Rice Paper Rolls and Books

Specialising in two completely separate things is a hard gig. There's nothing worse than a fab homewares store that serves crap coffee or a great gym that sells those awful prepackaged salad rolls (that's an example I made up, I never go to the gym).

Buuut, I caught up with an old friend today and we both suggested Riverbend Books & Teahouse at Bulimba. I wanted to go there for the food (specifically, the rice paper rolls I'd read about in a review) and my dear friend is an avid book reader, so she was there for the books.

I have to hand it to them, they do both really, really well. There's a gorgeous, breezy deck out the front for dining, overlooking bustling Oxford Street, and Brisbane put on a spectacular, sunny day. Inside, the bookstore is cosy and warm, stacked to the ceiling with bookliness with the smell of freshly printed literature.

They take their food seriously, with a modern, fresh menu. If I hadn't ordered the rice paper rolls (vegetarian version), then my next pick would definitely have been the Soba noodles with shitake, mango, spring onions, ginger and soy. Anyway, my rice paper rolls were divine, super fresh and simply but beautifully presented. Similarly my lunch date's Salmon Nicoise looked delectable...even to a vegetarian and the servings being a decent size we probably could have forgone the thick cut chips with Japanese mayonnaise. But I ate them anyway. Had I noticed the dessert cabinet before I ate them I would have saved room.

The service was quick and friendly and the coffee was good. AND..they got the bill right. I love that.

To be fair and balanced I did actually go into the bookstore. I'm not really a reader at all (yes, I'm aware of the irony), so I wasn't actually sure what I was looking for. Josh had mentioned that he liked a book they were reading at school so I asked a lady in there for some help. She was unbelievably helpful. She took a while to find it because it was under the shelves right at the very back. All up I think it took about 20 minutes to find, but she regularly popped her head up and said, "I'm still looking", and handed me no less than 3 other age appropriate books to consider while she found the other one. All that effort, for the $16.99 I eventually spent. And she seemed genuinely chuffed she'd been able to help. I think secretly she was harbouring the notions she might convert me to a book reader.

No way. But I'll definitely go there for books, even if they are for someone else. And I'll definitely go there for the food...next time though I'll start with that dessert cabinet.

Maggie Beer Ice Cream

Maggie Beer. Australian culinary icon. Awesome ice cream maker.

Mango Cheeks

Mango season...means Christmas is around the corner

I had my first mango of the season today. Ohhhh and was it delicious! That heedy mango smell, that sweet, juicy first bite, with all that stickiness running down your arms. Sigh. It means summer is just around the corner.

I paid $2.95 each for these sisters. When you come from North Queensland, that's sacrilege. Where I come from, these babies fall from the trees around the town and you just need to go for a walk and find one.  You either have a tree (or trees) in your backyard, or you know someone who does. No one actually PAYS for them. Except me. Now that I'm in Brisbane.

My summer childhood was filled with mangoes, lychees, peaches, cherries and apricots. I loooove them all, but mangoes are one of my favourites.

These were delicious. But I had to share with Graham. I don't like sharing.

Happy 40th Birthday!

We went to an awesome 40th birthday party on the weekend. It was in an old church hall that's also been used as a local theatre since the early 80s. It was simple and fun and reminded me of when I was a kid doing dancing lessons in the old church hall. Times were so simple back then.

The theatre part was so very authentic. The lights were rigged up to old wooden beams and there were photos of all the previous shows performed there since 1980. 

They had old fashioned spit roast catering, served up in the old hall kitchen. There was loads of food that I remember from childhood Christmas parties - roast potatoes, roast chicken, lamb on a spit, potato salad...and cake served up on individual plastic plates. How very authentic!

And...love this GIANT cookie birthday cake.  Happy 40th birthday Malcolm!

Homewares and Treats

How much am I loving all these homewares stores that are opening cafes as well. Shopping and coffee...love it. 

I love the homewares at Lily-G, but I'm so loving the cafe inside. They're serving Blue Sky Coffee, which is divine (and local I think), but this pistachio and Lime muffin was melt in your mouth delicious.

My other favourite homewares/cafe is Hampton's Home Living. I looove that place!

Lunch with my baby boy

Sometimes I feel like I live an insanely hectic life. We're always going somewhere, doing something, getting ready to go somewhere or getting ready to do something. Work, schedules, lunches.

Josh was born in Melbourne and we lived there until he was about 3 and then we moved to Sydney. I had him pretty young and I carted him everywhere. He grew up in cafes, museums, festivals, concerts, everything. And he was a good baby and good little toddler. 

In the last few years he's grown up and we haven't had the time to do the stuff we used to do. So for the first weekend in what seems like months, we went to lunch. 

We had sushi. Josh's choice. It's been his favourite food since he was about 2. He used to like picking all the dishes off the sushi train and dipping them in soy sauce. 

Hard to believe he's 12. He still loves sushi though. Some things will never change.

Our Haus

Another weekend, another catch up with friends...another haloumi breakfast. Caught up with foodie cousin Tehana and her hubby just back from their tour of China and hankering for some Western food. I drive past Our Haus at Hawthorne every morning before work and it always looks busy. Another great Brissie cafe - food was great, service was great, coffee was great, atmosphere was great. *Smiles*.

PS: I noticed bacon and egg ice cream on the breakfast menu...wtf?

Fabulous Finds

Sometimes you find the coolest stuff in the oddest places. We've been working on a big project now for a few months, but in the last couple of weeks we've been doing the most insane hours. 3am nights have been the norm. It's killings us, but there just doesn't seem like enough time in the day.

We actually lose track of time. Graham said, "need some dates" (the food variety, not the relationship variety), so off we went, in search of dates.  I thought it was about 8.30pm, Graham thought maybe 9pm so we were both shocked when we found out it was 11.30pm. Not much open for dates at that time of night, except the IGA at East Brisbane. 

This place is open until midnight every night, stocking all your standard convenience store supplies, but also a treasure trove of ice cream!!

Look at this!! I didn't even know Maggie Beer made ice cream! This place rocks! We found our dates...and $63.95 worth of other "stuff".

Hamptons Home Living

I'm loving all these homewares stores lately that have or are adding a cafe. I can't imagine anything better than browsing homeswares AND enjoying breakfast or lunch with friends. Faaaaaabulous!!! 

Hamptons Home Living at Paddington is one of my favourite places for this. Gorgeous homewares, divine food and a view out the back to the city. Ahhh.

I was having lunch with my favourite Courier Mail journo, and this was my crispy corn cakes, chorizo and pepper salad, rouille and preserved lemon, without the chorizo...they substituted it with persian feta. Soo delicious. Thanks @hamptonshome.

Cupcake Wednesday

Passionfruit Cupcake

From the Oxford Street Bakery...of course.

Rice Paper Rolls and Beef Pies

Vegetarian Rice Paper Rolls

Do you ever go to a cafe or take away that just seems to have an odd, non-complementary selection of foods? I looove these vegetarian rice paper rolls from Stockman's Pies, not far from where I work. I have them a LOT. Their usual offering is only pork or chicken, but if I ring ahead they will make vegetarian ones for me and charge less for meatless. 

The thing that is a little odd is they have a fabulous selection of rice paper rolls, chicken and beef pho and all things Vietnamese, but also a huge range of blokey meat pies.  And, they're well known for both. Add to that a cabinet of lamingtons, tarts, cakes and other sweet treats and I think we have Brisbane's most bizarre mix of specialty items in one shop.

They're still awesome rice paper rolls.

Nectar of the Gods

I really don't know what the deal is with that trucker hat

Meet my friend Tim. Tim likes Nandos. A lot. A lot, lot. He calls it "The Nectar of the Gods". So  when we catch up, we go to Nandos. I like Nandos, not the point I would elevate it to the gods, but their vegie burger and is nice and so are their chips. I'm also good with their spicy level, I find it acceptable.

I'm usually really good with spicy stuff, I can have the hottest of the hot and be OK, so a little harmless cob of corn should have been easy. This was hot. And I don't just mean a little hot, I mean burning my lips, tongue, inside of my mouth and down my throat hot with a burn that lingered for hours.

Was still nice though.

Peasantly Surprised

Photo from Peasant website

I absolutely LOOOVE tapas, but I've never yet left with the feeling that I've had value for money. I guess I compare it to yum cha, where the dishes range from $3-$6, so you can lots of variety and really enjoy the experience.

I'd heard a lot about Peasant at The Barracks. My foodie cousin Tehana raved about it and so did lots of reviews, so I was  pretty curious about it - how good could tapas really be?

My bestie Amelia was over from Dublin and she's always wanting to try new places when she's in town, so it seemed like an opportune time. Her poor hubby David caught a nasty case of gastro on the flight over, so what started out as double date ended up with just her and I on a girl's night.

Oh this place is divine!! Love the communal seating, and although it was chilly outside, it was warm inside and just dark enough to be cosy but light enough to still be able to see each other and your food. The thing that amazed me were the mix of people in there. 7pm on a Friday night and there were some super hot Gen Ys at the bar, loved up young couples in the booths, fellow Gen Xs, middle aged having a dinner party and young families with babies. Babies! It was the most bizarre mix of demographic I'd ever seen in a restaurant and yet no one batted an eyelid and it just seemed to fit?

The whole place was painted with fabulous murals, with an open kitchen giving just enough clang and clutter for that perfect atmosphere.  I've never been to Spain - is this what it's like over there? Cause I'm loving it.

The tapas dishes were $12 - $18 each...not loving that.  We started with 3. Well, I started with 3...with all the intentions of ordering more once I'd wolfed that down. I never imagined that 3 tapas dishes between 2 people would be nearly enough...especially if one of them was me.

We had:

Warm salad of cauliflower, greens, pine nuts, saffron and raisins.

Um...I can't remember what this was, I think it had sweet potato, but it was delicious!!

And chickpea & potato empanadas served with mint & cumin yoghurt

So, so good and surprisingly filling.  Didn't need anything else. Not even dessert. Sooo fabulous! Peasantly surprised ;-p. Am a tapas convert.

Egg Bistro Brekkie

I'm not a morning person. I stumble out of bed and blindly claw my way to the kettle for a coffee before I coherent to anyone, and anyone is coherent to me. So, as much as I LOVE going out to breakfast, I HATE getting up early to get there. 

You see my dilemma?

So, all the reviews I've been reading about Egg Bistro have been, "awesome breakfast, get there early on the weekends or line up." So I did. The ridiculously early time of 8am. And it was already busy and there were a lot of tables reserved. But as luck would have it that we got a table just as someone was leaving. 

Nice atmosphere, buzzing with families and friends, the clanging of cups and cutlery and the sound of steam from the coffee machine. Nice wait staff, nice decor. PERFECT coffee. Tick!

For the THIRD time this month, I had haloumi. It was haloumi on soft polenta with marinated mushrooms and wilted spinach. So simple yet so delicious. Graham had a big breakfast and his hash brown looked sooo delicious, I had to have some. (Graham hates the concept of sharing food, BTW, but he's veeery good, and veery patient).

When the waiter came to clear the table, he said (in a very sexy French accent) "Enjoyed it, yes? You must have, I saw you taking it off his plate." 

Busted.

More haloumi please

Second haloumi dish of the weekend. Haloumi salad with rocket and spinach greens with red onion at the Story Bridge Hotel. Delicious!

The Crosstown Eating House

I don't know if it's good PR or just the buzz generated by patrons, but I've seen The Crosstown Eating House in the papers a lot lately and I was pretty keen to try.

I actually thought this place was more of a supper club, but I may have just read that from a journo that ate there during supper, I can't remember, I know the kitchen is open until midnight Thursday to Saturday, which is unusual for Brisbane, but I was still pretty surprised when we were in the Woolloongabba Antiques Precinct and it was open for lunch.

Fab atmosphere inside, decor wasn't out of the ordinary, but it was buzzing inside, the staff were happy and welcoming and the menu looked nice (a little pricey for the area I thought, but it does seem to be getting exy around there). 

It was just after 12pm so we weren't hugely hungry, so the G and I (actually, just me) decided we'd share 2 starters. There were only 2 vegetarian choices on the menu so that wasn't difficult.

We had the pan fried haloumi with beetroot, quinoa, lemon and almond starter and the spiced eggplant, tomato, yoghurt, flatbread and roast lemon.  Both were delicious!  The haloumi was rubbery and squeaky and warm. The quinoa, lemon and almond salad it was on was served cold, which was kind of weird, but the beetroot was nice and fresh and definitely didn't come out of a tin.

The spiced eggplant was divine, even Graham loved it and he doesn't even like eggplant. It was served with just the right amount of flatbread, with a grilled lemon slice to drizzle.

Afterwards you can sit on the chair outside and look contented and happy....like this.

Breakfast with the Bestie

I seem to be spending loads of time in Ascot lately. They've started the brilliant Eagle Farm Markets at the Racecourse, which have divine fresh fruit and vegies, deli lines and flowers, and I go to my Hypoxi appointments there.

This particular morning I met my bestie Cheree at Gio's on Racecourse Rd. She'd gone to the Matilda Markets earlier in the morning with another friend who had just had a baby. The Matilda Markets are a very sweet, but very baby oriented market selling handmade children's wares. They thought I wouldn't be interested. They were right.

But breakfast...I'm interested. This was a corn fritter with poached eggs, wilted baby spinach and hollandaise sauce. Divine. Service was sooo slow, and sometimes non-existent, but the owner was apologetic and obviously had had a few complaints that morning, so I understand when you're let down by your staff.

Sometimes when I do things with Cheree, I wonder how many times we've done this before. How many times have we had breakfast? How many times have we met in some bizarre part of town to try a new cafe? Cheree's been my BFF since we were 13. We're 35 now. We went to school together. Uni together. We lived together and we've been through loads together. Especially breakfasts. And we just added another one to the tally. It's nice, right?

Regional Flavours Festival and Ginga

Another weekend, another food festival in Brisbane. I'm loving it! And so is my cousin Tehana, my favourite festival partner in crime. We've started planning our months around food, fashion and furniture festivals. 

This weekend was the Regional Flavours Festival at South Bank. Clappy hands already to the organisers for spelling "Flavours" the correct AUSTRALIAN way, not the American way. (Sorry US of A, but that  "u" is very important to us spelling nuts). 

So, gourmet goodies from producers in regional areas. Fabulous! This meant cheeses from the Sunshine Coast hinterland, wines from the Granite Belt and chocolate from the Lockyer Valley. Samples galore!  Heaven! I don't know how many chutneys, chocolates, crackers, breads and jams we sampled, but there were loads and it was fabulous!

After we'd sampled everything and stuff ourselves...well, it was time for lunch. We went to Ginga, a cute Japanese Restaurant in Little Stanley Street. 

I had the Vegetarian Bento Box. For $19 it was awesome value and to be honest, we probably could have shared it. Tehana had an insanely huge bowl of soba noodles and neither of us finished our dishes.

It's bizarre how often the number 18 pops up in my life. I was born on the 18th. My Mum was born on the 18th. We used to live at number 18 and my room number at college was...18. Today, we sat at Table 18. Awwww.

Dandelion & Driftwood

Dandelion & Driftwood in Hendra.  This quaint little cafe popped up on Natascha Mirosch's Top Spots for coffee in The Courier Mail's Life so I met the Red Carpet girls there to check it out. (The Red Carpet girls are the PR girls I used to work with at Red Carpet Projects a few years ago. Fun times. Catch up with them when I can).

So...I got there at 9.45am. It was on the other side of town to me, in Hendra, and people were hanging out the front waiting for their coffees from the coffee cart out the front. I went in, and it was packed. The waitress said, "do you have a booking?" A booking? At 9.45am? On a Monday morning? In the suburbs?? I was astounded. It wasn't even in a shopping strip, it was just a main, but random road in the burbs.

I sat at a bar by the window and stalked the other patrons until a few left and I bagsed (is that a real word, or just one from high school?) a few chairs until the girls arrived.

This place takes their coffee seriously. I'm no aficionado, I just know when it tasted good, and while I have no idea what "blend" it was, it was really, really nice.

Lunch was given a fancy schmancy name, but was really just a toasted sandwich and was served with a few chips. Not fries...chips, like Samboy chips. It was a bit bizarre.

But we topped it off with an apple and cinnamon muffin which was divine and blended beautifully with my tea. Love this cute little tea set.

Thank you cupcake!

There's nothing that says "thank you" more than a cupcake. Look how cute this one is - it's got lolly lips on it! (Cue collective "ahhhhh"). Yes, nothing beats the Oxford Stret Bakery in Bulimba for cupcakes. Moist, sweet and oh so cute.  Grabbed this for my bestie Bernice for hanging out with Josh all day while I was working.

Actually this is something that says thank you more...

Eight cupcakes!!  Yeah!