscht, and was fantastic. The concentrated beetroot flavour completely wiped out the richness of the egg mousse. The final part of the trio was the delicate cauliflower velouté, served in a small tea cup. The velouté had a spherified blob of pesto floating in the middle of it. The taste when the pesto sphere burst in my mouth was one of the highlights of the night. I'm not normally one to hunt cauliflower down in restaurant menus, but this was fantastic. This course was served with a glass of 2007 JE Ngeringa rose (made from pinot noir), which was a fairly good match for the disparate flavours on the plate.

Our journey then took us to "North Queensland" for cured trout, chocolate cannelloni & wasabi ice cream. The cured trout was beautiful, and just melted in my mouth. A small blob of wasabi ice cream was sitting on the trout, giving the dish a Japanese feel. The cold zinginess of the ice cream worked well against the rich flavours of the trout. The chocolate cannelloni seemed to be some kind of fish roe wrapped in a cannelloni of white chocolate. I didn't enjoy the cannelloni as much as the trout, but at least it added another contrast of flavours. This course was served with a glass of 2008 Ravens Croft Verdelho from the Granite Belt. Although it's great to see Queensland wines being served at a calibre of restaurant like this, I found it a bit underwhelming with the rich seafood flavours on the plate.

At this stage of the night we had our only real blip on the service front. Our French waitress brought out one of the North Queensland plates for my wife, who quickly reminded the waitress that she was vegetarian (we'd made that clear when we booked). The waitress quickly took the dish away. She also wanted to take mine away too, which I thought was an excellent way to handle the situation. I insisted that mine was fine, and could stay on the table. Eventually I had to start eating it though, as the wasabi ice cream was melting quickly. I should have listened to the waitress.

Our waitress re-emerged with a beetroot salad for my wife. This was presented on a cool, round glass plate. The small chunks of beetroot were accompanied by goat's curd, cherry tomatoes, shallots or leeks and a scoop of wasabi ice cream. Although I didn't get to try any of the goat's curd, I was told it was amazingly good. I did eat plenty of the rest of the salad though, and it was lovely.

The next course was simply called "The Ocean", which was a fillet of pan-fried barramundi with a horseradish crust and pumpkin & citrus puree. Although the barramundi was perfectly cooked, and I really enjoyed the pumpkin & citrus puree, this was probably my least favourite dish of the night. Not that there was anything wrong with it, I just enjoyed the other courses more. I found the Iron Pot Bay sauvignon blanc/semillon (from Tasmania) to be a good partner for this course. It was a more delicate style of the blend, which worked well with the barramundi.

The vegetarian course was a Burgundy black truffle risotto. This was listed as an optional extra course on the menu for $15, unless you're vegetarian. Although it looked small, it was beautifully rich, the rice still had a good bite and there were plenty of truffle shavings.

From the ocean I then went to "The Farm". At Absynthe, the farm consists of confit rabbit loin, potato gratin, chanterelles and pencil leek. It was served with a glass of 2006 Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage "Les Jalets", which was the perfect match for this food. I absolutely loved both this dish and the wine. The rich, gamy, mushroomy flavours on the plate were complemented by the beautifully perfumed shiraz. I was scraping every last drop of this off my plate at the end.

The next vegetarian course was a modified version of my rabbit, with a type of mushroom cannelloni, served with the potato gratin and chanterelles. My wife found the cannelloni casing a bit too meaty tasting, but enjoyed the richness of the rest of the dish.

It was now time to leave the farm and move on to "Heavenly Sweets", as you do at this time of the night. Not one, but two courses of heavenly sweets here at Absynthe.

The first dessert course was candied apricot, basil syrup and lychee sorbet. There were 3 pieces of apricot, which had a lovely flavour. The flavour of the lychee sorbet was amazing, and the basil syrup lifted the whole dish. This was an excellent, lighter, fresh style of fruit dessert.

The candied apricot was followed by a "Banana Split". To be perfectly honest, I was really dreading this, as I'm not the biggest fan of banana at any time. I certainly would have never ordered this dessert off a menu. It turned out to be fantastic, and probably one of the best dishes of the night. The banana had been caramelised, and sat on a strip of thick strawberry jelly. However, the real star of this dish was the frozen chocolate cream, which was served out of a canister. The chocolate cream had been frozen in liquid nitrogen, which gave it the most unique texture. Although it looked almost crunchy, it just melted away the moment it hit my mouth. When it was topped with the creme anglaise that came in a little beaker, it was a brilliant dessert.

The banana split was served with a glass of 2007 Vietti Moscato d'Asti Cascinetta. I was a bit let down by this wine, which I think was probably the weakest match of the night. It was a really light style of moscato, and I found it was completely overwhelmed by the food on the plate.

We were then offered coffees, which we elected to skip. The couple next to us were enjoying coffee and petit fours, but I thought the banana split was a fantastic way to finish the night. Not to mention by this time we were both pretty full.

The 7 course degustation dinner at Absynthe is $98. In my opinion, that's amazing value. I know some people will disagree with me, but having 7 courses of food at this standard is something you don't come across very often. I hadn't asked the cost of the degustation menu when we booked, but I was expecting it to be much more.

You can elect to have the matched wines with your degustation dinner for an extra $77. For 5 glasses of wine that works out to just over $15 a glass. Otherwise you can select your wine from the huge wine list. You'll need a decent table of people though if you are ordering bottles of wine, as it will be difficult to find one or two bottles that will match the diversity of food arriving at your table. The wine list runs to 37 pages, covering everything from Badel Sljivovica (Croatian plum brandy) to an amazing 1966 Moet & Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon Oenotheque (at $2,600 a bit out of my price range). Or, if you are really looking to wipe yourself out, there are 9 varieties of absinthe to try.

The room itself is a pretty modern, sleek design. It really gives you a sense of entering somewhere special, and adds to the anticipation of an amazing meal ahead. Also, tables have a good amount of space between them, which is a great thing if you are here for a special meal.

Other than the slight blip I mentioned earlier, service throughout the night was professional and efficient. As each course arrived, its contents were explained to us, and our waitresses were happy to answer any questions we had. There was a good space between each of the courses and at no stage of the night did we feel rushed. I did wish my glass of Crozes-Hermitage would never end though, so that was a bit disappointing when it did.

If you're looking for a restaurant to enjoy a special dinner, Absynthe is it. I'd have to say that overall, this is probably the best meal I've had anywhere during 2008. And considering the quality of the food, I think it's well priced too.

What does all this mean? A high class journey into a variety of flavours and quality ingredients, with excellent service and a huge wine list. Food doesn't come too much better than this.

food bling ratings
Food - Top shelf
Service - Great
Ambience - Classy, understated dining room with spacey, modern fittings
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Top shelf
Vegetarian - Great

Absythne
Shop 4, Q1 Resort & Spa
Surfers Paradise Boulevard
Surfers Paradise 4217
P - 07 5504 6466
E - becomeaddicted@absynthe.com.au
W - http://www.absynthe.com.au/

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/

The Press Club

"Food is family, family is life, life is everything". That's George Calombaris' outlook on things, and it sounds on the money to me.

Every now and again we escape Brisbane and get to graze at some great places. We organised our last trip to Melbourne around dinner at The Press Club, where George Calombaris' food has been receiving rave reviews.

The first thing we noticed was how busy the room was. It was 8pm on a Sunday night and the place was packed. It was a wide selection of diners - young people, families, children, you name it. Always a good sign.

The other thing that really stood out was the service. Throughout the meal, the service was friendly, professional, knowledgeable and only there when you needed it. When we made our booking we were asked if we had any special dietary requests. I'm a coeliac but don't usually make too much of a fuss about gluten free food at restaurants as good as this one. However I was absolutely amazed when our waitress brought the bread out at the start of the night, only to tell me that the gluten free bread was being warmed and would be out in a minute. It's never happened to me before, and will stick in my mind for a long time. Little touches like that can transform a good night into a great one.

Happily munching on my crumbly gluten free bread while dipping it in some great olive oil (which is a good experience) we then had to make a few choices off the menu.

There are plenty of options when it comes to food at The Press Club. The menu is split up into orektika (small dishes - $19.90 to $24.90), kyria (large dishes - $34 to $39), synotheftika (side dishes - $9 - including the obligatory lemon potatoes), glyka (sweets - $17.90 to $21) and cheese ($11 to $24). If you'd rather leave what you're eating in the hands of the chef, then there is also the kerasma or tasting option, ranging from $65 for 4 courses to $82 for 6 courses. You'd have to be pretty fussy not to find something that takes your fancy here.

Time to order. First of all, I have to apologise that some of the items we had are not currently on the menu, so if I don't get the description right, please forgive me.

I started off with a crab and watermelon "sandwich" ($21.90). I can't recall if it was described as a sandwich on the menu, but that's what it looked like. Beautiful slices of pink crunchy watermelon took the place of bread, with tasty, delicate crab as the filling. This was one of the best, and most innovative, starters that I have had for a long time. It really was a fantastic way to kick off the night.

My dining partner had the beetroot salad ($17.90) as a starter. This was served as chunks of beetroot, with a spiced pistachio tower, soft feta and micro herbs. Again, this salad got rave reviews. Beautiful flavours, which complemented each other perfectly. Things were looking good.

On to mains. I didn't find anything on the main menu which jumped off the page as much as the crab and watermelon sandwich. After much debating, I went for the yoghurt braised neck of lamb with olive oil pomme puree ($36). Although it was tasty, it lacked the wow factor of my starter. Perhaps I should have gone with the "hot off the press" lamb spit with white bean skordalia, lemon potatoes and marouli salad ($37). To criticise the lamb neck in any way would be wrong, it was beautifully tender, it just lacked that extra special quality that I had been hoping for. We also had the raviolo of peppered fig ($18.90), a vegetarian dish, which was excellent.

We certainly weren't leaving a Greek restaurant without having some sweets. There are some great ones to choose from. We thought about going for the selection of dessert mezedes, but decided against it. Instead we ordered the "breakfast at Santorini" ($17.90) which tasted as good as it sounds. Great, tangy, flavours with lemon curd and yoghurt sorbet. I had the Chios mastic panacotta ($17.90) served with marinated strawberries. I've never had mastic before, but this was a great way to end the night. Whatever you do, make sure you leave room for sweets, as there are some fantastic (and unusual) options at the Press Club.

Another great thing about the Press Club is the Greek wine on offer. I enjoyed some great wine in Greece, but it seems to be very hard to find a decent selection of Greek wine in Brisbane. The wine list here is really impressive and has been put together after a lot of time and thought.

During the night we had glasses of the Kir-yianni ‘Petra’ roditis (white) 2006 from Naoussa ($12), Gaia agiorgitiko (red) 2005 ($12.50), Kir-Yianni ‘Paranga’ xinomauvro, merlot, shiraz blend 2005 ($11.50) and the fabulous dessert wines from Samos, ranging in vintages from 2000 to 2005. I've never had a Greek dessert wine before, but these were the perfect way to end the evening. I was draining my glass for every last drip. By the way, our dessert wines were served in cool Riedel "O" series glasses. I was impressed.

If you're not a fan of Greek wine, there are lots of other options. In fact the drinks menu runs for 27 pages and includes Greek beers (Alpha, Mythos and Vergina), a good selection of Ouzo, cocktails and plenty more.

It's hard not to enjoy a night at the Press Club. Beautiful flavours, brilliant service and a terrific wine list round out a great place to spend the evening. Not only that, but it all comes in a relaxed, fun surroundings. Make sure you give it a try next time you are in Melbourne. Be warned though, it's popular, and you'll need to book.

What does all this mean? Excellent modern Greek food, brilliant service and a wine list that will keep you drinking all night.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Top Shelf
Ambience - Modern, relaxed surroundings
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Top Shelf
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good

The Press Club
72 Flinders Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
P - 03 9677 9677
E - admin@thepressclub.com.au
W - http://www.thepressclub.com.au/

La Belle Epoque

La Belle Epoque is a recent addition to the food scene at Emporium in the Valley.

Personally, I've never been that impressed by the food on offer at Emporium (other than Sirianni's) so its a welcome addition as far as I'm concerned.

Let's start with the decor. This place looks fantastic. If you're looking for an over the top French brasserie, then look no further. It really is impressive. Personally, I thought the room was too big (its apparently a 200 seat venue), but I seemed to be in the minority there. The room is broken up with partitions, which is good, as it gives the little sections a bit more intimacy.

Once you get over looking at the place, it's time for a drink. At this stage, you realise you're in a French brasserie, not a dime a dozen Brisbane restaurant. The wine list really does deserve a special mention. There are a lot of wines on the list that you've probably never had before, which in my book is the perfect wine list. They are also reasonably priced. There is a good selection of wines by the glass, ranging from $7 to $35 a glass. Or if you are there with friends, then there are some great bottles to investigate from all the great French regions - Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Loire, Bordeaux, Chablis and the Rhone. Some reasonably priced wines that caught my eye were the Christian Salmon Pouilly Fume Les Criots 2005 ($70), Jean Luc Mader Riesling Rosacker GC 2002 ($90), Georges Dubeouf Moulin a Vent 2005 ($49) and the Lucien Muzard Santenay “Gravieres” 2004 ($97).

If you've just won the lotto and are looking for a night out with fantastic wine, then there are some options here to really go crazy. You could start with the Dom Perignon Oenotheque 1973 ($880), move on to a Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne 1996 ($300), then theDomaine Leroy Clos Vougeot 2001 ($1000) and wrap up the evening with a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem 1999 ($650). When you're drinking wines like that, who needs food?

Sorry to rabbit on about the wine list, but its impressive to see a restaurant really go out on a limb and avoid the typically "safe" wines you usually see.

And if wine's not your bag, then there's absinthe, beer, cocktails, pastis, cognac...

So if you manage to get past the wine list, its time to eat. The menu is pretty big, with various sections. There are plenty of options, whether you are after a salad, or something heartier. The food is French brasserie food, and doesn't try to be anything more. There are plenty of French classics on the menu like baked French snails ($16.50), French onion & Madeira soup ($13.50),beef Bourguignon ($27.50) or cassoulet du Languedoc ($35).

As there weren't an awful lot of gluten free entrees, I started with 6 natural Coffin Bay oysters ($16.90) which were lovely with a glass of Chablis. We also had the goat's cheese tartlet, served with basil, caramelised onion and petite salad ($14). The tartlet was very tasty and the perfect size for a starter. The flavours were well balanced, and the blue cheese didn't overpower the rest of the dish. Both our entrees were very good.

For mains I went with the grain fed rack of lamb with sautéed seasonal vegetables, roasted chat potatoes and rosemary jus ($31.50). The lamb was perfectly cooked, and it was tasty without being memorable. Probably not really worth $31, but this is Emporium after all.

The other main course we ordered was the salade Belle Epoque ($22), described as butter lettuce, witlof, green beans, toasted walnuts, walnut vinaigrette & fourme d`Ambert cheese. The main problem with this salad was the "toasted walnuts" were in fact candied walnuts, that just didn't go with the rest of the ingredients. Even putting the walnuts aside, this salad didn't really impress, as the flavours and ingredients didn't work together. At $22, it was a big disappointment.

For dessert I couldn't pass up the crème brulée a la chartreuse ($12). Creme brulee is one of my favourite desserts, and this one didn't let me down. Anyway we were in a French brasserie, so it would be wrong of me to finish off the meal with anything else (apart from perhaps a glass of Chateau d'Yquem, which was a bit outside the budget for the evening).

The service was a bit hit and miss. We had a table of eight, which meant a few waiters serving our table. There were a couple of mix ups during the night, but for the most part the service was decent and unobtrusive.

Don't think La Belle Epoque is limited to dinner either - the restaurant describes itself as a bar, restaurant and boulangerie/patisserie, so there is something to suit any time of day or occasion.

All in all, La Belle Epoque looks great, has a fantastic wine list and serves up classic French food. It's good fun, and you can have an enjoyable dinner without breaking the bank if you choose carefully. You're not likely to remember the dish you ate for the rest of your life, but it's not aiming to serve that level of food. La Belle Epoque certainly has a place in Brisbane and hopefully it will be welcomed with plenty of custom from hungry diners. And if you are a wine fanatic, then put it on your must visit list.

What does all this mean? Classic French favourites, a top wine list and great surroundings.

food bling ratings
Food - Good
Service - OK
Ambience - Classic French brasserie (if a little big)
Value for Money - OK
Wine - Top Shelf
Vegetarian - OK
Gluten Free - Limited selection

La Belle Epoque
Emporium
1000 Ann Street
Fortitude Valley 4006
P - 07 3852 1500
E - info@labelleepoque.com.au
W - http://labelleepoque.com.au/

Era Bistro

Era is a great example of what can be done with food in Brisbane. Era offers a choice of venues.

First there is the cafe, if you are after breakfast or brunch. If you're planning on having a glass of wine with your brunch, then there is a wine list to accomodate you.

Next is the bar, where not only is there a great selection of wine and beer, but the tapas sound delicious. It would easy to get stuck here for a few hours munching on tempura soft shell crab or peking duck pancakes with hoi sin sauce.

But we were here for a celebratory dinner, so it was the bistro we were after. Calling Era a bistro is probably a bit of a misnomer. The food is definitely a higher standard than what you'd expect from a bistro. As far as I'm concerned, its some of the best food I've had in Brisbane this year.

Its a fairly modern, stark room. There isn't much of a view of anything, other than the road outside. So no-one is going to be there for the amazing views. But don't let that put you off, because the food is something else altogether.

After choosing a couple of glasses of wine, a selection of bread were brought out to the table, which is always a nice touch. Then it was time for the entrees. I had the seared scallops, braised oxtail, cauliflower & feves with braising jus ($22). It was one of the more interesting sounding options. It was a good entree, although I am not convinced that the scallops really paired well with the oxtail. The oxtail was a big, rich flavour, which completely overwhelmed the scallops. Each part of the dish was declicious, however the overall taste was a bit disjointed. My dining partner, a vegetarian, had the warm salad of baby beets, goat cheese, wild rocket & blood orange ($18). This was a terrific dish, which had us scraping up the beetroot and goats cheese. If anything the other parts of the salad were a bit hidden by the mass of rocket, but the taste was excellent.

Time to order another glass from the great wine list, then on to main course. I asked our friendly waitress about how the tasmanian ocean trout, Queensland red claw & baby vegetables ($31) was cooked ‘en Papillotte’. After being told it basically meant they were all cooked together in a plastic bag, which didn't sound particularly appetising, I still went ahead and ordered it. I am glad that I did, as this dish was spectacular. The trout in particular was beautifully succulent, its delicate flavour not overwhelmed by the other parts of the dish. Overall this was a very clean, bright seafood dish. It really was memorable. Our other main course was the artichoke & mushroom pithivier with wild mushrooms and cep consomme ($26). This was a much richer, earthier dish that was very good. There was a great depth of flavour with all the mushrooms and a good contrast of textures from the artichoke.

So far, the night was progressing very well. It was unfortunate that it was let down by our desserts. As it included a number of my favourite dessert items, I went for the
white chocolate semi freddo with roasted strawberries & balsamic and glass biscuit. The semi freddo was ok. The strawberries however were just overpowered by the balsamic, which tasted really thin and just too vinegary. I quickly swapped my dining companion for her lemon verbena scented crème brulee, mandarin sorbet and coconut tuile, which was better. The creme brulee itself was of the good, shallow variety with a great crunchy top.

Service throughout the meal was excellent. Our waitress was very friendly and approachable, but also highly knowledgeable and professional. She had the perfect knack of being at our table when required, whilst otherwise leaving us to enjoy the high quality food.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the wine list, which in my opinion is great. There are plenty of wines by the glass (from $6 for a fino sherry to $19.50 for Louis Roederer NV) and also a whole page of local and imported beers. The wine list here should keep everyone happy. It has a few fairly safe choices, but there are some great options for the more adventurous, such as the Salomon gruner veltliner ($49) or the Pérez Cruz reserva carmenère from Chile ($64). The mark ups aren't as noticeably unreasonable as some other CBD restaurants.

And if, at the end of the night, you haven't had enough wine, then check out the great Era bottle shop. Pick up a few bottles that you didn't get to try during your meal and you'll get 10% off with your restaurant receipt.

All up, Era Bistro is a very welcome addition to the Brisbane food scene. If the quality of food can be kept consistent, Era should quickly attract a solid following. We will certainly be back to graze on their tapas menu with a few glasses of wine.

What does all this mean? Very good modern Australian food, washed down with an excellent wine list.

Food Bling Ratings

Food - Great
Service - Top Shelf
Ambience - Modern, Minimalist
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Great

Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - OK
Other - Entertainment Book, Great Bar

Era Bistro
104 Melbourne Street
South Brisbane
P 07 3255 2033
W http://www.erabistro.com.au/