Blog Archive

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Fifty Shades of Cutting Board!

The Cutting Board on Urbanspoon
Ok, so maybe not 50 different menu items but the new addition to the George St side of old Brisbane-town known as The Cutting Board has been delivering some extremely delicious menu items since late Jan.

This 'lineup and go' style take-away shop is an interesting mix of fast food meets American style cuisine meets good old Aussie carvery with a dash of your local coffee shop thrown in!

Ham, Apple/Fennel Salad + Veg
This somewhat unique mix results in a mostly positive experience as you not only get some great food like the roast ham with a side of fennel and apple salad, you also get this quality food fairly quickly.

However it can be daunting especially in the busy period (12-1:30 pm) to decide what to order because there is such a huge variety of food to order and a couple of spots from which to order. With one side for sandwiches, salad and various pre-mades and the other side for hot food and ordering burgers, aswell as a side window for quick coffee orders.

Reuben!
Choices range from standard American style fare like pulled pork, brisket, burgers and great sandwiches like the Reuben to healthier or lighter food choices like salads, steamed veggies, lean green curries or pork and beef meatballs.

Meatballs, Greek Salad + Veg
These are just some of the choices for lunch, they also do a rather fantastic breakfast menu with cooked offerings (eg. bacon & eggs) as well as muffins, wraps and toasties to go with your favourite coffee!

I was lucky enough to be the first person to get one of their sandwiches which was made in front of me on opening day, the staff were elated to fill their first order from this menu!

Calamari + Aioli w/ Caesar Salad
There is however a few changes that I think could help improve things but they are minor ones. The pulled pork and brisket can be taken with gravy either on a roll or with 2 sides in a take-away container, now this is fine however if you don't have gravy the meat isn't that flavourful on it's own. I would like to see another option possibly some kind of barbecue sauce or being able to have one of the salads on your roll with the protein would be excellent and would not really need to impact in cost or any extra preparation.

I would also like to see the condiment station that has laid dormant since the opening begin to get used, having a choice of pickles or different sauces is never a bad thing in my mind! That said, I am sure that they will continue to grow and improve their menu as they have already began to do so in their first 2 months of operation.

Though in it's infancy Cutting Board is on it's way with great friendly service and very well prepared food, making it great addition to the slightly neglected (food wise) side of Brisbane CBD.
"New Yorker" Burger & Fries





Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Tippler's Tap

Tippler's Tap on Urbanspoon
Just waiting for awesome food!
My usual drinking buddies know that for me it doesn't get much better than Tippler's Tap as far as craft beer and food goes.

So after my 6th or 7th visit and obviously the new blog, I find it appropriate to do a post about my experiences.

It doesn't seem to matter what time of the day I am there (early lunch is always good though!) or how busy they are it is always a friendly atmosphere. As soon as you enter the door the kitchen staff usually say hello as you wind your way down the tight hallway into the main bar area where you are greeted this time by the bar staff.

Reuben, chips w/aioli & brisket sandwich
Tippler's marries American style cuisine with craft beer so well and this visit didn't disappoint. I have been slowly working my way through the menu, ordering something different each trip(beer battered chips are the exception!). This time I ordered the Reuben and and a Saison Dupont as my starter beverage.

The sandwich came out adorned with a rather huge (also phallic) looking pickle over the top. A Reuben should first and foremost be about the meat and this doesn't disappoint with a heap of awesome corned beef soaking in tasty dressing and lying between some delicious rye bread.
I found the best way to eat it was to have a bite of the sandwich then a bite of the pickle, which with the vinegar helps to draw even more flavour out of the beef.

I will definitely at some point have the Reuben again however there is so much variety at Tippler's that I have a ways to go until I'm done with the menu! They often have specials going on with every Tuesday being Taco night and Wednesday Night has Ribs that are braised in one of their off tap beers.

Tippler's has 10 taps (11 with the hand pump) that are rotated almost as soon as one keg empties which like the food offers variety by having so many different types of beer to choose from. For my second beer I went for Feral's most excellent (and one of my favourite beers) Hop Hog which is even better off tap than it is bottled and well worth trying it if you haven't before.
The amazing Hop Hog from Feral
All in all another excellent trip to Tippler's and I will no doubt be back again, if you haven't been and you love craft beer and great tasting but well priced american style cuisine then I suggest you make plans to go!


Bjorn to Boogie with Rudeboy & Moonboy!

Saturday night was a bit quiet this past weekend so I decided that there was no better time to try out some of the beers I ordered from Beer Cartel earlier in the week.

Started off with Murray's Rudeboy Pilsner which was very refreshing with a strong malty flavour that usually comes from a good lager. However unlike most standard lager/pilsner style beers I felt that the hops used gave a very nice fruity smell and taste to it before you get hit with a big malty punch at the end.

This style of beer is not my normal go to but Rudeboy definately has that well flavoured european tasting Pilsner style down, enough so that I was rather chuffed that I ordered 2 bottles of this and finished the second one off on Sunday arvo.

Beer: Murray's Rudeboy (Abv. 4.8%)
Style: Pilsner
Aroma: Very light citrus smell from the hops.
Food Pairing: barbecued red meat and a hot day


Onto Moonboy, I actually had this interesting beer off tap recently at SuperWhatNot and was impressed by it so much that I ordered 2 bottles to try.


Pouring this beer into my trusty White Rabbit glass I could smell the fruitiness straight away. My first sip (and smell) was met with fruit on the nose and a rather smooth malt finish which I think considering the lower than normal alcohol content makes for a flavour packed beer.




This Beer pours a beautiful light amber colour with a clean white head that leaves great lacing on the glass with every mouthful.

Another great session beer from Murray's and one that I will add to my rotation once it is easier to purchase locally.

Beer: Murray's Moon Boy (Abv. 4.5%)
Style: Amber Ale
Aroma: Good citrus/fruit smell
Food Pairing: I'd go with chicken or meaty white fish


The third beer I had on Saturday was one that I had ordered purely out of interest both for Moon Dog brewery who I didn't know much about and for the fact that it is rather unique being a Watermelon Hefweizen!

From the bottle to the flavour this is just a fun beer with a great art on the bottle along with some appropriate lyrics on one side in the vein of the Jackson 5 song Blame it on the boogie.

Bjorn pours with a nice light cloudy yellow colour and good white head.
I was slightly dissapointed with the aroma as I personally couldn't pick up much from smelling it and although it does say that it's packed with "watermelon, fresh lime and mint" I didn't get much of that at all through the nose.

After the first mouthful I was not too sure what to make of it but after another mouthful I definately got the watermelon flavour and it was quite refreshing as is often the case with hefweizen style beers.

I only had one bottle of this and I may get another one if not purely because it is a unique flavour and I think it could take a couple to get used to it, that said this is another warm day beer that can easily be sessioned.

If nothing else I now have the desire to try more from Moon Dog which I will hopefully do in the near future.

Beer: Bjorn to Boogie - Watermelon Weizen (Abv. 5%)
Style: Hefweizen
Aroma: I really didn't get much of a smell out of this one but it could just be my nose!
Food Pairing: I personally would drink this whilst eating a bit of white chocolate (I am somewhat weird that way though!) or even a bit of watermelon which would probably help to pickup more of the flavour from the beer.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Beer Delivery!


My order from Beer Cartel arrived yesterday, reviews to follow. Pretty quick and painless service, beer arrived from Sydney in less than 48 hours.

Beers: (left to right)
Moo Brew - Pale Ale (AUS)
Moon Dog - Bjorn to Boogie Watermelon Weizen (AUS)
Deschutes - Mirror Pond Pale Ale (USA)
Deschutes - Chainbreaker White IPA (USA)
Deschutes - River Ale (USA)
Riverside - 77 IPA (AUS)
Murray's - Rudeboy Pilsner (AUS)
Murray's - Moon Boy Amber Ale (AUS)

Losing my blogging virginity.. also Statler & Waldorf + Brewski! :D


Statler & Waldorf Gastronomy Pub on Urbanspoon
1st of March and first day of autumn for 2014, coincidently this was the perfect time for my first visit to Brisbane’s Caxton St and two of the newest craft beer bars in Statler & Waldorf and Brewski.

After dragging myself up the obnoxious set of stairs at the Barracks I made my way down Caxton St searching for Statler, alternating between Google Maps and the pavement I realised I was on the wrong side of the road. Looking around I saw some brightly coloured umbrellas and subsequent large white lettering spelling out Statler & Waldorf.

Crossing the road, I was greeted by a young man sporting a rather epic looking moustache who asked me if I’d like a drink. Being slightly sweaty from the walk up to the Barracks I quickly ordered a pint of Hassel Hop from the most excellent Burleigh Brewing Co.


When you first enter Statler you see a poster of the evolution of hipster beard appropriately adorned on the wall and there's lots of hardwood bench tops and flooring. In the main dining area hangs an image of the namesake Muppets (Statler & Waldorf) right next to a large sheet of butchers paper containing the daily specials.

Being a very quiet Saturday morning I was advised that I could sit anywhere so I sat by the window looking out on busy Caxton St and the umbrellas that adorn the outside seating, whilst waiting for the rest of my party to arrive. The bartender then kindly delivered me a bottle of cold water and a glass probably in hopes that I might stop sweating all over the hardwood counter I was sitting at.

Once the rest of my group arrived we looked around while the bartender prepared some cocktails. We ordered a “Jartini”, a sort of espresso martini in a cute little jam jar as well as a cocktail made inside a coconut with the Statler & Waldorf logo burnt into it.

Statler coins itself as a gastronomy pub and the menu doesn’t disappoint with an array of incredible sounding burgers, sandwiches, roasts and other rather gluttonous meals and that’s without even talking about the specials that were available!

After ordering food we made our way out to the beer garden and as we passed the kitchen the chef and staff said hello to us. Arriving in the beer garden (which we had to ourselves!) we sat down on one of the large wooden bench seats with a view of the outdoor bar area which has a large screen and projector.

Three Little Pigs Sandwhich!
I ordered the Three Little Pigs sandwich which was well presented on a stained wooden board adorned with the S & W logo and a small basket of fries. The sandwich itself was pork belly, bacon and cantimpalo (chorizo) on a bed of apple & fennel slaw lying comfortably between 2 crispy pieces of baguette style bread. All the flavours worked perfectly together with the chewy toasted bread working as a vehicle to carry all that amazing pork into my belly! I had a pint of Murray’s of Punch & Judy Amber Ale (3.9%) which was quite interesting and full flavoured for a middy.

Calamari Fries
Cheese Souffle







We all very much enjoyed our meals and the service was quite personable and the staff were all extremely friendly. Will definitely be visiting again soon!


Brewski
Brewski on Urbanspoon
After lunch we moved across the road for a few more beers at Brewski, a bar that does wood fired pizzas, nibbles and of course a most epic range of craft beers, both off tap and bottled.

No matter which door you take into Brewski your eyes will be drawn straight to the large lighting feature spelling out IPA that hangs above the bar letting you know you have arrived in some rather serious craft beer territory.

They have 8 taps which seems to consist of 4 frequently rotated beers and then 4 more taps with Little Creatures staples as well as Pipsqueak Cider.

At the time of my visit they had Four Hearts – Halfa IPA, Brewtal Brewing’s Jack the RIIPA, Epic – Armageddon IPA and Ekim Brewing’s After Battle Pale Ale.

I started with the most excellent Armageddon IPA (6.66%). I spent a few minutes and had a good chat with the bar tender who was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about the beers they had on tap. My group and I sat out the back on the balcony looking out onto the monolithic Suncorp stadium and a hint of the iconic XXXX Brewery sign.

After having a pint of After Battle Pale and another chat with the bartender our group moved inside to an extremely comfortable faded red leather lounge. We then ordered a nutella, white chocolate and marshmallow pizza on a gluten free base which was rather awesome with a gooey squishy marshmallow sitting on top of the pizza!

I moved on to some refreshing and fruity beers from the fantastic bottled range that Brewski has, starting with a can of Mountain Goat’s Summer Ale (which actually complimented the dessert pizza very well!) and finishing off my afternoon with Feral’s White. 

Overall my experiences at Brewski were nothing but positive with some very friendly staff who seem to enjoy what they are doing and are doing it extremely well. Brewski has some of the more unique tap choices available in Brisbane and the frequent rotation makes for an enjoyable experience and a good excuse to keep coming back.

Nutella, Marshmallow & White Choc Pizza (some slices already nommed on)