Nest Restaurant

Ness was back in Melbourne when this invitation came and I thought since me, (Jar Jar) was Ness' usual partner in crime for Brisbane, I was a good enough representation for the blog.
When Ness told me the event was Nest Restaurants & Bar’s launch, I immediately knew I was in for a good night. I was going to bring the boy but he was out of town so 5 mins later, J agreed to be my partner in crime and everything was set.

The location made me check the map twice, to make sure that I got it right because Nest is located in the most unusual place – right above the Roma Street Station. However, a bit of research showed that this precinct is currently being developed into Brisbane’s new food, bar & lounge destination.

As we walked through the door we were greeted with a glass of champagne and some fortune cookies which were our tickets for a competition. The space itself is very funky, with interior designer making some very bold choices – a collection of unusual down lights and gorgeous timber “nest” installation were my highlights.

However, what completely won me over was actually outside – a massive fig tree decorated with hundreds of Chinese lanterns which will surely not only increase street appeal but serve as an invitation to all the passerby.

Food was served canapé style, with canapes representing samples of the dishes on the menu. We started with some grilled Turkish bread with olive oil dukkah, house grown herb butter which was a good start, but nothing too special – I felt like there is something missing, but that might just be a factor of me eating way too much dukkah avo toast.

Vietnamese rolls didn’t just look very pretty with asparagus spears, but they were also perfectly light and tasty – definitely the dish we felt the least guilty about eating.

Next we had crispy fried vegetable dumplings with fruit chutney. The dumplings themselves were a bit bland, but fruit chutney was spicy and thus did wonders for lifting the flavour of veggies.

My personal favourite for the night came next – a duck salad with green pear, seasonal greens and a ginger, lime and coriander dressing. This dish was uncomplicated but delicious, with flavours and textures complimenting each other perfectly.

 Laksa, was the one that got away. I managed to take a photo when it was on the counter but it was all gone by the time it reached us. So didn't get to try it.

Onwards to some of the heartier dishes, I opted for nasi goreng with prawns, beef, chicken, market greens and fried egg. J went with the pad thai which came with all the usual suspects. Both very classic, no fuss dishes that we both found very satisfying.

Pad thai 

Nasi goreng

Once when our champagne glasses very empty, we were recommended a rum cocktail made with house made honey (from the roof!) and served in jars which made it look very innocent. However, as myself and rum don’t go too well together I got for vodka, cranberry and lime cocktail and didn't regret it.

Finally, we finished the evening with some crème brulee . My expectations of dessert are always high, but every box was ticked – crème brulee was perfectly creamy and crunchy on top. Good thing that waitress didn't come around with seconds because I wouldn't be able to say no! (Sorry about the blurry photos, I've had a few cocktails by this stage).

Overall 13.5/20 I definitely see myself coming back to Nest, mainly for two important reasons – one is tasty, no fuss lunch on a weekday and the other one is some after work drinks in a great atmosphere and with a view of that gorgeous fig tree.

LONgTIME

For those of you who follow my blog will know that I work in Brisbane quite frequently. So a girl has to eat look after her and eat well right? As one of our after work gathering, we ventured to the Valley for some fusion Thai. I read about LONgTIME in a few publications and was curious to see what Brissy had to offer in terms of up market fusion.

Located in Ann Street, the main entrance is off the main street anv via an alleyway lit with garden lights. It's actually a beautiful atmosphere to wait and chill with a drink. Then you enter a garage like space and greeted with loud, upbeat music. Good thing about this place is that take bookings so you don't have to worry about coming all the way to the Valley just to be told there is no table or a 2 hour wait (unlike a lot of restaurants in this category in Melbourne and Sydney these days).

We had a large group so we were seated on half of the communal table in the centre of the restaurant. It was a bit difficult to talk since we were spaced out and the background noise was very loud in the restaurant but if you are happy speaking slightly louder or in a group of 2-4 people, then you would be fine.

Some of my colleagues know I am food blogger so they were quite happy to leave the ordering up to me and I happily took upon that duty.

To start I got us a bunch of their bar snacks to share. First one off the rank was the soft shell crab bao with apple slaw ($4.50). Soft shell crab is one those those things that is usually a crowd pleaser and this time it was no different. Crisp bites of crab went well with the sweet and slightly tangy apple slices.

Second bar snack we got was the Thai chicken hot dog. These were mini bite size hot dog $4 each. Each dog had a perfectly cooked chicken frank with corridandar mayo finish. It's a good way to ease into Asian Fusion for the colleagues who were new to this concept.

Third bar snack was the taco. This has prawn laab in a cripsy taco shell with diced salad inside.

Next we moved on to the salads, since we were at a Thai fusion restaurant, the egg net salad was essential. This was a delicately constructed egg net with pork slices, cuttlefish, slaw and finished with  a caramelised sugar sauce. This was a good light salad that had a bite in it. Great for a large or small group and a fresh option to compliment the other heavier dishes to come.

My Swedish Paella boss picked the other salad which was the pomelo salad with prawns, coconut, crispy dried shallots and finished with a chilli jam dressing. This is what I would considered a 'fun' salad. All the fun elements were presemt, a seafood bite from the prawn, texture and coconut fragrant from the bites of dried coconut and the dressing was sweet with that small refined kick where it was needed.

After the salads came the soup. Given we were at a Thai restaurant it felt fitting to order a tom yum. Unlike the typical tom yum, this was served with a few pieces of giant prawn crackers and black mussels (as the hero ingredient), prawns and an assortment of sprouts and herbs. This was a lot spicy than I had anticipated. I'm normally pretty good with my spicy food tolerance, I found myself reaching for a drink a few times. Wouldn't recommend this for someone who can't take spicy. This is definitely more on the hot side. The level of sourness was good but unless you can take the heat, you won't enjoy this one.

For the meats we ordered the smoked chicken, this came with a sweet chilli sauce. This was my favourite dish of the night. The chicken fell off the bone, it juicy and the meat was tender. The basting was smoky and intense enough to pack a hit of flavour.

Out of the curries we got the morton bay bug curry. This was quite interesting, I've never had bay bugs in curry before and I was surprised with how good it tasted. The curry was a delicate and light, finished with the coconut milk, the sauce was just so good, I wanted to get more rice and just eat the curry sauce with lots of rice.

On the side we ordered a few vegetable dishes to help us feel less guilty and trick ourselves to think we were eating our greens. The greens were just an assortment of book choy, string beans, watercress tossed with sweet/spicy stir fry sauce.

For dessert we got 2 to share. First dessert was the sticky rice with fresh mango, coconut ice cram and  sesame brittle. I loved the heavy rice texture with the refreshing coconut ice cream and mango. The sesame brittle was that fun 'cherry on top' element.

Other dessert was the green apple and sour mango jelly with watermelon granita, meringue topped with lemongrass foam. This had intriguing flavours but just not enough in terms of quantity on the plate. The granita and pineapple meringue were devine and just not enough of it on the plate.

Overall 15.5/20 I really enjoyed my visit and I think most of my colleagues would agree. The food was fun and good twist on classic Thai dishes. Downside for me was the service was very average and I found the bar snacks to be overpriced for their portion sizes. The food was great but at times it felt like it was $2 per bite and that can feel a bit steep. Price aside, the food is something I would go back for and find enticing.

Jamie's Italian - Brisbane

Jamie's Italian is the new kid on the Brisbane restaurant scene. With much hype and anticipation, Jamie's opened it's doors to the Brisbane crowd this November. Being a loyal fan of Jamie's Italian in Sydney, I just had to try it.

I actually went 2 nights in a row with different work colleagues. I really wanted to try the selection in the menu and a single visit would just not cut it. For those who have not been to Jamie's before, it is a casual atmosphere that is fairly fast pace to help churn through the demands of the people waiting at it's doors most nights. It can get loud so I won't recommend you coming here if you are after a quiet romantic dinner. It has some rustic decor and a slightly 'homey' feel in a commercial sense. Enough about scenery, now let's get onto the food.

The antipesto planks is one of the signature dishes there. I went with the fried fish plank and shared it with Jar Jar. The plank had a section including, fritto misto, crispy salad, cured salmon, pecorino, salad, olives and smoked mackerel pate. The pate was beautiful, it was creamy and just perfect balance of texture and flavour. The cured salmon served with yuzo mayo was delicate yet refreshing. Jamie's planks never disappoint.

Jar Jar couldn't say no to the arancini on the menu so we also got that to share. Crunchy little balls of risotto with red chilli and mozzarella and served with a rich and slightly spicy red sauce.

The boys got the Truffle Tagliatelle and was nice enough to let me try some. This was a plate pasta served with a butter sauce laced with the magic of truffles, nutmeg and parmesan. It had a indulgent truffle flavours throughout the dish and this is the perfect dish for any truffle lover. It's simple and fully shows the flavour of the truffle.

The Jamaican got the Prawn Linguine which had garlic prawns, tomato, fennel, rocket and finished with a chilli stirred through. This is a good dish for anyone who prefers a light pasta and enjoys their garlic prawns. The tomato and chilli was a good way to keep the dish light and a difference from the typical creamy garlic prawn finishes.

Jar Jar got the Honeycomb Cannelloni three ways. This was cannelloni with the filling of eggplant and sun-dried tomato, ricotta and spinach or pumpkin. This was a hearty and filling dish. Great for those who can't decide what type of cannelloni filling they want or just want to try it all. I really liked the pumpkin one, it was a good sweet yet savoury balance.

One the first night I got the entree bolognese and a side of Primavera salad (to make myself feel less guilty about all the carbs). The bolognese was made up of a beef and pork ragu, then topped with crunchy bread crumbs and parmesan. This was hearty and hit the pasta craving spot. Though I won't recommend getting the entree size, you are are feeling hungry. It was definitely not enough for me, even with the salad as a side.

I can't say I loved the salad. I found it a bit bland but I guess it makes it a good balancing side side option.

On the second night I couldn't resist and just had to get the Blank Angel Spaghetti which was a squid ink pasta served with scallops, chilli, anchovies and capers. I made the mistake of also getting the polenta chips to share with Jar Jar. The pasta was beautifully al dente and the scallop was fresh and supple. The chilli and anchovies did a good job in giving it that bit of a kick.

The polenta chips were delicious. Fluffy on the inside and well seasoned with rosemary and sea salt on the outside. Sadly Jar Jar and I couldn't finish it because we over indulged in the pasta and arancini earlier in the meal. It was so good and we were so sad that we didn't clean up that bowl.

When dining with Jar Jar, if tiramisu is on the menu, it doesn't matter how full you are, it MUST be ordered. I shared a tiramisu and the epic brownie with Jar Jar. The tiramisu was home styled with an orange mascarpone.

The epic brownie was as the name suggest.... EPIC. Rich chocolate brownie with a warm fudge centre, then served with amaretto ice cream and caramel popcorn. It was all the things I love on one plate. It was heaven on the lips but not very kind to my hips. The ice cream cut through the richness of the chocolate and the popcorn was just that fun element on the plate that was good to eat.

Overall 17/20 I really enjoyed both my nights at Jamie's. On the second night with Jar Jar, we spent less than $100 between the 2 of us for a three course meal and practically had to be rolled out of the restaurant. I think it does well as a no frills Italian restaurant. Don't come expecting fine dining, because it is NOT that. It just the classics done well in a no frills manner. The prices are reasonable and you walk out happy.

Bird's Nest

Back to Brisvegas for work, so catching up with C was almost compulsory. This time I was lucky enough to finally meet C's wifey, E (I had a long suspicion that C made her up). Lucky for me, C and E both love Japanese food and took me to a yakitori place in West End.

Bird's Nest isn't your typical Japanese restaurants as they specialize in yakitori (skewers) and if you want something else, then this is not the place for you. They only do skewers and they do it well. It is a popular venue too, even for a Wednesday night, booking in advance was essential.

Shortly after E finished her complimentary chicken broth, we decided to go with the 7 skewer set and added in 2 more dishes to compliment (Chicken karage and dashimaki tamago) .

The side dishes were the first to arrive. The chicken karage was served with lemon and wasabi mayo. Succulent bites of seasoned chicken thigh. Perfect balance of batter and the oily guilt factor.

Dashimaki tagamo is an Japanese egg omelette cooked with broth and severed with radish shavings. The broth flavours infused into the omelette was a good twist compared to typical breakfast styled omelettes.

First skewer off the grill was the tenderlion with wasabi mayo. As the name suggests, the meat was very tender and cooked just right. 

Next was the chicken wings. Who doesn't love a grilled chicken wing and anybody who get this wrong, isn't worthy of staying in the kitchen.

Third was the thigh with lemon. I loved the zest of the lemon fused with the charcoal aromas of the thigh meat.

Then came the thigh pieces with shallots. I am not a fan of shallots so for me, this was just another thigh skewer as I left all my shallots on the plate. 

Then my hero skewer, the tomato wrapped in pork belly. This was a genius combination, the acidic tomato popping in your mouth, paired with fatty pork belly goodness. I like to lie to myself and say it makes a balance diet.

Last 2 skewers were the chicken meatballs and the chicken tail (aka chicken bum). The chicken meat balls were nice but at this stage of the meal I wish I got something other than chicken. A skewer with some vegetables on it would have been nice. The chicken tail skewer was really nice. The meat was quite silky in comparison to the other parts of chicken we ate earlier.

I didn't get any dessert, as they only had the single option of a Japanese creme caramel. I understand it's a Japanese skewer specialist place but surely they can offer more than 1 option for dessert. I am of the opinion you offer more or none at all. This part was a disappointment to me.

Overall 14/20 I really enjoyed their authentic flavors and would recommend this place as a catch up with friends.