Brisbane Day 3: Pasta and Calamari @ Fortitude Valley (Dinner)

We finally went down to Chinatown today. It was quite a disappointment. Chinatown mall was undergoing a major development and the entire area was so quiet. There were quite a number of asian eateries though, but since we were in Australia, we decided to go for the local food.


After carefully studying the menu of several cafes, we settled on Cosmo Café.

First a round of Hot Chocolate – the best we had so far. I can feel the calories piling on. Just look at how rich this drink is. Oh yes, it’s always served with a couple of marshmallows.

The mains soon followed. I’ll never get used to the size of the portions. How on earth can someone eat this amount everyday? It’s artery clogging.

This is the SMALL seafood pizza – the size of our medium Canadian Pizza. Just look on the mound of seafood topping.

I ordered the Moroccan Calamari. I wonder which giant squid sacrificed its life for my dinner…

The Lasagna was easily more than 2 inches think and laden with ground beef and cheese. It also came with a huge side of fries.

Definitely no room for dessert. Instead, I went back to my hotel and munched on several pieces of coconut covered chocolates. The best meal so far.

Brisbane Day 2: Ajisan Ramen @ George Street (Dinner)

We initially planned to go to Fortitude Valley and have dinner at Chinatown. However, when we walked past an Ajisan Ramen shop on the way to the subway and saw the photos of noodles on the wall, we succumbed to a sudden wave a hunger. In 5 minutes, we were seated in the Japanese noodle cafe and were studying the menu. Prices are about A$15 for a bowl of noodles.


I ordered the Spicy Ramen as I needed my chilli fix. The pork-based soup was thick and flavourful. The only thing lacking was the meat. I expected the usual slices of pork, but only a spoonful of minced pork was added to the soup.

Check out the Volcano Ramen. Doesn’t the chilli mound look intimidating? I was tempted to order it but held back. Getting the runs in a foreign land and during a conference is something I definitely did not wish to experience.

There was a special promotion on dessert. A$2 for an apple or pumpkin sorbet. Why not?

The ice-cream came in little carved out apples and pumpkins – so delectable. The fresh flavours of apple and pumpkin were infused deeply into the sorbet.

Simply refreshing!

Brisbane Day 2: Conference (Lunch)

So tiresome– I had to eat lunch standing up (it was the conference norm. The plate was so heavy and the utensils were wrapped in napkin. It took some juggling on my end to manage my bag, conference materials, the plate and cutlery. There was a dull ache around my wrist by the time I finished my meal.  Choices were limited and I was in too much discomfort to go for seconds.

The best dish was the salad, crispy, fresh and sweet.

Brisbane Day 1: Nandos @ Queen Street Mall (Lunch)

“Nandos!” my colleagues were shrieking. “Must try! Cannot find in Singapore!”

Okay, okay. Nandos specializes in grilled chicken and their Peri-peri sauce is addictive. If you like Tabasco, you’ll love the chicken. There’re whole and part grilled chicken, chicken wraps, chicken risotto and various chicken salads. Peri-peri sauces come in mild, hot and very hot and there are free bottles of sauce by the counter if you wish to add more. We crowded round the counter, ordered our meals and waited impatiently for the waitress to call out our order. Look out for the meal specials. The dishes averaged about A$14 – A$18 but portions are huge.

The grilled chicken was well-marinated and moist. The spicy sauce gave it a good kick so you don’t suffer the ‘jelakness’ usually experienced when eating chicken breast.

The chicken wrap looked like a giant mitten. It was huge and packed generously with grilled chicken slices and veggies.

Look at the amount of filling

I ordered the chicken salad and was pleasantly surprised to find that it came with olives and feta cheese. Huge chicken slices were scattered on top of a mix of baby spinach and rockets. The Peri-peri sauce (hot level) was a bit too peppery when on its own, but went well with the greens and cheese.

When the grilled chicken thigh came, I was shocked by its size. It filled up practically the entire dinner plate. Could you imagine the size of the chicken? Must be a steroid monster. Anyway, the verdict was that the leg was juicy and well marinated.

The chicken risotto was favourful and the peri-peri sauce (very hot level) was well balanced with the broth enriched rice.

A very satisfying dinner, especially for a meat lover like me.

Brisbane Day 1: Just Café @ Queen Street Mall (Breakfast)

Just landed in Brisbane Australia and we’re starving. The breakfast onboard the plane was a miserable bun and muffin. So we dumped our luggage at the hotel and scuttled down to Queen Street Mall to eat and shop.

Checked out the cafés along the board walk and finally decided on Just Café. It looked cosy and had a decent crowd. Sat down, ordered some coffee and then checked out the menu….WHOA…prices are expensive! Breakfast meals averaged about A$15 – A$20. Being on a tight budget, we ordered several plates of savoury bread to share. At least the servings were the big and the coffee thick and aromatic.

Don’t you wish you could smell the Long Black?

Frothy Cappuccino

Thick, chunky slices of fruit loaf

 Buttered Cinnamon Toast

Not a very good start…hopefully the meals will get better.

Thai Express @ Kovan

Went to Kovan today to run some errands and decided to drop in to Thai Express for lunch. I was watching the Asian Food Channel in the morning and saw Kumar on a travel show in Bangkok. Couldn't get the image of the Thai dishes and the rich coconut milk out of my mind.

Not a bad lunch but I found the dishes rather sweet and mild. No complaints from the kids though. JT even made a couple of dips into the chilli sauce - AMAZING.

Anyway, the day was blazing HOT, so we started off with some cool drinks.

Cool and tangy lime juice

Ice chocolate - kinda strange drink for a Thai joint

Then the mains came. PT, as usual, polished off his Black Pepper Softshell crab within minutes. "Not much crab taste" was his verdict .

Black Pepper Soft Shell Crab

My Pineapple Seafood Rice was next. Very nice and the portion big enough for FT and I to share. The prawns and sotong were expecially well done, perfect level of chewiness.

Yummy! Should have more pineapples, though

JT had the chicken soup and rice. I like the soup, very light tasting, but always thought it was a waste to order it in a Thai restaurant. Gimme fish sauce, green curry and Thai spices man!

The egg drops go very well with the chicken slices

We also had PT's favourite dish, stuffed chicken wings. The ones we had were juicy and the basil marinate was very appetising - just made you go back for more. FT whacked one whole wing to herself.

One nice juicy wing

All in all, lunch was about $55. Service was good too. The waitress and waiter who attended to us were warm and friendly. They were attentive too, giving extra serviettes when FT was chomping down her wing. This is GEMS for you.

 

Thai Express

Heartland Mall

Hougang Street 21, 205 Level 1

Food: 7/10

Price: $$$

Service: 7/10

Ambience: 6/10

Lousy Breakfast

What a lousy breakfast I had today!

Was a bit early for work for I detoured to a coffee shop for some kopi-O and kaya toast. The aromatic smell of kopi-O filled my car as I drove back to the office, all the while thinking of sinking my teeth into some lightly toasted lemak bread.

Looks pretty tasty at first...

When I looked into the plastic bag, the bread looked limp and wet. My worst fears were confirmed when I held the flaccid and soggy bread between my fingers. The coffee lady had not even toasted the bread well. As for the kaya, there was only a thin, miserable layer on each slice. I could hardly taste anything.

A closer look at my limp bread

 

I untied the plastic bag which held the coffee and took a sip....another disappointment! How can something so aromatic taste so bland? It was much too weak.

Looks so promising...looks only

Definitely a lousy start to a day!