Picnic

Did you know I just recently passed my practical driving test? I was 16 before the new Queensland driving laws made you do 100 hours supervised but I was never interested in driving, so I didn't even bother getting my learners until I was 22. I failed the first time but managed to pass the second time just after New Years.

At the moment, I'm not sure how things will be once I get a car. As you know, I have a pretty terrible sense of direction and you can't go up and down a street three or four times, while scratching your head, in a car. I suppose you could, but it would be more dangerous.

Growing up, my parents drove us around the south side of Brisbane, to the east side and all over the coast. This has worsened my directional ability because I was always reading when we went anywhere, I'd look up, notice a landmark and go straight back to reading my book. So I vaguely know where a lot of things are, very vaguely though. I fear this will greatly impact my driving as I'll be assured I know where I'm going when I actually don't. I drove solo recently and panicked because the slip lane to the shops was closed off and had no idea how else to get there, despite going there for the last five years.

Then there is the practical aspect of actually buying a car and maintaining it. Cars are expensive, the car, the mounting fuel costs, registration and insurance. While I stick to a very strict budget between my house bills, mortgage and untouchable emergency fund, the rest of my budget goes towards eating out, which I do a far bit as you can tell. I strongly suspect that by the time I get a car, I'll be put in a self imposed ban of eateries for a few months while I lick my financial gashes.

Then my mum got me a car and I paid off all the additional costs, like stamp duty, insurance, registration, E-Toll toggle, GPS system, new P plates, new oil, new oil filter, got a new key cut and a new electric remote for my garage. Oh god, so poor, so, so poor. Don't expect any new, hip posts for a while, in fact I'll just be here clearing my back log of places to go to and my recipe file.

Ms M for Megababe and Chelle both recommended me this new little cafe. They said they had had breakfast here and really enjoyed it. They also said that they felt I should've been there, which is odd cause they didn't invite me. Maybe they were just feeling like that because we had been going together to random places a fair bit.

Cute little picnic!

The place setting here is really cute, a little box of napkins, salt and pepper grinders as well as a box of retro plastic handled forks, knives and spoons. I really like the design on these.

Defs would buy them

The restaurant itself is quite cute, there is lots of solid wooden furniture. The cafe is very open with a large open window that opens out into the street. There is a very eye catching 3D painting on the wall/ceiling/air conditioner.

Awesome

The only good photo of this has all of us clearly in it

Here is the front counter as seen from the main dining area

The large open air dining area

Their display case

They serve Campos coffee!

Awww

The view from the outside

Perving into the kitchen

The specials

Here is their menu, I was experimenting with a different angle to see if it reduced shininess or glare at all.

Yeah I took some terrible photos

This one isn't bad

The best one

On this visit, I went with my Boyfriend, Jubi and Mandy. You guys haven't really met Mandy before, she's been over in the UK on exchange for her university studies. She came back a year ago but I never saw her cause we had conflicting schedules all the time.

My Boyfriend ordered Phoenix Organic Ginger Beer, this drink is lightly carbonated with a mildly sweet/spicy ginger flavour. He reports that it wasn't amazing and that it was slightly bitter.

Lots of ice!

Mandy ordered the Zippy, a smoothie made out of banana, chai and chilled milk. The chai flavour wasn't particularly noticeable, it seemed to be topped with chai powder. It tasted more like a banana milkshake than anything else.

Impressive looking at least

I got a salted caramel milkshake with a cute purple paper straw served in a thick ceramic cup. The salted caramel flavour was delicious, sweet, buttery and with a good amount of salt to contrast with the sweetness of the caramel. Everyone at the table tried some and they agreed that it was a very good milkshake. I added some salt from the salt shaker at the table to add to the saltiness!

Verrrrry tasty

I stole my Boyfriend's pick of the wagyu beef burger, so he backed off and choose one of the specials of the day, massaman curry with fresh roti and salad. It was delicious, a thick rich curry gravy with peanuts, potatoes and meltingly soft beef, a super hot, fluffy and buttery roti as well as a curried quinoa, cauliflower and coriander salad. I adored his food and I really wish I had ordered that instead.

Delicious!

Jubi ordered the pecan and almond granola with organic yoghurt and berries, she also ended up getting a small pitcher of milk as she prefers her granola wet. Its an absolutely gorgeous little dish and well presented in it's jar. She said she really like the texture of the granola as well as the crunchy flavours of the ingredients.

Pretty

Mandy is a vegetarian and was tossing up between corn cakes and this. This was a roasted pumpkin gnocchi with onion jam, rocket, lemon wedges, a soft cheese, mushrooms and god knows what else I forgot. The gnocchi were soft and pillowy, but didn't taste very much of pumpkin which is good as I hate the stuff. She said she enjoyed the flavours.

Such a random combination of ingredients

Here is my wagyu beef cheeseburger with caramelised onions, serrano ham and cos lettuce. This came with a delicious side of beer battered chips and aioli. The wagyu beef patty was tender and super juicy, I'd have preferred it to have been almost less juicy as my soft bun disintegrated within a few bites of the burger. The caramelised onions were very sweet and that was the predominate flavour in the burger after the beef and cheese. I would've preferred a sour or spicy flavour in there like a good relish, chutney or mustard to round things out. The cos lettuce was an odd choice as the size of the leaves is a pain to eat around, I ended up chomping them off to get around it. It was a very large portion and filled me up alarmingly quickly.

Tasty stuff

Innards shot

Falling apart in my hands ):

Picnic
Atmosphere: 7, airy, bright and with interesting decorations/ furniture/cutlery to catch your eye. I really liked the design of the place.
Service: 6, honestly don't remember anything positive or negative about the service.
Food: 7, everyone liked their food besides me. I would gladly go back to try something else on their menu. Good portions, interesting food combinations and quite cheap prices.