Plough Inn

Nate oh so happy

Spent an awesome evening at the Plough Inn with my mate Nate who was visiting from Melbourne.

Headed there for a cider. Next thing you know Nate realises it's ribs and rumps night and we're staying for dinner. Not that I was complaining in the least.

That was 3 hours ago now and I am still SO full. I actually thought I could roll home.

We both went for the pork ribs and at $24 you really do get your money's worth. Comes with a side of fries and coleslaw. I'm not big on coleslaw but the fries and ribs were delicious!

I attempted to eat as much as I could but it still looked like I had hardly touched the plate.

And to make it even more awesome, you get to wear a disposable bib!

Can't ask for much more really.

It's bigger than it looks!

Cheeky cider

My finished meal

A moist Future

Wet doesn't even describe it.

Future Music Festival Brisbane 2013. Imagine heavy rain, with thousands of inebriated people running around having mud fights and you get a half idea of what was going on.

There was a river flowing up to the stage, almost over my gumboots - we obviously had to jump in! The ponchos weren't doing much anyway.

Gemma flew over from Perth to come to the festival with me as it is the last time we will see each other for ages, with me moving to Canada and her travelling around Europe soon. We lasted two hours. Maybe 3?

We were saturated and cold, once we watched PSY perform Gangham Style we decided we had got our $130 tickets worth and headed home much to the disgust of Ruhee & Carl! We had both already seen Prodigy and many of the other acts so were happy to go home and then head to a warm pub in clean, dry clothes.

Wet at home after FMF

Pre-festival

Nagomi Bento - Eagle Street Pier

Well I didn’t think this place would be that much of a winner on a Friday night, I just thought it would be quick, fresh food. Little did I know!

Ruhee, Harry & I headed there after a few at Friday’s for a quick bite. We ordered a whole heap of different tapas, only $6 a plate. Okonomiyaki, fresh assorted sushi, spring rolls, edamame, dim sims, teriyaki chicken and of course, Gyoza!

But the real winner on the night were the ‘mini’ cocktails. I presume the only thing mini about them was the cup size and the price as it definitely wasn’t mini on alcohol. Try a watermelon one – AMAZE!!!!

Hot choc heaven - Denim

Denim in South Bank has the most yummy hot chocs! And they're kind of novel too.

Comes out with just choc and marshmallows in a cup and the hot milk (soy in my case) separate ready for you to pour in and mix up.

I had soy chai latte here the other night though and it wasn't half as good. Tasted just like warm milk with honey.

I'll be sticking to the hot chocs!

Fat Noodle - Brisbane Treasury Casino

Heard a lot about this place, being Luke Nguygen’s newest baby and all but I wasn’t that impressed.

Interior is very casino.. it looks like it belongs there. The strands hanging from the roof with woks were interesting and my friend mentioned they looked like ‘falling noodles’ which would make sense really!

I wasn’t that impressed with my meal.. pork and prawn wanton noodle soup. Big servings, and the wantons were nice but the broth and noodles were average. Pete had the Singapore noodles which he really enjoyed.

Service was good. We had to wait to be seated but once we were they immediately bought over a steaming tea pot of green tea and were attentive.

I did love the lychee and lemon soda however – they have an interesting drinks selection with sour plum lemonade also on my list to try!

Bootay Shaking & Ridiculous Dancers, J Lo World Tour

To be honest I didn’t have high expectations for this show.. I am not a J Lo fan but we got free tickets from work and thought it would be a fun girls night out.

Firstly, she took AGES to come out. A good 45 mins to an hour. I know she’s a mega star but don’t keep the crowd waiting. It doesn’t build anticipation, it creates boredom. There was also a massive amount of Vidal Sassoon ads and a formal wear shop ad. Replayed over, and over again. Annoying.

Anyway...

 

The bootay. The bootay isn’t as great as I expected considering it is insured for a stupid amount. However, she is very good at shaking it!!

The abs. Wow. She’s, 45 (ish?), has had twins and those abs are incredibly defined. I can only hope to be so ripped at 45. Actually I could only hope to be that ripped now! Would require a lot of dedication. But when your body is partly your business, the dedication would be more than worth the results.

The dancers. Hell, if I was J Lo, I would keep one for myself too. God Damn they are ridiculously good looking and ripped. I had to stop myself from nearly drooling. I want to be a singer just so I can have an entourage of amazing male dancers.

All in all a good show. She can sing, dance and she’s gorgeous. She put a massive amount of energy into the show.

On a side note though, how many capes with feathers does one woman need?!

Sick on a Sunday

Whenever I am ill I revert back to being a child.
I want my Mum and I want my Dad and I want cuddles.

This morning I woke up feeling rather sick in my stomach... my first thought was, 'did I drink that much last night?' As I had planned on only going out for a few and as far as I could remember had kept to my plan. But my stomach was certainly churning. Annddd I was going to be sick.

Anyway I spent the next few hours with my head over the toilet wishing someone would come and look after me. I realised a few things in my state, firstly that I hate spewing. And eating toast when you're sick is never smart as it WILL come straight back up. And also that my bathroom floor needs to be mopped.

Who needs to do sit ups when you can just spew your way to toned abs?! My tummy is so sore now! Feel like I've done a thousand of them.

On the plus side I looked rather slim in my dress this evening at my Christmas function as I sipped on water and watched everyone else get drunk! I do not pity them and their hangovers at work tomorrow!

Ginga - average at best

We visited Ginga on my Birthday, after roaming aimlessly around South Bank and deciding on Japanese.

Really disappointed.

Edamame was over cooked. The shell was falling apart.

When I enquired as to whether someone had an iPhone charger that I could place my phone on the staff looked at me like I was crazy.

Staff weren't attentive, I had to keep asking them to come over, very stand offish.

We ordered bento boxes and with the amount of cheap, fresh and delicious Japanese places around Brisbane you would assume you woulf get something decent for $30.
The teriyaki chicken was very dry and mine was partially cold. The tempura tasted oily and the dipping sauce has little flavor. Miso however was nice and so was the scallop.

I wouldn't eat here again, especially with so many other nicer places around South Bank.

 

Cha Cha Charming

Cha Cha Char lives up to all that I have heard. It's a nice restaurant, with great, attentive service and fantastic food.

You will notice that half the pics I have here have already been slightly demolished. The meals were so scrumptious I kept forgetting to take pics!

We chose a bottle of New Zealand (of course, I'm ever patriotic) pinot gris, and by we, I mean Sean chose us a lovely bottle of wine!

We were given a complimentary tapas plate.. not sure what it was now but it was a nice gesture.

The wait staff were lovely, and always filling our wine glasses. Maybe that's why I liked them so much? Luckily they ensured my water glass was always full too.

So we started by sharing an entrée of half a dozen oysters, done in pairs in different ways. There was the 'natural oyster' with lemon, a wagyu oyster which was topped with minced chilli wagyu... surprisingly nice, I liked it considering I don't enjoy mince or much chilli! And of course your kilpatrick oyster, done to perfection. Could have easily gone another half dozen! Or three...

For my entrée I had the scallops with chorizo and mash. Equally as delish as the oysters. Scallops melted in my mouth and I even enjoyed the chorizo and mash which aren't usually high on my list!




For my main I went for the crab ravioli with morton bay bugs. As far as I was concerned that was all that was on the menu. I know it's a 'steak' restaurant, and don't get me wrong, I love steak. But put something like that in front of me and I'm gonna choose it! It did not disappoint. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the filling amazing and the morton bay bug perfection. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with my meal.

Not sure if I need to put a disclaimer on about drinking half a bottle of wine and perhaps my senses being partially blurred here.. however I do think if I had it again minus the bottle of wine I would still be just as impressed.

Sean, of course, went for a steak. He was impressed, and the man knows his steaks! He even liked the sides that accompanied his meal. Maybe that was the wine too?

Sean was most impressed with the ceiling fans.. they ran on a connected belt across the ceiling. Not entirely sure why this was impressive but men like strange things so I guess we will just put it down to that!

We mmm'd and ahhh'd about desert before finally deciding on the choice we both knew we would eventually come to, yes we would indulge. I chose the toasted marshmallow with warm poached pear... mmm it was like being at a camp fire but without the cold wind, wet ground and with poached pears... perhaps not so much like being by a camp fire at all.

Worth a visit if only for the crab ravioli and oysters!

Kokoro Bento, South Brisbane deliciousness

I discovered this new little Japanese place while hunting down the IGA in South Brisbane.

Now, by now, if you read my blog, you will know that I LOVE gyoza. So maaannn was I happy when I stumbled across this place and they do 4 delicious steamed gyoza for $3.50! They are already cooked too so you don't even have to wait for them. Convenient and delicious AND cheap!

They have a wide variation of fresh sushi rolls,  priced at $2.50 or $3.00 depending on the fill. The soft shell crab, and tempura prawn are my faves however their salmon avo, teriyaki chicken and surimi rolls are all just as good.

The tempura prawn udon noodle soup is also one of my faves and they do it very well. They have your usual selection of Japanese meals - noodles, soups,  curries and rice meals. All really reasonably priced - under $10.

The staff are lovely and efficient, you grab your own condiments, (yes the soy and wasabi is free) along with your choice of eating utensils and off you go. I haven't actually sat down to enjoy a meal here, I always get takeaway, however it looks nice and if I had time I would sit and stay but the burdens of work are forever dragging me away.

It has quickly become busy but with fresh food like this at great prices, I shouldn't really be surprised at all! My new local lunch spot :)

You can find it down an alley, 32 Cordelia Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101. Behind the convention centre. Hopefully they will get an online presence soon as they will continue to grow!

Ann Gyoza Bar

Gyoza is yummy! Nice and soft and fresh but pan fried and crispy too! You’d hope so though, considering it is a gyoza joint.  It comes out on a sizzling plate, with onion and capsicum garnishes. The waitress then pours the sauce over the top, a delicious citrus, soy.  We went for the chicken and vegetable

You do have to wait a while for the dumplings to cool, which if you’re like me and impatient to eat your food, it’s hard work.

Only note would be that I thought there would be more varieties. There was no beef or duck which I would consider to be staples.

We tried the crab claw balls – they were good and then the chicken teriyaki karage. Teriyaki sauce was delicious and if my Mum was there, she would have told me off for classily dipping my finger in the bowl to get extra sauce!

We also had the edamame, which unusually, was served cold.

Staff were attentive and the décor is very Japanese, that dark wood feel their restaurants often have.

Cheap meal though, worked out to $17 each for three of us, and we were all full to pop by the time we were leaving!

Locked out.. AGAIN

I am so good at locking myself out, I should have at least 2 sets of house keys. Although that wouldn't help me in this situation.

I tend to lock myself out these days as I have started taking the ferry to work. So I have no need for my car key and therefore the thought that I don't have my house keys doesn't even cross my mind until I get home again in the evening, spend an hour shuffling through my ridiculously cliche handbag which is overfull with crap I don't need or use, and finally conclude that yet again I don't have my keys. Usually this ensues with a slight panic my phone is dead and I can't contact my housemates to see when they will be home. Luckily for me, 90% of the time they are not far away.

This time however is different. This time I'm just dumb.
I thought I would surprise my flatmate with a pretty sparkly Christmas tree as she is here for Christmas on her own from Scotland. So I put the tree up (mandatory singing of Aaron Neville) and realized I'd left the lights in my car. In my haste to get downstairs, get the lights (I live on the 5th floor, car in basement) and have them set up before my Flatty got home so I could have the lights off and the tree sparkling away I forgot my house keys. I thought what do I need.. Car keys, phone. Got them. Walked outside, hopped in the lift and suddenly realized I couldn't swipe down to the basement to get to my car as low and behold, I had forgotten my house keys.

Of course tonight is the one night Flatty #1 isn't home - he making an appearance at Stereosonic.
Flatty #2 is finishing her shift at the hospital and should be home in the next 20mins as I write this. However I have already been here an hour. Luckily there's a couch and free newspapers in our lobby! !

Himalayan Cafe - New Farm

Great food, fantastic atmosphere and BYO goodness.

The first thing that hits you when you arrive at the Himalayan Cafe is the atmosphere, it has dark-ish interior lighting, some incense is burning by the shrine and the music transports you away.
It is very relaxed and the venue is full of happy voices - it looked to be very popular and luckily we had booked in advance, (we being Wes) I don't think we would have got a table otherwise.

We ordered steamed meat dumplings (of course) to start with. They are a much thicker pastry to gyoza but yummy all the same especially when coupled with the satay-like sauce. We had another starter. almost like the same taste as a samosa, I can't remember the name and I can't find the menu online to check it. Would recommend both however.

Wes's main meal

By Wes's lack of conversation during dinner I can but assume his lamb main was good. He talked my ear off the rest of the time so I took this as a good sign! Men can be so easy to read at times.

I tried the Himalayan noodles with prawns as my main - figured I would go for something I couldn't get elsewhere as I was also considering the pesto chicken. The meals are massive and very reasonably priced. The prawns were delicious, and the noodles soft with a great flavour  I'd have it again for sure.

Entree I can't remember name of!

The toilets are an interesting experience. Not that there is anything wrong with them, they're just interesting. First of all I couldn't distinguish between the Himalayan man and woman and wasn't sure which door to go through. A little awkward but I figured it out. Then there is the lighting.. There is no 'normal' lighting.. I spent an indefinite amount of time searching for the light switch but it seems they are persistent in having you use the restrooms while they are bathed in a deep red light. Or glow rather. Worth a look even if you aren't busting! Haha

Anyway it's a great place to check out - be sure to make a reservation and bring a good bottle of wine for the BYO!

My main - Himalayan noodles