Archive for October 2012

Home Archive for October 2012

Private Function at Cloudland, FORTITUDE VALLEY QLD 4006

I recently attended a private function at Cloudland in the Valley. To be honest, I didn't have too much expectation for the food that was to be offered at the venue. Let's face it, it's hard not to take notice of the flashy and over the top décor but how is that any indication of the quality of the food?

I wasn't sure whether it was the one too many bubblies, but I absolutely enjoyed the food.

The function was so much fun and I'm sure the selection of the venue helped in someway.

PS. check out the ladies on the second level, I love the Fornasetti wallpaper.

Landmark, Shop 101 Cnr Mains Road & McCullough Street, SUNNYBANK QLD 4109

I can’t remember the last time we had yum cha - It must’ve been around the beginning of this year.

I asked for the opinion of one of my colleagues from Hong Kong about the best yum cha restaurant in town and she told me that it had to be Landmark.

So the bunnies ventured out to Sunnybank last Sunday for an authentic Cantonese feast.

Sunday has to be the busiest day for any yum cha restaurant. When we arrived at the place, the area outside was already full of patrons waiting for tables. We joined the queue and got ours about thirty minutes later.

Landmark is considerable in size for a typical Chinese restaurant and it caters for up to 450 diners. The restaurant is well-lit with its giant, sparking chandeliers and the chaotic atmosphere and trays of steamy dim sum reminded me of our trip to Hong Kong last year.

It took me a while to realise that you can actually take your docket and go to the yum cha station to pick out whatever that you desire from trays after trays of freshly steamed dim sum that are nicely presented in bamboo baskets.

Sure, the food isn't exactly mind-blowingly amazing, but it is delicious and the quality is, dare I say it, far superior to a number of the yum cha restaurants that you get in the city. I thought the highlight was the crispy skinned pork belly with hot mustard, however the other travel bunnie preferred the prawns dumplings the best.

Service could've been better, all the wait staff appeared to be in a great rush to get to somewhere and it was hard to get anyone's attention. But other than that, we had a great time.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $65.

Ann Gyoza Bar, Shop 26 Emporium 1000 Ann Street, FORTITUDE VALLEY QLD 4006

I found out through a colleague of mine that a new izakaya styled gyoza bar has recently been opened in the Emporium complex named Ann.

I had to try it out.

So last Friday I dragged the other travel bunnie to this small yet cosy place in the Valley. Decorated with wood and sake containers, the gyoza bar felt inviting and traditional.

The menu isn't extensive, focusing on gyoza but also offering dishes like chicken karage and various yakitori. We were extremely hungry and we ordered four different kinds of gyoza, prawn and scallop yakitori and on top of all that, we also had okonomiyaki.

Before the yakitori arrived at table, the waitress brought us three different dipping sauces: wasabi mayonnaise, miso mayonnaise and the third one, well as for the third one I had already tuned out at that stage because that's when the tantalising prawn yakitori arrived. Shortly thereafter followed the rest of our meals. The gyoza were presented in front of us on little sizzling plates, our waitress then poured aromatic dressing on top of them and the smoke that came up from the plates was basically begging me to eat the gyoza, and of course, I obliged.

The food was great. Simple, traditional and unpretentious. I felt that I was in Japan for a sec there.

Even better, Ann hasn't got their liquor licence just as yet, which means BYO all you want.

I must admit that Ann is doing extremely well in terms of both service and the quality of food, for a newly opened restaurant, there's very little that I could fault, if anything at all.

Watch out, Harajuku Gyoza...

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $64.

Brent's the Dining Experience, 85 Miskin Street, TOOWONG QLD 4066

We did something completely out of our comfort zone last Saturday morning. Instead of having our usual breakfast session, we did an art painting class... at Brent's the Dining Experience.

Brent's is a fine dining restaurant located in a quite suburban street in Toowong, which makes it the perfect location for a relaxing class.

The class went for three hours, during which nibbles and champagne were provided.

It was an unusual experience to be had in this beautiful restaurant and on our way out, we saw the lunch time set menu that Brent's currently has on offer for $50 per person, you can treat yourself to a six-course culinary affair with matching wines. It was a pity that the offer is only available between Tuesday and Friday.

The bunnies can't wait to go back.

Thai Wi-Rat, 48 Duncan Street, FORTITUDE VALLEY QLD 4006

We pushed and shoved our way through the chaotic streets in the Valley last night as the Valley Fiesta was on and the streets were filled with party animals. Our destination was a busy restaurant called Thai Wi-Rat.

Buzzing and crammed seemed to be an appropriate way to describe this Thai - Laos restaurant. Orders are to be placed and paid at the counter before you get any food on the table. The menu is filled with words with foreign pronunciations and little explanatory is given hence people with little or no prior Thai dining experience may find it difficult to understand the menu.

As usual, we went slightly overboard with the ordering. Coconut prawns ($8.90) for entree, followed by penang chicken curry ($10.90), pad thai noodles, crispy softshell crab salad ($16.90) and coconut rice ($3.50 each) for mains.

Although the food arrived promptly, I can't say that I was overly impressed. The pad thai noodles was perhaps the yummiest and as for the softshell crab salad, it tasted really fishy. The penang curry came in a really small portion which was unfortunate as I had a huge craving for some good, saucy Thai curry. The Thai milk tea I ordered had way too much sugar syrup and very little taste of tea. On top of all that, you get very minimal service at this restaurant if any at all.

Let's just say, we will not return again and would prefer Siam Samararn for similar prices and distance from the CBD.

Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $58.

Santorini, GREECE

It's taken me a long time to finally put up a post on Santorini. Every time that I was about to edit the holiday photos, I would lose track of time while looking at these photos over and over again.

Our trip to Santorini is by far the most amazing experience I've ever had. I had always been wanting to visit this place, but the actual experience was beyond my imagination.

We stayed at in a village called Imerovigli, known as the balcony to the Aegean and famous for its unforgettably charming sunsets over Santorini. Four days at this beautiful paradise was simply relaxing. Our daily itinerary went something like this: wake up, enjoy breakfast overlooking the Caldera, sunbake, head to a taverna next to the water for a Mediterranean feast, back to the villa for a siesta on the sun lounge by the pool, followed by more food... and a new day begins.

I miss the cloudless blue sky, those whitewashed houses perched on gigantic rocks hills that plummet to the Aegean sea, those tantalising gyros and grilled octopus drizzled with fresh lemon, and the sun, I had a good dose of Vitamin D and I swear I got the best tan that I've ever had.

But for now, I can just dream about Santorini by looking at the photos…

PS. This is where we stayed in Santorini: Kapari

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