Bird's Nest | 220 Melbourne Street, WEST END QLD 4101
We
walked past Bird’s Nest two weeks ago when we had dinner at Little
Greek Taverna. I was instantly attracted to this place by its
mouth-watering smell and inviting décor.
So
a reservation was made for a date night with the other travel bunnie
there and then!
Bird’s
Nest is a Japanese restaurant that serves yakitori, meaning grilled
chicken, but often refers to the pieces of bite-sized food cooked on
skewers. Yakitori restaurants literally can be found all over Japan
and of course, being a long-time Japanese cuisine lover, I was happy
to see the new addition to Brisbane’s dining scene.
We
were seated at the dining counter which I think is the perfect spot
for a table of two as it provides the best view of the cooking
process with the charcoal grills placed right in front of you. We
wanted a good spread of yakitori, so the other travel bunnie had the
7 skewer set ($25)
which comes with tenderloin with wasabi mayonnaise, thigh
with shallots, thigh with lemon, tomato wrapped in pork belly,
chicken tail, chicken wing, chicken meatballs.
And as for me, I wanted something slightly different, so in
addition to a number of the skewers which the other travel bunnie
had, I also ordered the chicken hearts ($3),
moisture infused Murray Valley pork belly w cracked pepper,
seeded mustard ($4), quail
eggs ($4) and yaki
onigiri ($4). We also ordered a
Sarada ($9) mizuna, baby spinach, snow pea sprouts and
radish with Yuzu Soy Dressing
for some healthy greens to go with all of the meat. All of the
skewers were delicious, but the tenderloin with wasabi
mayonnaise and the chicken
tail really stood out.
I
liked the little touches added by the restaurant here and there. Cold
hand towels were provided to us upon arrival and clear chicken broth
was given to us before the dinner started. I also liked the fact that
the skewers came out one by one so that we had ample time to savour
the unique taste of each cut of meat.
As
it turned out and despite my initial concern, the skewers that we had
were more than enough for dinner without us feeling overly full. I
really like the concept of Bird’s Nest and can see myself going
back there again and again.
Total
Bunnie Dollars Spent: $63
Our experience at Bird's Nest was ok, but perhaps if you've had the authentic experience in Japan, it doesn't quite measure up to the expectation - particularly price-wise. As delicious as the skewers were (and they were damn yummy), we felt some of the skewers were slightly more pricey than we would've liked.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I know what you mean. I did mention to the other travel bunnie that the skewers were a little pricey. However given that they are the only one in Brisbane that specialises in yakitori, maybe they figured that they can charge at a premium price? (although, BBQ temptation at Sunnybank is pretty awesome).
DeleteThe restaurant seems interesting with pleasant atmosphere. Food is nicely served by this photos and we will give it a try these days.
ReplyDelete