Pane e Vino - City, Brisbane

http://www.paneevino.com.au/
Dined 30/07/08

Pane e Vino has been a staple city restaurant for me for a long time. With the dearth of reasonable priced cafe style eateries in the city Pane is a frequent choice.

What I like about Pane is it's lack of pretension - it doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not. The food is middling at best but inoffensively stereotypical Italian.

Fussy BF and I stopped in for a quick bite on a Friday night. I wasn't all that hungry so opted for the mixed Bruschetta - Diced Roma tomato, garlic & basil / Prosciutto & mushroom
/ Eggplant, zucchini, capsicum & onion (1 of each)$11.50. All of which was satisfying if not all that memorable.

BF had the Spaghetti con gamberi - Fresh prawns tossed through chilli, garlic, spinach & fresh tomato w olive oil $23.00 and she was quite pleased with it although the garlic made it's presence known throughout the rest of the night.

As usual Pane came through with a good value, satisfying experience.

Food excellence34/5

Ambiance34/5

Cleanliness 4/5

Price 3/5

Vespa Pizza - New Farm, Brisbane

http://www.vespapizza.com.au/index.html
Dined 23/8/08

Fussy BF and I dropped into Vespa Pizza for a rushed bite on Saturday night. It had been highly recommended by Fussy's brother and even though he had had pizza the night before he and KC manned up and went for the double header.

Fussy BF was on her own as she is from the enemy camp that eats chicken on pizza. Due to the time constrainst we opted out of having starters (and it can be a rookie mistake to fill up on breads) and went straight for the mains.

The waitress was very gracious about our admittedly annoying wishes to change the menu to suit individual tastes. I opted for the Capricciosa: pancetta, salami, olives, mushrooms, anchovies, red peppers 18 but had to get the anchovies taken off. Fussy brother opted for the Salami and mushroom w/ basil, mozzarella and truffle oil 18.5. KC went for Vespa reigns supreme: pancetta, artichoke hearts, buffalo mozzarella, olives, capers, anchovies and vine tomatoes w/ fresh basil and roasted peppers with extra mushrooms and truffle oil. Fussy BF's was too complicated to list (her food specifications are quite specific) but it involved chicken so who cares.

They were all delicious! Pretty close to what I call an authentic Italian pizza - thin base, not too much toping. The salami and mushroom was my pick of the lot.

The were doing a roaring trade on Saturday and we ended up sitting outside. Vespa manages the outside dining well and we were toasty warm under a braisier.

We did have a bit of a wait for the pizza and it seemed that the table next to us got tired of waiting and ended up leaving but waiting for good food doesn't bother me.

It won't make the best ever list but overall pretty damn good pizza.

Food excellence 4/5

Ambiance 4/5

Cleanliness 4/5

Price 3/5

The Regatta Boatshed - Toowong, Brisbane

http://www.regattahotel.com.au/eat_boatshed_restaurant.html Dined: 15/08/08

I don't think I've ever actually eaten at the Regatta before as I was a QUT girl. I was taken here for my leaving lunch from a job I had been doing for a few months.

This is one of the strangest meals I've ever had - it was all perfect, the food was nicely done, the service was good, it involved drinking beer at lunchtime on a sunny day and yet there was nothing in it for me to even remotely wax lyrical about. I get more excited about the under $10 fried mee at the Satay Club that I had on Thursday (Charlotte Street, City - best cheap asian in town) than that meal.

The Boatshed is going to get a free pass on this as I just wasn't in the mood that day to be judging the food (a very, very rare occurrence I promise!).

Here's what I had:

We started out with the huge slices of Garlic & Mozzarella Cheese Toast $8.

Eye Fillet (minimum Med 100 days grain) 200gr $29.50

Surf and Turf. Moreton Bay bugs and prawns in a creamy garlic and white wine sauce. Add to steak of your choice. $12.0

The steaks come with your choice of potato (chips, mash or baked) and salad (Crisp Garden Salad, Regatta Coleslaw or Caesar).

I guess I compare all these sorts of lunches with the Stamford outdoor bar and food wise, this doesn't even come close - although the Stamford does rate a mention as possibly the worst service in Brisbane.

I'd have to go back to give this any sort of a accurate rating so I'll just leave it as "not bad".

Zen Bar - City, Brisbane

http://www.zenbar.com.au/ Dined: 12/08/08

For many years Zen Bar, for me, has been the same experience as the Gun Shop - great food, terrible (in fact woeful) service. Many a work lunch had me scurrying back to the office after gulping down my lunch at 5 to 2, sometimes having waited well over an hour for our meals.

Zen has been like that since I first started working in the city about 7 years ago but they seem to have finally turned the corner. The service of Tuesday was excellent and that's not a compliment I hand out lightly! Our servers were friendly without being obsequious, water and wine glasses were continually replenished and food was brought promptly.

The thing that has bought me back to Zen time and time again, even though the service was so appalling was the food. Not enough good things could be said about the chicken and prawn spring rolls, the duck pancakes, and the piece de resistance the chicken, spinach and cashew stir-fry. I think I can honestly say in 5 years I haven't ordered anything else. On Tuesday, it just wasn't up to par. I'll even have to damn it with faint praise and say it was "fine". Historically this dish was spicy, piquant, lush, rich and came with loads of cashews. This time it was just fine. Again, technically you'd be hard pressed to fault the dish but it just didn't have the usual magic that has me ready to lick the plate clean in a crowded restaurant.

Apparently there's an inverse relationship between service and food quality!

On a positive note, I hadn't ever seen the cheese platter before. I had skipped on the starter so decided to lash out with the cheese platter as quite a few of them seemed to be coming out of the kitchen. I do love cheese but am not much of a cheese snob but to my bourgeois taste, this was excellent. The crackers taste fresh and homemade, the dried fruits plump and the cheese a generous wedge (the choices were blue, cheddar or brie - I couldn't resist the brie). It was all beautifully presented and excellent value at $11.

I'm going to forgive Zen for the less than perfect stir-fry as they may have just been having a bad night but it's great to see the service so improved.

P.S. As per usual the pinot grigio delle venezie marano It 39.5 was lovely, 2 bottles lovely (there was 3 of us!).

Era Cafe - South Brisbane, Brisbane

http://www.erabistro.com.au/index.php?MMID=194 Dined: 9/08/08

I'm a bit fond of Era and have had some excellent nights here in the bar having wine and tapas but I hadn't ever been to the cafe.

A late brunch with a couple of other Fussy's was on the cards after a morning with Picasso. I love the feel of the cafe here and it almost seems like a bit of secret cave that you can't see from the street. Even though it was a sunny day they had the braziers out which pleased the cold blooded Fussy's of the group no end.

I do tend to order scrambled eggs or eggs benedict when dining out for breakfast as I can't cook them very well myself. On Saturday there was Tasmanian Smoked Salmon, Swiss Cheese, Scrambled Eggs & Sour Dough Toast ($16) on offer and I couldn't resist.

The service was a bit strange with our waiter not seeming to want to say anything although the it was efficient.

A lovely hot, very strong cappuccino for me, a tea and two soft drinks for the others. The tea was beautifully presented in a plunger with loose leaf tea.

The meals were bought promptly and I have to say I was disappointed. Although the smoked salmon was plentiful it was all clumped together and the eggs had been overcooked and had none of the soft, creamy fluffiness that good scrambled eggs have. The sourdough was fine although I must admit the Swiss Cheese didn't work as well as I thought it would (and I have a fairly passionate relationship with cheese). I didn't finish the meal which is always a very bad sign. Again, I'm sure for most people it would have been fine, but I am Fussy and I was disappointed. I don't like paying for a breakfast I could have cooked better myself.

That being said, the chips were very good although very, very oily and the panini's seemed okay. The other breakfast (Bacon & Eggs… ‘as you like it’ with Toast 9 and a side of mushrooms) looked beautiful although the mushrooms were apparently on the ordinary side (there was also shell in the eggs).

My benchmark for breakfast will is always Cirque and their smoked salmon & scrambled eggs in in another league compared to this (and cheaper!).

As breakfasts go it was pretty forgettable.

Food excellence 2/5

Ambiance 4/5

Cleanliness 4/5

Price 2/5

The Gun Shop - West End, Brisbane

31/7/08 http://www.thegunshopcafe.com

A breakfast institution in Brisbane, I had mixed feelings about eating at this cafe. The food was generally good but the service had ranged in the past from indifferent to insulting. My heart for breakfast has forever been lost to Cirque (even if you can hardly get in the doors these days) and I hadn't eaten here since the original owner apparently left to go to Tongue and Groove.

On Thursday night things seem to have a done a complete reversal - the service was very good - attentive without being overwhelming, prompt and friendly.

The food was a different story. At around $30 for a main my expectation were reasonably high and my meal was a big disappointment. I had the 300g Hereford Gold Rib Fillet, duck fat roasted baby potatoes, broccolini, pancetta, blue cheese butter, jus. Technically, I guess there wasn't anything wrong with it but it was just dull. The meal was literally a piece of steak on steamed brocolini and 3 potatoes. The blue cheese butter was flavourless and I don't recall the jus nor the pancetta! It sounded so good on the menu and I do love ordering steak when I'm dining but this was stuck in the middle of the road.

My dining companion's Margaret River Lamb with pistachio & lemon crust, kipfler potato, dutch carrots, sugar snaps and jus was significantly better. The lamb was melt in the mouth and the lemon an unusual flavour.

We didn't have starters and I think there is an expectation that you have a starters as the mains were a modest size.

What saved the night for me was the wine as it was sensational , so good in fact I called the next day to see what it was (their website is out of date). Semillon Sauvignon Blanc from Margaret River called Stella Bella. So very tasty.

I will admit at being a bit oblivious to the surrounds as I've eaten their so often.

We did get overcharged for a bottle of wine that we didn't order which unfortunately I didn't pick up at the time so dinner for 2 (2 glasses of wine and 3 beers) came to $90 (the actual bill was $130).

Food excellence 2/5

Ambiance 3/5

Cleanliness 4/5

Price 3/5

Tandoori King - New Farm, Brisbane

http://www.eatout-brisbane.com.au/Tandoori-King.htm Dined: 2/8/08

Fussy's brother recommended Tandoori King and he and I have the same exacting standards and rules (ie chicken not belonging on pizza).

Here's some of what we ordered although I must admit I can't remember everything perhaps due to the amount of wine I had drunk.

Saffron Prawns 13.50
Succulent Tiger Prawns marinated in saffron. special house spices and cooked in the Tandoor

Chicken Tikka 10.50
Tender morsels of boneless chicken in a special tandoori marinade, cooked in a tandoor

Lamb Somosa 10.50
Lamb mince, peas, herbs and spices in pastry parcels

Goat Masala 21.50
Selected pieces of boned goat meat cooked in fried onions, freshly ground spices and
seasoned with fresh coriander

Kashmiri Naan 05.50
Sultanas, coconut and crushed cashew nut

this was all eaten under a bit of a wine haze but it all tasted fantastic and I can't wait to go back again and remember everything!

The food was absolutely divine. Piping hot, freshly cooked and not swimming in grease (one of my biggest dislikes with Indian food).

The reviews on the website listed say it all - best Indian in Brisbane.

I do have one bugbear though - I can't find any Indian restaurants in Australia that offer Prawn Puri? Puri is really common in Indian restaurants in the UK but I've never been able to find it here?