BirdCage Pan Asian Cuisine | 14 Logan Road, WOOLLONGABBA QLD 4102
A another Friday night came and the bunnies decided to go to Birdcage
for dinner with the S family.
I’ve
always like the antique precinct in Woolloongabba where Birdcage is
located. It has three of my favourite restaurants on one street, The
Crosstown Eating House, 1889 Enoteca and Pearl Café. So I had a good
feeling about Birdcage, a quaint restaurant that serves pan Asian
cuisine.
The
restaurant is situated in the Moreton Rubber Works building and the
brick walls together with the high ceiling really add some unique
touches to the restaurant’s décor.
The
menu incorporates flavours that are predominately south-east Asian.
For entrées, we had the slow braised beef in star anise, galangal
and shaoxing, with Chinese green onion pancakes and chili jam
($17), chicken satay marinated in lemongrass and turmeric
with spicy peanut sauce and cucumber relish
($17) and two serves of the salt and pepper squid wok
tossed in chilli and garlic with sweet soy and lime
($16). Although the chicken satay wasn’t exactly memorable, both
the slow braised beef and the salt and pepper squid left a good
impression of the four of us. The beef was so tender and it was
drenched in deliciousness, the squid on the other hand provided a
lighter balance to our palates.
As
for the mains meals, I had the pan seared salmon on tom yum
broth with prawn dumplings and oyster mushroom
($32) and the rest of the table had crispy half duck on
plum and mandarin sauce with caramelized pineapple and cinnamon
($32) and two serves of the slow roasted pork belly with
chilli and tamarind caramel, coconut and snake bean relish
($30). I thought the salmon was cooked to perfection, but
unfortunately the salmon soon submerged in the tom yum broth which
meant that the crispy skin quickly got soggy and nobody likes soggy
fishy skin… that aside, the tom yum broth was yummy and it worked
well with the prawn dumplings. As for the rest of the mains, I can
only assume that they were just as tasty as all the dishes were left
empty. The other travel bunnie did mention that the crispy half duck
was a little on the heavy side, as duck is naturally a quite fatty
meat and the sauce of plum and mandarin was rich so when combined
with the flavours of sweet pineapple and cinnamon, it was probably
wise to have something light on the side to balance the flavours.
After
the mains, we were too lazy to move to another venue for desserts so
two baileys irish cream and organic espresso over vanilla
bean ice-cream ($15), a
white chocolate, honey and mango panacotta with sesame
praline ($16) and a lemongrass
and ginger brulee over a pineapple and mint compote
($15) were ordered. The panacotta was definitely the crowd’s
favourite and I don’t have much to say about the rest. In
comparison to the entrées and the mains, the desserts were less
impressive.
Throughout
the night, we received really warm and friendly service, despite the
fact that one of our waitresses was a trainee and there was a slight
hit and miss with the service of food, seeing smiley faces around
always make the dining experience a whole lot better.
Total
Bunnie Dollars Spent: $295
