Seafood @ River Quay Fish, South Bank (Brisbane)

When I visited Brisbane on a solo trip, I met up with my in-laws for lunch at South Bank. I adore the South Bank - I think it is a beautifully planned out space with fantastic facilities for the public along the Brisbane River close to the CBD. There are plenty of dining options in South Bank, and we strolled through the restaurants along the river before deciding on lunching at River Quay Fish. The service we received was great, and the restaurant was very accommodating to my step-MIL's dietary requirements. It is a fine choice for seafood and lovely views of the river, and we quite enjoyed the food we ordered.

A dozen natural oysters, all of them fresh, plump and delicious:

My King Fish with potato mash and greens was excellently prepared:

The Seafood Paella with bomba rice and seafood stock resembled more like a risotto, but it was full of delicious seafood flavours:

River Quay Fish
South Bank, Sidon St
South Brisbane QLD 4101
Tel. +61 7 3844 3993

Lunch special @ Chu The Phat, South Brisbane

A few months ago, I was in Brisbane for one night, for the sole purpose of cheering on my younger sister when she participated in a dance competition. I managed to catch up with one of my friends from university, who is now based in Brisbane. We met for a quick lunch at Chu The Phat, which was conveniently close by her workplace and the convention centre where the dance competition was held. I liked the hip and modern interior, and staff was welcoming and very friendly. We liked the two dishes that was offered on the affordably priced $15 lunch specials, so we ordered one of each and shared them. Service was quick and efficient, which was great for my friend who only had a 1-hour lunch break. The food was delicious and flavoursome, hearty and wholesome, the perfect companions for plain rice. If I lived in Brisbane, I would most return for multiple revisits to explore the menu.

Outdoor dining by the entrance on Fish Lane:

Love the cool and awesome decor:

Braised beef shin, fermented chilli and baby turnip:

Pork and kimchi stew with tofu:

Chu The Phat
111 Melbourne St
South Brisbane QLD 4101
Australia
Tel. +61 7 3255 2075

Delicious Greek @ Greek on Cav, Brisbane (Australia)

My step-mother-in-law is Greek, and it's a guarantee that we will be very well-fed whenever we visit Brisbane. The foodie in me was looking forward to feasting on good authentic Greek food, and we weren't disappointed! The in-laws brought us to Greek on Cav, a very popular and bustling restaurant with a cheery setting. Service was friendly, and the food was delicious! I believe we had the Banquet course (AU$45 per person, minimum 4), and we enjoyed a wide variety of Greek classics like dolmades, souvlaki skewers and haloumi cheese. There was a lot of food, and I'm sure I didn't get to take shots of all of the food (too busy eating!). We were very full by the end of it.

Bright and cheery at Greek on Cav:

Taramosalata and tzatziki dips with warm pita bread. The 23-month-old loved the pink salty taramosalata dip and she wanted to eat nothing else:

The meat and seafood in the banquet course included lamb and chicken souvlaki skewers, Greek meatballs, chargrilled octopus, fish, braised scallops with sundried tomato:

The vegetarian items included dolmades, chickpea fritters, haloumi cheese, olives and baked lemon and oregano potatoes:

The banquet also included a dessert course, loukoumades with ouzo ice cream, but I didn't take a photo of it! The Greeks love their sweets, and the in-laws made sure we tried every dessert on the menu!

Galaktoboureko:

Risogalo (rice pudding), and baklava and ouzo ice creams:

Greek on Cav
Shop 4/377 Cavendish Rd
Coorparoo QLD 4151
Australia
Tel. +61 7 3397 2613

Eat Street Markets, Brisbane (Australia)

After playing in the sun and sand in Brisbane, my in-laws took us to Eat Street Markets for dinner. Entrance fee was AU$2.50 for adults, children entered for free, and that gave us access to a wide variety of local and international street food. Set in converted shipping containers by the wharf, this is an interesting concept that is proving quite popular with the locals and tourists alike. Get in early to get parking.

Just past the entrance:

The Wurst Meister stand:

Hot dog with German sausage, as requested by the 7-year-old boy:

The seating area was large, but there were so many people that it was difficult to find a vacant table big enough for our group:

The Phunky Dory stand:

The Fish 'n' Chips (with sweet potato fries) from Phunky Dory was delicious:

Hubby chose Redgate Farm for his dinner:

The steak sandwich from Redgate Farm was scrumptious:

Step-MIL had the Greek platter from a Greek food stand, and she was not impressed with it (she's Greek so she knows good Greek food):

Hubby was underwhelmed by the Cruffin:

The Cronut was a bit more satisfactory:

Eat Street Markets open every Friday and Saturday night from 4pm to 10pm, and Sunday through winter only from 11am to 3pm.

Eat Street Markets
99 MacArthur Ave
Hamilton QLD 4007
Australia
Tel. +61 7 3358 2500

Sand and water play @ Brisbane's South Bank Parklands

There is this awesome man-made beach across the bridge from central Brisbane, and it is free and open to the public. My in-laws took us there on a sunny day, and the kids had so much fun! In Hong Kong, our kids don't have much exposure to the beach, so the whole experience was a novelty. The best part was how clean and pristine everything was kept. The South Bank Parklands is highly recommended for adults and kids alike!

Average dim sum @ Yum Cha Cuisine [Westfield Carindale], Brisbane (Australia)

We find it quite amusing that though we have lived in yum cha city for a few years already, whenever we visit our families in Australia, very often it is Chinese food or we go have dim sum. For my side of the family, Chinese is the easiest option because we can order a variety of food to share banquet-style while pleasing the parents who have a clear preference for Chinese cuisine. For hubby's side of family, it is a novelty for them to eat Chinese food and dim sum, and perhaps they think that I would much prefer to eat Chinese food, though I probably am far more open-minded than they are about trying all kinds of food. It is just as well because we hardly eat Chinese food here in Hong Kong - our family is too small to enjoy banquet-style eating - and let's face it, yum cha is much better with a bigger group. Last year we were in Brisbane to visit hubby's dad and family, and the first thing they did after picking us up at the airport was to bring us to Yum Cha Cuisine at Westfield Carindale for some dim sum lunch. The decor was simple, and service could do with some improvement. Some dishes were slow in coming out, which we found pretty inexcusable given that we were the only customers at the time of the day (around 2pm, after the peak lunch time). The dirty dishes were not cleared even when there was no more space for new dishes served, and one waiter looked like he would rather be somewhere else. The food itself was quite average, but the sweets were pretty good. If I recall correctly, the bill came to about AU$120 for four adults, which is quite pricey for dim sum. I am not too familiar with the foodie scene in Brisbane, so I cannot give an opinion of how Yum Cha Cuisine fares against other such restaurants in the same city, but there are much better dim sum for cheaper in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. There are a few branches of Yum Cha Cuisine all around Brisbane, so perhaps some are better than others, and I'm hoping the one in Westfield Carindale is not the best one.

The entrance to Yum Cha Cuisine from the mall:

Yau Yu Sou (crispy fried squid) - this wasn't crispy enough:

Har Cheong (rice noodle roll with prawns) - the noodle roll was a bit too thick:

Lo Bak Gou (turnip cake) - this was tasty:

The roast goose was ok, a bit dry in parts:

Char Siu Bao (barbecue pork bun) - these were good, and the kids finished these off in good time:

Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) - the skin was too thick, but the filling was tasty enough:

Har Gao (prawn dumpling) - again the skin was too thick, but the taste was good:

Mango Pudding:

Egg Tart:

A version of Ma Lai Gao ("Malay Cake", steamed sponge cake), with taro jam in between the layers. We loved this and wanted to order more, but the first one took ages to arrive and we didn't want to wait any more:

Yum Cha Cuisine [Westfield Carindale]
Ground Level
Westfield Carindale Shopping Centre
1201/1151 Creek Rd
Carindale QLD 4152
Tel. +61 7 3398 8882

Revisit: Turkish @ Ahmet's, Brisbane

I haven't had many opportunities to eat Turkish food since we moved overseas from Australia 5 years ago. In fact, I am quite certain that the very few times I've eaten anything Turkish in the previous 5 years were on trips back to Australia (actually we ate Turkish once in Tokyo). I'm sure that there are plenty of good Turkish eating places in Hong Kong, and I must make a point to check them out because I like Turkish food. On our very final evening in Brisbane during our very short trip there in July, we had dinner at Ahmet's Turkish Restaurant prior heading out to the airport for our return flight to Hong Kong. This was after walking around the CBD of Brissy and then walking to and around the South Bank area, so we had worked up quite an appetite for dinner. This was our second time dining at Ahmet's, and we'd liked it so much last time that we requested to eat there again. We'd arrived just before 6pm on a Saturday evening, yet the whole restaurant was already brimming full of people. Thankfully there was one table available for our group, and even though it was outside in the cool winter air, the gas heater near our table kept us warm. Unlike last time, it was easy to get the attention of one of the waitstaff as we were positioned near the entrance and the waitstaff were constantly in and out to service the large number of tables on the patio.

Turkish bread with Beetroot, Hommus and Baba Ghanoush dips. Everyone at the table each liked different dips, and I kept going back for more baba ghanoush:

Falafel. I still remember the first time I ever had falafels, and that was in NYC (hm, now I think about it, the only times I'd eaten falafels had been in NYC). These ones at Ahmet's were good, but quite different to the ones we've eaten before:

We got the Kid-sized Pide (oven-baked Turkish "pizza") for the boy. He loved it so much that he ate most of the pide by himself. 'Twas a shame that he got a pretty bad reaction to dinner only 2 hours later at the airport (thank goodness I had some antihistamines to administer immediately, but we had such a scare as he had never reacted like that before). We were told that the kitchen used sesame in their bread, and that Zak's pide would be cooked in the same oven, but we decided to be less strict and risk it, as we often have done in the past when eating out with Zak. That night we learnt our lesson and will not be so careless next time, and definitely not just before a flight!

Kidz Pide with cheese and chicken, thumbs up from our toddler's tastebuds (but thumbs down from his immune system):

Hubby's Iskender - oven roasted lamb on Turkish bread with traditional Iskender sauce, yoghurt and rice. Nice meal for lamb-lovers, but I can't be the only person to think that there's just a bit too much carbs on one plate. Turkish bread AND rice? If the generous serving of lamb meat doesn't fill the tum, then the carbs will certainly do it:

My order of Pilic Sehrazat - slow-cooked chicken, sautéed spinach, mushroom sauce with beetroot and pumpkin dips. Flavourful and moist chicken pieces with a creamy mushroom sauce. Thank goodness this one didn't come with any rice or bread as it was already quite filling without any carbs:

The 2.75-year-old and I took a little break from eating to check out the kitchen. Here's the corner where his pide came from...:

... and this is where the rest of the food came from:

Everyone was eager to have some Turkish sweets to finish the meal with, so we ordered the Turkish Dessert Tasting Plate as well as Chocolava (chocolate and hazelnut baklava) and Kazan Dibi (caramalised milk pudding, described in the menu as Turkish crème caramel). Some of us ordered Turkish Apple Tea too. I always find Turkish desserts to be too sweet, and these were no exception. However the rest enjoyed the sweets quite a lot.

The Turkish crème caramel (kazan dibi):

The dessert tasting plate which included baklava, pishmaniye (described as Turkish fairy floss), traditional rosewater Turkish delight, and dried figs macerated in some sweet liquor. The plate of the chocolate & hazelnut baklava is in the background:

We were treated to some lovely belly-dancing too, and I have photos of the performance (and of my FIL getting pulled up by the belly dancer to dance in front of everyone with her), but I'm not comfortable with showing so much skin on my G-rated blog. You'll just have to take my word for it. Great place for Turkish food (although not recommended for those who have nut and sesame allergies).

Ahmet's Turkish Restaurant
10/164 Grey Street
South Brisbane QLD 4101
Australia
Tel. + 61 7 3846 6699