West End Garden

West End Garden

190 Melbourne St South Brisbane

Value: Good

Quality: Good

Atmosphere: Good

View from outside dining area.

I’ve been to West End Garden before and my previous experiences might colour this review with a hint of nostalgia. West End Garden is sort of an institution – almost everyone has been there at least once  –  and the food is quite good. Usually what makes this place a warm memory in your heart is the history of dinners with good friends. This is the sort of place you can compare to your neighbourhood Chinese place growing up, where the food always tasted great until you moved out of home. West End Garden still has that hold over me, although I didn’t eat there until I was 19. I should really get on with the review itself.

West End Garden's major draw card is its outside area, which makes up 90% of the restaurant space. This area which is a tad tacky – it has a little water feature in the corner and is rimmed by fairy light –   but is very adaptable to different table sizes and seems quite conducive to sizable dining groups. This, provided you have the right company, usually results in great conversations and overall a pleasant experience. 

Vietnamese Duck

The staff here hasn’t changed in years; they still wear the “traditional” white dresses, and are still as attentive as they always have been. Really in general this place has changed little in the 4 or so years that have passed since I last went here. I’m pretty sure even the menu is still the same. The food was prompt, and was perfectly timed to coincide with us finishing our entrees. We ordered two dishes and shared them between us. The entree was spicy quail, a favourite of mine, which, though a little dry, carried a lovely flavour with the requisite refreshing spiciness. This was followed by the “Vietnamese Duck” which while it tasted like crispy skin boneless roast duck, came with fresh vegetables and what I’m pretty sure was sweet chilli sauce. The duck itself was cooked exactly right with just the right level of crispiness in the skin and juiciness in the flesh.  The vegetables while masterly cut to look wonderful, were just vegetables of decent quality.

West End Garden is open for lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday and is open only for dinner on Sundays and public holidays. Meals cost $6-$13 for entrees (the Spicy Quail we had cost $9.90)   Mains around $15-$36 with most meals being on the very less expensive end of the spectrum. The Vietnamese Duck we had cost $29.90 but was enough for two people. West End Garden also have many vegetarian options, which tend to be on the cheaper end of the spectrum as well.

Drinks start around the $5 mark for domestic beer and go up to $34 for bottles of wine (our beers which were Tsingtao’s cost $6, other imported beers are the same price. West End Garden is also BYO for wine only with corkage being $2.50 per person.

West End Garden have a Website with all their menus and their drinks list at www.westendgarden.com.au

Himalayan Cafe

Himalayan Café

640 Brunswick St New Farm

Value: Adequate

Quality: Adequate

Atmosphere: Good

I went here for the first review night in ages, and it was a good start to the program again.  Himalayan Café is extraordinarily popular – it appeared to be a full house on a Wednesday. Whether this is a symptom of being in New Farm or that people recognise that they are doing a good job is hard to say, but I would definitely lean towards the latter. The place has done a great job of making itself unique in its design and atmosphere, the bright colours and obvious Tibetan theme makes for a pleasant and interesting environment to eat in. The only complaint I have about the atmosphere is that we were next to the speakers in the restaurant and I could hardly hear my dining companions in conversation. Nonetheless, I am tempted to go back to the restaurant so I can check out the back room there with its apparently traditional Tibetan setup. The service was alright – it was really busy and at times it could be difficult to get someone's attention, – however this was entirely understandable, and the food usually arrived promptly. 

This brings us to the main course of this article, which is, naturally, the food. The best description I can think of the for the food here is that it is a distillation of the subcontinent curry idea. Indian curries frequently become confusing, with many clashing flavours and heavy flavours that can at times make them a difficult meal. The curries served here were far lighter in profile, with some sourness and chilli making up the dominant flavours. Portions were reasonably sized, although if they had been smaller I would have had some hesitation. The entrees were interesting too; if a little confusing (as in how should I consume this?). All the food was of a high quality (at least insofar as I could tell) with the goat dish surprising in its lack of toughness (a difficult trait of goat meat). The other dishes were interesting; however I didn’t eat enough of them to comment on any in particular.

Himalayan Café is open Tuesday to Sunday from 5:30pm to around 9:30-10pm. The main meals range from $15-$30 with entrees being around the $10 mark. Himalayan café is fully BYO. There is also banquet option for groups of six or more.

Himalayan Café does not currently have a website.  

By the way anyone who would like to join me on review nights there will be a Facebook event put up the days beforehand; however there will be issues with numbers which almost screwed us last night.

Taro's Ramen Cafe

Taro’s Ramen Café

363 Adelaide St, Brisbane

Value: Good

Quality: Good

Atmosphere: Good

Uniqueness: Recommended (Its only real competitor that I know of is Ajisen; you can’t compare the ramen at Hanaichi or Kadoya to Taros)

Taro’s Ramen Café has been around for a while now and I’ve been frequenting the place since its opening, but have held off on reviewing it till now. Taro’s has quite a large menu (especially at dinner) but people really go there for one thing, which is Ramen.

When I first ate Taro’s tonkotsu ramen, their house speciality, it was like a magical experience. Each slurp reminding me of the great ramen I’ve had in Japan, the perfect noodle carrying its delicious life affirming broth down my throat and bringing with it the memories of great times had abroad.

This experience remained largely unchanged for a year, but towards the end of last year I noticed; the broth became weaker, the noodles softer and the servings felt smaller than they previously were. In my mind, I brushed aside these critiques as I felt that it was perhaps a side-effect of my growing familiarity with this ramen.

But, on a recent trip to Japan (visiting family) all my uneasiness rose again to the surface, as I had several bowls of ramen that blew my mind. I started to examine in my mind what I felt had changed. The noodles no longer picked up the flavour of the broth like they had and they gave in far too easily. The egg no longer tasted mostly of yolky pork and less of half a hard-boiled egg, and the velvety film of fat on the surface looked moth-eaten and pockmarked. I no longer felt like I needed a post-ramen shower to wash off the massive salt and fat overload that makes a tonkotsu so good. 

The decline in quality is why I have rated it Good instead of Recommended. By Australian standards the ramen is still a good tasty ramen and above the average, but in knowing what it used to be, it has lost its edge. It has become a toned-down, bland version of its former self.

 By way of physical specifications, Taro’s is a café so service is not really an issue. The food is fairly prompt and you can’t help the lunch line at a busy CBD café, although the move to self-serve condiments is a disappointing one that conspicuously coincided with the decline in quality.

The place is pretty barebones, which has a certain charm, but is very utilitarian in its laminex tables and cane wrapped steel frame chairs. The view of the story bridge and down onto river end of Queen Street bumps this up to a Good from an Adequate and the people-watching on Adelaide Street is fine enough if you can stand the traffic noise and fumes.

Taro’s Ramen Café is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week; with the ramen mains costing around $15 (tonkotsu ramen costs $14.90). The presence of Japanese beers and alcohol is a big plus as many are quite rare in Brisbane. Domestic and light beers start at around $5-6, imported beers are around $7 and the price increases dramatically for particular shochus and sakes (not without reason). They do have sake tasting sets for those who are unfamiliar or want variety.

Taros have a website at http://www.taros.com.au/ which has all the menus and other details.

Pearl Cafe

Long time no posts people, sorry about that but i hope to be back for good this time. I hope you enjoy this post, it was fun to write.

Pearl Café

28 Logan Road Woolloongabba

2/5

I went to Pearl Café the other day. It was cold and rainy and the place’s attempt at belle époque charm warmed me and made it an almost perfect venue to have a late lunch (around 3pm).

We’d missed regular service, but the small all-day menu is written up on a chalk board at the back of the cafe. It had four or five items on it and this is probably the extent of the positives. (Other than the carafe of wine which was tempranillo which is nice choice and was quite nice for $10)

Unfortunately they lacked the only thing on the menu that I had the desire to eat (a duck sandwich) and my current policy of trying to avoid tuna (due to overfishing pressures -  yeah I get it, it’s a bit dumb and hypocritical for a hedonist like me to be conscious and judgemental) immediately took one of the items off the menu (I should clarify that the presence of tuna on the menu is not a negative in any way at all) however that left a waldorf salad and the hamburger that I got.

Two things people; mustard works with hamburgers if it is balanced with other flavours, but there aren’t many things that taste worse than a mouthful of pure mustard and not the mild stuff but the more serious stuff (albeit good quality).

And if you make a hamburger that is impossible to pick up, give the person an appropriate knife, you don’t see bread knives with little serrations because bread is tough to cut with a little old dinner knife. I should have started by describing the hamburger instead of just leaping in with critique, but I like it this way.

Anyway so the hamburger was covered in melted cheese (a good thing) with mustard and some other stuff which I can’t remember due to the massive mustard presence I think there were onions and pickles, but it’s hard to tell. It also came with a tiny bucket of shoestring fries. A few problems, other than the ones I’ve already mentioned, hamburger patties need to hold together, they shouldn’t disintegrate entirely under the pressure of a knife and they shouldn’t taste like dodgy mince like the ones I make at home.

I don’t know what else to say, I find it unusual that the wine is served in tumblers. I know it’s probably what they do in Spain or France, but as an Anglo Australian it just makes me feel like I’m drinking from a jam glass in someone’s lounge room.

That’s all I really have to say, I would go back to see if it’s just an anomaly, however it is in that strip full of restaurants at Woolloongabba and I would probably just go elsewhere.

One more thing before I go; really bright lights mounted in the floor look great from the outside, but are really annoying when you’re trying to eat and talk.

Pearl Café is open during the day and night Tuesday to Saturday and their prices are around the $20 mark for mains (my food cost $22 if I remember correctly) the wine cost $10 for a 250ml carafe and was actually quite nice.

Pearl café don’t have a website I could find.

Thanks to Theo For doing the Editing on this article. 

Shabuhouse

Shabuhouse

Level 1 70 Mary St Brisbane

2.5/5

Shabuhouse has caught my eye for a while now, but with university obligations and a challenging living situation for the last few months I haven’t had the chance to try it out. I finally got a Friday free and after scrounging up a dining partner, it was the first place on my mind. Its promising premise was something I couldn’t ignore, being the voracious fan of hotpot that I am; always on the lookout for a new hotpot I haven’t eaten a dozen times before.

Shabuhouse has a great design; the heavy use of pine combined with fake potted plants gives it a fresh, clean appearance. The service, like many of the new Asian restaurants in this city, is great. Call bells on the table alert waiters and a particularity was their accommodation in serving outside their published hours (we ordered at around quarter past 3pm and their kitchen closes at 3pm).

As with all reviews, we must move onto the specifics, the Shabu Shabu (Wikipedia has more on Shabu-shabu), which is both disappointing and satisfying at the same time. The hotpots are served individually and surprisingly take very little of the excitement and energy out of the very social activity that hotpot is.

However, the shape of the pots used at Shabuhouse make the activity feel slightly cramped, there’s very little space to reach into the deep pots while trying to avoid being burnt.

Also disappointing was the use of frozen meat. In the scheme of things, being frozen or not makes very little difference, but the presentation of frozen meat makes you question its quality.

Other than those few complaints I could find little to whine about and thought the food was good, with the broth having the expected strong fishy flavour.

I will return to Shabuhouse very soon, partially because the love with illusion of place the decor creates for me, but also because it’s a cheap hotpot without having to go to Spring Hill (Bishamon in spring hill).

Shabuhouse is open Monday to Saturday for Lunch and Dinner.

Our meals cost $12.80 each for shabu shabu with beef. However, this is the lunch price and it is more expensive for dinner

Shabuhouse is BYO with a $2 per person corkage charge

Shabuhouse’s website is at http://www.shabuhouse.com.au

 

Thank-you to Theo for doing the editing. I'm pretty dreadful at editing my own work.

El Torito

El Torito

146 Boundary St West End

3/5

El Torito has to have the honour of being the only Mexican place in town that isn’t fast food or rubbish; it does well in this regard and is all round a very good place to eat it’s also BYO including beer which is always a fantastic thing. It being the first Thursday in a while that I’ve had money to afford dinner meant that I had to go to dinner, so I called on some reliable friends for a meet at west end. It has been a few years since I last sat down at El Torito, last time I ate there the food was quite nice, but lacked a particular intangible that I can’t quite remember or determine. This time the stars lined up and the meal was fantastic.

The decor of El Torito is bright and energetic, it uses the long narrow space it has for a dining room effectively, it’s not a romantic dim private place it is an exciting, fun place with plenty of noise. The bright warm coloured walls covered in sombreros and pictures of Amerindians gives the place an electric feeling, that the food is bound to be exciting and generous. The service in El Torito is pretty regular, with the only way to be served being essentially demanding it; however they do get kudos from me for letting us stay for almost an hour after everyone else left.

Onto the most important of things, El Torito makes fantastic food; this place isn’t a suburban Tex-Mex place with 14 year olds in the kitchen, it’s a place that makes what tastes, feels and smells like genuine Mexican food (not being entirely melted cheese and oil). Our table had a few entrees and then a main each, the entrees all featured beans, which in hindsight was a genius decision considering they were all fantastic, the Beans Tostada has particularly stuck in my memory due to its great balance. Of the mains I only had the opportunity to try my own, which was a chorizo burrito and a friend’s which was the Tinga Poblana. Both of these dishes displayed an amazing level of balance and a great texture; however the lack of overwhelming defining flavours can make the meal feel boring to those uninterested in the combination of flavours.

 I would recommend El Torito to anyone especially to those who have negative views of Mexican restaurants due to the suburban monsters that ruin an entire cuisine for people.

El Torito is open for dinner most nights

Our entree’s cost $5-$10 and our mains cost ~$20 each.

El Torito is fully BYO with Corkage costing $2 per head

El Torito is Vegetarian Friendly.