Cyber City 2012

Hey guys, in preparation for the relaunch and redesign I’m planning in a few months I’ve changed the scoring system. Now a restaurant will get a score in three categories (potentially in four), which will scale across four options in each category: Atrocious, Adequate, Good and Recommended, The four categories are Uniqueness (which will only be recommended or not present) and the three in the article below. Thanks for your patience while I try and get the time to redevelop the blog into more of a guide site for Brisbane in general.

2012 Cyber City

245-247 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

Value: Good

Quality: Adequate

Atmosphere: Good

The new Cyber City caught me by surprise a couple of months ago. I had thought that it was a more general redevelopment of the whole Cyber City and that scared me – Cyber City 2002 has some good memories for all of us. I was relieved to find out it is still there in all of its unrenovated glory. Cyber City 2012 has moved into the space that used to be the arcade back entrance to the original.

Cyber City 2012 is sort of a mixed use place like its older sister next door. The front is dominated by a large bar that serves cocktails in vases (although most of the drink is mixer, what did you expect?) for a decent price. At the back of the restaurant are the tables with cooktops, and on the right hand side a giant public karaoke room, with a surprisingly easy and decent collection for karaoke in Brisbane. The place has a sort of “disco futurist” look with purple and blue lighting. The restaurant part is dominated by muted tan tones, which probably help keep you from losing your mind to neon while sitting down to eat.

Service is great in this place: it's overstaffed considering how many people patronise it, so waiting for attention is not an issue. The food is average, with several all-you-can-eat menus, plus an a la carte menu, all of which are not very inspiring. The all-you-can-eat skewers menu is an interesting addition to the Brisbane food landscape and is hopefully only the start of such ideas entering the consciousness of Brisbane diners. The place I believe is trying to turn into a table BBQ place, like the many that have succeeded in recent times. I personally believe the place has missed an opportunity to push the skewers into new and interesting territory, with most of the skewers being quite boring and cheap.

Regardless, Cyber City 2012 is a fun and casual place to have food, drink, and maybe a song. I should mention that it costs a small fee ($5 - $10, depending on the day) to do karaoke. I would come back here again if only for the novelty of drinking out of a fish bowl.

Cyber City 2012 is open every day, closing at 11pm on Sunday-Thursday and 2am on Friday and Saturday.  The all you can eat skewers are $20 pp with other all you can eat menus costing up to $40 pp, the a la carte menu goes from $10-$30 per dish with most dishes being on the lower end of the spectrum. There are many drinks available. The novel cocktails we drank are $9.90 each. Their card says they have a website at www.eatnplay.com.au however when I tried to load it, there was nothing.

Thanks To Hugh for doing the Editing on this post. I can't edit myself it just ends up being a bloodbath.

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. 

Maru Korean Bbq

Maru Korean BBQ

3/5

157 Elizabeth St Brisbane CBD

I noticed Maru’s appearance a few weeks prior to its actual opening. It’s located where David’s, a Chinese restaurant, was; just up from the Irish club. An addition to the already good downtown Korean scene, my anticipation for this BBQ place was palpable.

Like many of the new Korean places, Maru have done a great job in their fit out. The feel is a fresh, bright minimalism, which for BBQ works really well in accentuating the sociality of the dining.

A combination of light and dark timber fittings is paired against a rather spare, small tree in the centre of the room. My only complaint is probably due to the fact that they’d just opened, but the shelves above the bar were conspicuously bare.

Like almost all the Korean restaurants that have popped up in the last few years, the employment of table call bells ensure service isn’t an issue. Maru gets bonus points for also have what’ve been probably the quickest staff in existence.

Maru has a far shorter BBQ menu than its competitor up the street, but it contains all the important cuts and neither of the plates we ordered, pork jowls and sliced beef, came out frozen which is an obvious positive. The quality of the meat was good and on par with other major BBQ places.

Maru uses electric grill plates and although they take a while to heat up, they have the advantage over charcoal in that they don’t cool down, but they do lose that smell and flavour of charcoal that is as much a part of the experience as the flavour it imparts.

The sides that came out weer all of a good quality, my only complaint could be the lack of size in the lettuce leaves. This wasn’t too much of a negative, more just one of personal preference and could be considered a positive by those who do BBQ differently to me.

Maru is a great addition to the Brisbane food scene, the fact that at least at the moment it’s quieter, probably makes it my most likely eating destination, however I doubt it’ll be like this for long judging by my experience the other night.

Maru is open for dinner most nights

The plates of meat cost $17 each and there are combination plates available that make each portion cheaper

Maru is licensed and has a variety of Korean drinks available including HITE which cost us $4 per bottle. 

Maru currently don’t have a website

Thanks to theo for editing this post.

Funny Funny Res Pub

Funny Funny Res Pub

85 George St Brisbane City

2/5

I know I’ve been hitting up a lot of Korean places recently, but bear with me because there can’t be that many more left and my desire for chilli is surely on the wane.

 Funny Funny occupies the same place as the Lands Office Hotel used to be, on the corner of Mary and George streets, and as the name of the place suggests is a hybrid of pub and restaurant.

The place has, for a restaurant, a great funky setup; the gloss black walls are adorned with stylised white graffiti, contrasted by the pale wooden decor. Feeling almost like an edgier more hip-hop Madtongsan II which is probably its opposite more k-poppy outlet, which could perhaps be attributed to the pub aspect they’re going for. 

Like almost all of the Korean restaurants kicking around now, they have call buttons on the tables. However, an issue with the call buttons at Funny Funny is how loud they are; they make you feel like apologising every time you press one, compounding this is that even with the call buttons the service is slower than at other comparable establishments.

Food wise Funny Funny is alright, but it lacks anything that defines it especially from its competitors except for perhaps a general quality of tasting ever so slightly worse than its rivals. It’s not particularly cheaper than other Korean in Brisbane either and drinks are the same price as anywhere else at $6 each (for Cass or Hite) making it not a particularly appealing place to drink, although it does look like there are domestic Australian beers for cheaper than that. This obviously dampens my disposition in treating it like a pub and while there were a significant number of people there on the day in question, I feel that generally the bar/pub functions of the place are played down in favour of a more restaurant style menu, while unfortunately lacking a particularly strong restaurant aesthetic.

What is notable about the food is the serving size, with our order of Kimchi pancake being the size of a large serving plate, meaning we ended up ordering way too much food for the two of us, we also got “Nakgi Somyun” which was spicy octopus with noodles without realizing that it was also large enough to comfortably feed two people as well as a noodle soup that was a large single serving. In the face of this Everest-sized challenge, we proceeded to call in reinforcements to help finish off the mass of chilli and seafood that was present.

Overall, I think Funny Funny is alright and if you are up that end of town it’s an option, however, the other Korean options in this city are better, are comparatively priced and are probably worth the short walk to get to them.

Funny Funny is open lunch and dinner every day.

Our meals cost around ~$10-~$25 and the beers cost $6 each which at a place like this adds up quickly.

Thanks again to Theo for doing the editing of this review

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.

Ajisen Ramen

Ajisen Ramen

2/414 George St Brisbane

2/5

I was going to a friend’s gig down at tribal theatre on a Friday night and needed to eat something, I have been past this place several times before and thought that I would test it out sometime soon and this particular Friday night happened to be the night I had time and money. This was the second ramen place I had been in recent weeks with my first visit to taros only being a few weeks earlier so the memory of taros brilliant ramen hovered fresh in my memory.

Firstly Ajisen’s appearance is a lot better than taros cafe but then that wouldn’t be hard the only positive aesthetic about taros is the view from the deck eating area with everything else being quite practical and uninteresting. Ajisen ramen’s appearance on the other hand is quite detailed (nowhere near as well as Sono but better than most) the service was nice but because of my presence on the wall and the fact that I was eating by myself, meant that the wait for attention would usually be excessive.

The food was good; however in comparison to taros it was average but then again taros has exceptional ramen. Big differences between the two were that at taros the broth had a strong sweet flavour throughout even when only eating the noodle from chopsticks where at Ajisen the broth was barely present except when drinking it by itself. The noodles at Ajisen were soft and were more like instant noodles than ramen noodles elsewhere, which greatly disappointed me; the only recovering factor of the meal was the fact that I had an imported Kiran can next to my bowl. I wouldn’t return unless I was walking past the place and didn’t have the effort to cross town for taros.

Ajisen Ramen is open from 11:30am to 9pm most days

My meal cost $11.30 and my can of Kiran (500ml) cost $10

Their Website is http://ajisenramen.com.au/ 

Fiascos Steakhouse

 Fiascos Steakhouse

640 Stanley St Woolloongabba

2/5

I have always heard good things about the Morrison and their steaks. Pronouncements such as the best steak in Brisbane aren’t uncommon so I thought that it warranted a look. Using a couple hours I had free on a Tuesday, I went for lunch around 12 and naturally ordered the steak from the laminated one sheet menu.

The feel of the place is very similar to many pubs that had their restaurants renovated in the 2000s, making the place feel dreadfully commercial in nature instead of feeling like a pub. In fact, sitting in the dining area made me feel like I was in for another mediocre overcooked steak. The Morrison is also unfortunate in being surrounded by freeways and main roads, making a decent outdoor eating area nigh impossible. The service was alright, however, the staff felt more put out then enthusiastic and therefore as a lone diner my presence felt like a burden rather than a customer.

After what I believe was actually a relatively short wait, my steak came out (I was eating by myself and was not drinking therefore a minute felt like an eternity) a rib eye with far too many details to be a good steak (10 month aged, 30 month grain, etc.) with chips, salad and mushroom sauce. The steak was a decent piece of meat, however it was unfortunately cooked like I would end up doing it, over-cooked, especially on one side with the red centre being south of the equator. The chips copped the curse of peri-peri (why is peri-peri a big deal now? Chips with steak don’t need peri-peri seasoning.) but otherwise were fine and tasted like chips should. The salad tasted like a pub salad: 2 wedges of tomato, some purple onion, and a bag salad with vinegar drenching. Overall it was a pleasant lunch but I would not be singing its praises: it was almost exactly the same as any pub steak and therefore not worth going out of my or your way for.

Fiascos Steakhouse is open 12pm-10pm every day.

Their mains range from $20-$40 and average around $30.

Their drinks prices are about par for pubs which are on the cheaper end of the dining scale.

Their website is at http://www.morrisonhotel.com.au