Memories Treasure Chest

Warawara Izakaya, Brisbane CBD On a weekend back in Brisbane, the Mr and myself had dinner in the CBD. Tossing between Japanese and a variety of Korean restaurants, we finally walked up the stairs to Warawara Izakaya (after near heated discussion). Neither of us have visited Warawara and we got no clue how their system work or even what food is good! Their ordering system is similar to Mad Tong San, pressing the buzzer when ready to order. Well, we followed the advice of the waiter and ordered the black bean noodles, while I ordered sushi and Mr ordered the okonomiyaki. While waiting for the mains to arrive, we were served with small plates of kimchi and tofu (which was yummy!). We wanted more of the tofu but it ran out and they served this 'jelly-like' dish below.    Both of us enjoy soft shell crab sushi and I ordered one to try. It is quite different and I am not sure what kind of sauce is poured over the sushi. It tasted pretty good.   Soft shell cr...

Birthday celebration at Kabuki, Brisbane CBD So, the Mr surprised me and took me to Kabuki for my birthday! I was certainly surprised by his choice and the clue he gave me prior was 'entertainment'. Lol, teppanyakki did not cross my mind at all. Even on a weekday, Kabuki was busy with customers. Luckily the Mr made a booking and we were allocated to one of the tables. Shortly enough, we were asked to order from the set menu, prices ranging from $56.50 to $98.50. Ahem... the Mr pampered me that night and he said we should go for the best one, which was the 'RAN' set menu for $98.50 per person. The RAN menu consisted of sashimi, sushi, tempura prawn and vegetables and the main meat options for us were the jumbo scallops, lobster tail and Black Angus beef fillet. Sashimi and sushi, tempura and gyoza So not long after, our entrees arrived. We enjoyed the fresh salmon as well as our prawn sushi. We did order additional entrees (California rolls) and gyoza whil...

Brother Espresso, Bulimba Where to get breakfast on a public holiday? After visiting MXM at his new place, we went for a search nearby and found Brother Espresso in Bulimba, who still caters on a public holiday. Awesome! The cafe is attached to a shop that I assume belongs to the same owner, that sells bread, and good quality produce. I was in need of a good cuppa of coffee and quickly ordered my usual flat white and long black for MXM.  Flat White The coffee was smooth. I like it! It has been a while since I last had a good quality coffee. Brother's Espresso menu is simple and I ordered the green eggs and ham, and MXM had the brekkie burger.    Brekkie Burger - $11.50 Green eggs and ham - $15 The food in Brothers Espresso certainly looked simple and easy to assemble. I enjoyed my pesto scrambled eggs with the toast, the flavour of the pesto quite distinct and flavourful. It was quite nice. Well, I think the highlight for me was their...

Donut King Halloween is approaching soon! I am not accustomed to celebrating Halloween as I grow up in Malaysia but I know Simco will be excited about Halloween! Recently, I got invited to try Donut King doughnuts and they just introduced Halloween themed doughnuts. Even though I am far away from Brisbane, I still managed to get some in Kingaroy!   So, together with three other colleagues, we did some taste testing on the doughnuts tonight. Hmm... we were not impressed. Bear in mind, that we kept the doughnuts overnight in the fridge before trying them. Our main concern was the artificial flavour of the frosting. The caramel and banana flavours were pretty artificial and we had difficulty finishing them. They certainly designed well with the Halloween theme but their freshly baked cinnamon doughnuts are probably their forte.  

Ramen Champion, Sunnybank One night, MXM and myself travelled to Sunnybank for some ramen in Ramen Champion. I have seen a few other bloggers who visited this place and I suggested to MXM to give this place a go. The ordering system is quite simple, where we just order at the cash counter, pay and proceed to our seats with a waiting number. My choice that night was the Champion Ramen; consisted of pork slices in pork bone broth. MXM had the Miso Champion and the difference is the soup base, in which his was miso pork bone soup. Champion Ramen - $9.90   Japanese gyoza - $4.90 Well, we both enjoyed the noodles. The soup broth that night was flavourful but quite 'thick'. It felt like the soup has been brewed for many many hours and has become quite concentrated. My noodles are quite fine in comparison to the Miso's noodle. I think it was all right. Their gyozas did not disappoint at all. Moreish!

First Pour, West End Well, well, well.... Turning a year older is never easy and I felt like I have not achieve enough over the last year. Anyhow, certainly much has happened since my last birthday including graduating and getting a job. So that is an achievement for me. :) I was lucky that a colleague swapped his rosters with mine so that I can have a few days off on my birthday. Yay! First up, I want some good caffeine dose and I found it in First Pour. Being a weekday, it was surprisingly difficult to find parking, probably due to the working hours.   It was not busy at all during the morning. I wanted to try something different instead of my usual flat white, and I dare myself to try the 'Chemex' filtered coffee. Lol, remember our science project in school? I feel Chemex filtration coffee is something similar with using the filtered paper while waiting for the purified water to drip down. That coffee was good. Surprisingly it was smooth, light and quit...

Balfours Kitchen, Spicers Balfour Hotel, New Farm A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday, I caught up with Lainey over high tea in Balfours Kitchen. She found out that Spicers will be ceasing the high tea service, so she quickly organise one before it ends. My experience with high tea is very limited and this is my second one so far.  But before we start, the first question Lainey asked was whether they have their 'special potatoes'? They were not chips yet not potato gems, but potato hash looking chips. They were delicious, really moreish!      Right, so back to the high tea. We could order any tea and refills on the list provided. What drew my attention was the lovely tea cups and matching saucer they have!  Our two tier of food arrived shortly after our tea. As usual, savoury at the bottom tier and sweets on the top tier.   The selection of savoury food include sandwiches, a portion of sausage roll, quiche and small selection of pickles, ...

Double Shot Espresso, New Farm It is quite easy to take things for granted when things are easily available and accessible. For example, a good cup of coffee is certainly quite difficult to get when you are about 200km away from Brisbane! Finally after two weeks away from Brissy, I returned to Brisbane for the weekend and two of my good friends were around for brunch!  Together with MXM and Simco, we visited Double Shot cafe in New Farm. It must be one of MXM's encounter while he was looking for properties in the surrounding area. Double Shot looks new and nice with its decor and it has both indoor and outdoor seatings. We were just a little confused whether it is a table or counter service but we finally got seats after waiting for about 10 minutes. Chai Latte First up, a flat white for myself, long black for MXM and a chai latte for Simco. They were all good and the chai certainly had quite a strong hint of cinnamon.   Flat White Lol, great minds think...

Picnic, Camp Hill Opportunity to meet up with MXM means brunch-ing! Few weeks ago, we chose Picnic for brunch prior to our busy day of moving and unpacking boxes. I visited Picnic once as a lonesome diner and I remembered this place being good. So, this time I suggested this place to MXM. Well, luckily it was not busy and we managed to get seats indoor. It is indeed tricky to read the specials menu if you are seated inside inside! Maybe because of the rainy weather, I wanted something chocolatey and hence I ordered a cup of mocha. Mocha I was so happy with my decision. Instead of chocolate powder, Picnic used chocolate sauce/syrup making the drink smooth and it was well-balanced with the caffeine shot.  Our meals of sausages and corn fritters arrived quite decent in time. Spanish Breakfast - $16.90   Corn and zucchini fritters - $15.90 MXM enjoyed his meal very much. I tried some of his sauce and it was good. The corn fritters were all right. Noth...

Era Bistro, South Brisbane Lots of planning has come to mind for the Mr's birthday celebration. I have bought tickets to Le Noir months ahead and all I needed was a pre-show dinner. Fortunately, Era Bistro does have pre-show dinners available and food can be served relatively early so that diners can make it to QPAC! Well, we were fortunate that we managed to leave on time even though we did not order from the pre-show dinner's menu. :)  Pizza of the day - $17.50 To start with, we had their pizza of the day which consisted of chorizo on a tomato based pizza. All I can remember was that the pizza had a good base and their chorizo was one of the best I tried before. Yummy! Shortly after, our mains arrived. The Mr had the angus sirloin and I myself, not surprisingly, had the duck breast.    Maple Glazed duck breast, pumpkin, braised cabbage, chestnuts and vanilla jus - $38 Angus reserve sirloin, fondant potato, creamed spinach, horseradis...

China Inn Restaurant, South Brisbane How often would someone genuinely forgotten their boyfriend's birthday and celebrate his birthday one day earlier? It is very embarrassing for me to admit it, but I did it. Oops! My memories seemed to bring me back to the date we spent his previous birthdays instead of his actual birth-date. Thankfully, the Mr was very forgiving that night.  After our magical night watching Le Noir, we sped walked to China Inn for supper. The Mr had been updated regarding this new restaurant that specializes in dumplings! It must be our lucky night as we walked into the restaurant at 10 pm and they are still happy to serve us.  Quickly browsing through the menu, I told the birthday man that I want to try their xiao long bao and their Peking Duck!  Peking Duck (4 pcs) - $12.80 So, here they are their Peking duck! It was not served in a soft bao but readily wrapped up in the pancake. The Peking duck was sliced thickly (which was awesom...

Gerard's Bistro, Fortitude Valley Hmm.... Finally I got the time to blog about my lovely time in Gerard's Bistro which I visited with Lainey a while ago prior to me heading to Kingaroy. I am still drooling thinking about the food we had there for lunch. The menu must have changed since our last visit. We both enjoy occasional fine dining unlike our other halves. So it was perfect to catch up in Gerard's Bistro. The service can be a miss at time but the staffs were friendly. First up, we had our favourite pork belly meal. Needless to say, the meat was flavoursome and tender. It was good!   Next up, we tried their quail dish and I so enjoyed it! I have to apologise that I could not remember the exact name of the dish. Trust me, they are both so good!   Without any contemplation, we ordered a chocolate dessert to share. The sweetness and heaviness of the chocolate were well balanced by the sourness of the berry/cherry sorbet. As far as I can remem...