Archive for September 2015

Home Archive for September 2015

Last week, we celebrated a tremendous career milestone for the other travel bunnie. After work on Tuesday, I brought a surprise cake home to have for dessert. The cake was specially made by Michel’s Patisserie according to my instructions. Sounds fancy, right? Launched just recently, Michel’s Patisserie is now offering the opportunity to their customers to design their own surprise cakes. I jumped at the review opportunity.

Having tasted the Mortal Sin cake by Michel’s Patisserie, I had quite high expectations for this surprise cake, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn't amazed when I was presented with the finished product. With just five simple steps, my specially made cake looked just like it was straight out of a Gourmet Traveller photo shoot. The ordering process was a breeze. Starting off with choosing the base size, I ordered a small ($24.90) with chocolate sponge, however you have the option to choose a tiered cake if that tickles your fancy (trust me, I thought about it, but then remembered that my personal trainer might not be pleased). I think the hardest part of the whole ordering process was deciding on what topping to have. When you have options like rocky road, chocolate delight, chocolate malt, choc sparkle, and the list goes on, you can understand my dilemma. I settled for a berry topping ($10 extra), and they were so generous with the berries! Do you know how expensive they are these days? The cake was then finished with chocolate plaques neatly placed on the side and wrapped with a perfectly tied purple bow.

The cake tasted so good. The sponge was airy and chocolaty without being too sweet. The layers of chocolate sponge were separated by vanilla cream and just a thin layer of strawberry jam, which added freshness to the rich texture of the cake. I know this sounds really bad, but we managed to smash the entire cake that night. It was a guilty pleasure that we simply couldn’t resist.

Disclaimer: the cake was provided to the bunnies free of charge courtesy of Michel’s Patisserie, however my opinion is as always, my own.

A celebratory dinner was in order for the other travel bunnie’s recent career achievement (I’m screaming from the top of my lungs with excitement here, someone please hashtag OMG) and both of us thought of Montrachet.

For all the food lovers in Brisbane, albeit a foreign word, Montrachet can’t be any closer to our hearts as for years, this establishment served hearty, buttery, French deliciousness that few of us could resist. I mean, how many restaurants out there that you are aware of would dare to close their doors on weekends? As cliché as it may sound, Montrachet is, without a doubt, our favourite French restaurant in town. When I found out that after eleven years at the helm, Montrachet proprietor Thierry Galichet was letting go of the reigns, my heart sank. I messaged the other travel bunnie and expressed my great concern and advised that we were to have a nice, long meal there as soon as possible before Thierry left the establishment. Easter was long gone and we still hadn’t dined there as we were busy with this and that… extremely sad. I know.

On a recent Thursday night, we found ourselves at a very familiar place. The same gilded mirrors, the same bright red seats, the same vintage telephone hanging on the wall, Montrachet hasn’t changed a bit since our last visit. We were even seated at the same table where we enjoyed a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner a few years ago. Of course I had already looked at the menu on the internet just under a dozen times to decide on what to have. The menu items are nothing short of enticing, and may I suggest the degustation menu if you are slightly indecisive? The price tag of $95 is rather fair in my opinion for a degustation that involves king crab and sea scallops. We decided to go against the degustation that night as I already had my heart set on escargots en cocotte ($24) for entrée, confit duck leg, lentil ragout “à la facon de Jacques”, sweet & sour onion, braised endive ($44)for main and chef Shannon Kellam’s award winning Chocolat de Passion ($20) for dessert. The other travel bunnie was slightly disappointed that the Seasoned King Crab, whipped shellfish consommé, barley, dill & verjuice dressing ($28) wasn’t available on the night, but his pan roasted sea scallops, shaved vegetables, blue gum sabayon, vermouth beurre blanc ($25) turned out to be a wonderful alternative. Although I would've definitely loved a stronger garlic flavour in my escargot, I thought the presentation was cute and the pastry was brilliant. The duck tasted extremely delightful, it was rustic and plentiful as it sat proudly on the plate. The saltiness of the duck leg balanced well with the humble flavour of lentils. In contrast, the pan roasted Tasmanian lamb loin, smoked béchamel beignet, peas in tarragon butter, potato cooked in tendons ($43) enjoyed by the other travel bunnie was a more delicate dish with beautifully executed elements, and let’s not forget those pieces of wonderfully tender, juicy red meat. We justified the heaviness of our meaty mains with a side of glazed carrots with smoked pork belly ($9) which made us feel immediately better.

Of course it would be a crime for the other travel bunnie to gawk at me while I devoured Chocolat de Passion - Grand Marnier brulée, passionfruit curd, chocolate hazelnut praline mousse and strawberry sorbet. So he ordered a Crème Brûlée ($9.90) which was creamy, simple and classic.

Evidently, a great emphasis has been placed on the presentation of Shannon’s dishes in comparison to the old Montrachet, and each dish well reflected the skills and techniques of the team behind the kitchen door. The delicious food was paired with impeccable service, which made our celebratory dinner one that’s hard to forget.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $195

After a few hours spent at DFO on a recent Saturday morning, we decided to go to Nest for lunch before heading over to South Bank for the cruise expo.

I received a gift voucher a while ago for a weekend brunch at Nest, but as I had recently found out that they no longer offer weekend brunches, I made an enquiry to see if we could use it for breakfast or lunch instead. I waited two days for a response but no one got back to me with a clear answer despite a number of phone calls.

Upon arrival at Hotel Jen’s reception where we enquired about having our parking ticket validated as patrons of Nest, the gentleman at the counter responded “I think so, but I don’t know”. I cringed at the answer as I knew that we were not off to a good start.

The restaurant, located on the second level of the hotel, was quiet. Having been to the previous outlet when the hotel was still Traders Hotel, Hotel Jen has done a wonderful job transforming this space into something contemporary, relaxing but fun. The Asian fusion menu includes dishes that are inspired by Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines ranging from small bites such as Malaysian satay beef skewers ($7.50) and barbeque Beijing duck rolls ($9) to more substantial dishes such as honey sesame chicken ($25) and crispy skin barramundi with spiced pumpkin, green beans, sweet potato crisps ($29), which were the two dishes that we ordered for lunch. The food took a little while to come out, given that there were only five customers in the restaurant. The crispy skin barramundi was nicely plated and the serving was generous. The skin was exactly how I wanted it; crispy and salty. The steamy hot flesh was tender and I found the whole dish very pleasant. Those sweet potato crisps were quite addictive. The honey sesame chicken was served with steamed jasmine rice and broccolini, and the thickly sliced chicken pieces had a golden layer of crispy coating drizzled with honey and sprinkled with sesame. Both were delicious.

The food was a lot better than we had hoped for given our bad start to the experience.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: NIL as we used a gift voucher.

Although located on a busy street, for those who don’t know what they are looking for, Gauge can be easily missed. There is an easing presence about the simple, sleek, almost industrial design of this space that caters for twenty-something diners. We found out that the Head Chef, Ollie Hansford whom was awarded the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide 2016 Young Chef of the Year, has been hunted and is moving to Stokehouse Melbourne. Gauge was immediately placed on the priority list.

Stepping inside this café, the first thing that you will notice is the airy, open-plan kitchen. Minibun George got a friendly wave from the chef which made us free extremely welcome. We found a table at the corner of the café that’s a little more ‘tucked away’ and ordered our morning necessity: caffeine. The cups of coffee arrived with skillfully executed coffee art; I almost didn't want to sprinkle any sugar on top to ruin the pattern. Underneath the thick, creamy froth, was solid, strong coffee supplied by Coffee Supreme. That’ll wake you up!

If there is only one thing that you can order from Gauge, make it the black garlic bread, brown butter & burnt vanilla ($8). This amazing modified creation of bread and butter is absolutely mind blowing. It’s the sweet, rich butter, it’s the garlic taste, it’s the soft yet crumbly texture of the bread and it’s the fact that I just couldn't stop shoving it down my throat. It’s so good.

You will also find creative items that are not on a regular breakfast menu – items like warm brioche pudding, date milk, poached pear & olive ($15) and ash sourdough, almond cream, raw beef w’ XO style sauce, soft egg & pickled green tomato ($19). Both wonderfully presented dishes were as tasty as they looked, especially the raw beef with XO style sauce. Covered with bright yellow runny egg yolk, the already soft and tender beef was graced by the delightful balance of sweet and salty flavours from the XO style sauce.

Wanna hashtag #finedining with your breakfast experience? Think Gauge.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $50.50