Higher Octave

NEW PLACE. SO NEW I CAN STILL SMELL PAINT! Or is that the place getting rebuilt next door haha. This little gem is found in the other end of Boundary Street in West End, you know the end with the veterinary clinic, the Coffee Club, Nandos and the West End public library. It has several positive reviews on Urbanspoon as well as a very frequently updated Facebook page full of cute coffee art pictures and menu items. They were cited as having good Japanese style cafe drinks with an European influence on their foods.

Off to another Jubiventure! She was back in Brisbane so we decided to go here after our disastrous Atomica visit for cake and coffee. We got a bit lost because Jubi was convinced that it was at very end of Boundary Street near the pier and the cafe doesn't have a large name sign up either. We were wandering around until she spotted its teeny tiny board.

Oh yep.

The savoury menu is quite limited so we decided against breakfast/lunch here and came back for coffee and cake only. Here is their menu, there's lots of little offers combining both food and drink for discounted price. There was a good deal on at the time for a panini, cake and drink for $15 when we were there.

The whole pretty board

Top bit

Bottom bit

Their confusing chalkboard

The cafe is very cute if a bit eclectic in taste. There are lots of lovely framed photographs, interesting books and little wooden pieces to catch your eye everywhere. Its air conditioned but gently so, you can definitely feel the coolness when you walk inside.

Japanese bookshelf

A table with lots of books

Pretty long tables

People watching spot

More photos

Jubi ordered their piccolo and she was delighted to see a rabbit etched into the foam of her drink. She was so impressed that for several minutes she couldn't bring herself to drink it. When she finally did, she drank from the bottom of the cup and made the bunny blur so that it had a sad frown and she offered me a sip of her sad bunny. They serve Cafe Silipo blend here, a Gold Coast blend I've not tried before until today. They favour the Nero brand from this group, which is a blended Italian style blend. Jubi was very happy with her piccolo and also remarked that it was quite a large serving for a piccolo, so much so that I thought she had gotten a latte for once.

See the bunny?

I had eyes only for the Higher Octave latte made out of iced matcha and vanilla latte. The colour is not as bright in this photograph compared to its gentle pale greenish hue when seen in real life. You can see in the photo that it seems more brownish than green but after a few stirs, it evened out a bit, to the jade coloured shade at the bottom of the glass. The flavour is a very mild and not too bitter matcha green tea, with a milky vanilla base to round out the flavours. I was a bit hesitant in the beginning but after more and more sips of my drink the flavour became perfectly balanced. I'm normally a drink guzzler, but this was one of those best savoured slowly while having a chat with friends.

The colour got better after a stir

Lastly, I also got a bittersweet coffee jelly. The flavour reminded me of one of those Indonesian kopiko candies, a smooth, slightly bitter but mellow coffee flavour. It was absolutely amazing with the sweetened cream blob on top. I think if you like Asian jellies in general and appreciate the flavour of coffee, you will enjoy this dessert. I really enjoyed it and found myself quickly scraping the sides clean after Jubi had a taste.

Jubi likes the spoon

Higher Octave:
Atmosphere: 8, a physically cool, bright little cafe with lazily swinging ceiling fans. You can imagine coming here for a lazy coffee and having a book that you come back to to read every time you go here. Some of the pictures are a bit odd that they have on display, like a headless anime figure next to their glass name? But otherwise quite inviting.
Service: 9, super attentive. The two guys here came out to give us menus when we were perusing, and were keen to clear tables as well as chat to people in the cafe. Very enthusiastic and they thanked us when we left too haha.
Food: 10, gorgeous food and drink. Definitely go here again if I was in West End and wanted a coffee and cake with friends after a meal. 

 

Grocer and Grind

It's time for another Jubiventure! Jubi moved back to the Gold Coast so she's a bit far away now but we're still meeting up regularly for breakfasts together. This is the second time we've met up at the Gold Coast and Jubi gets to call the shots for where we go, as I don't know what is good in the Goldie haha.

It's a bit of a drive down, but its a straight line so it's pretty easy. The day I went it was absolutely bucketing down and also incredibly sunny every other second. At some times, the rain got so bad that I had my wipers on the highest setting and still struggled to see where I was going. Even though I'm a new driver, I don't find myself having much trouble driving in the rain even as bad as it was. I slowed down a wee bit and just kept driving.


The little block of shops that this cafe is in very strange. It's in a strange little block that is so small that there is only one way traffic around the shopping block and then parking spots scattered everywhere. There's another cafe there but it didn't seem half as popular as Grocer and Grind.

The interior of the cafe is very cool. On the right is a little organic shop full of veggie chips, GF flours and pastas, fancy pasta sauces, dips, sauces, nuts, honey, drinks and the shop's blend of organic sugar/flour and museli.

The fridge beckons!

So many chips

Random sauces, nuts, honey and stuff

Drinks, pestos, yoghurts and milk

Their own brand stuff

On the right, there's lots of different places to sit, low and high seats and big comfy chairs, where people waited for juices and coffees. The furniture is all metallic, lots of browns, blacks and brass. The fans they have are interesting, two semi twisted blades. Check them out if you're there.

Interesting layout

They have a nice glass display cabinet with a lot of trendy stuff, like protein balls and a whole range of raw cakes.

Brownies +_+

They sell a lot of coffee and juices. Their Reboot Bar of healthy/organic/super food smoothies seems to earn a mint, cause I kept seeing lots of girls in gym outfits rock up to get them.

All the drinks!

The coffee choices are very good too, they have all the usual stuff, plus a choice of how many shots and they make sure to ask you this. They also have a large range of milks that you can choose from, organic milk, rice milk, coconut milk, soy milk, skim milk and almond milk. After my meal, I got a small mocha made on coconut milk and it was honestly the most delicious mocha I've ever had, so rich and creamy with a gorgeous coconut smell. There was a noticeable thickness from the use of the coconut milk, however it was still very light and silky. The mix between mocha and chocolate was perfect with neither flavour dominating. It was a strong coffee too and had me buzzing.

Here is their menu. They do all day breakfast! Oh and counter service! Their food comes out when its good and ready, which was actually really quick. I personally prefer counter service as then I can easily stagger out my photos without having to force people to wait. People HAVE to wait as they're waiting for everyone to get their food before they eat. When all the dishes arrive at once, I feel pressured to take photos as fast as possible so everyone can eat.

I really like their table setting, rock salt grinders and ORGANIC COCONUT SUGAR. I was fascinated, I didn't have anything to eat it/drink it with initially but I was so fascinated as I had never had it before. Jubi and I ended up tipping a little in our hands and trying it. The coconut sugar has a large grain than caster sugar or white sugar, like raw sugar. It has a fresh and toasty coconut smell. There is a good sweetness and nuttiness to the sugar, and its slightly less sweet than regular sugar. It does add a certain coconut flavour to whatever it is added to however. We didn't get a pepper grinder but other tables had one.

Oooh fancy

Did you notice the table? It's got coffee beans in the top!

I wonder if they're real? They seem to be

I got the strawberry slushie as my drink, it has strawberries, coconut yoghurt, lemon and ice. The drink is very thick and served in a jar with a handle on the side. I found it wasn't as sweet as I thought, Jubi loved it as a result, she commented that it tasted like real tart strawberries and it was really enhanced by the lemon. There was a strong coconut flavour from the yoghurt used. 
 
Can you see the glass how its faintly brown in the corners? That wasn't from the drink, as I stirred it wondering if something had settled. I ended up only being able to get rid of the brown stuff by scratching it off with my straw. Slightly dodgy I think. The other thing I disliked was that there was a fair bit of ice and large uneven chunks of frozen strawberries, I'm not sure why they added ice cubes when its a slushie. Perhaps it wasn't blended long enough.

Perfect for Jubi, not for me though

Jubi ordered a piccolo, it had a strong punchy hit of expresso. It was a lovely coffee, robust with an appetising aroma, it was also quite sweet and nutty even without sugar added to it.

A piccolo!

Our waitress gave us some water after she gave us our drinks. Jubi was enamoured with the glasses, they have a much larger top than expected even though they look like highball glasses.

What an oddly shaped bottle

Jubi's meal arrived first, a sauteed wild mushroom stack with crushed avocado, goats cheese and your choice of toast! YOUR CHOICE OF TOAST. I have no idea why I was so excited by this and am still excited, maybe because they had fancy toast available? They had an ancient grain sourdough, organic rye bread and a gluten free bread. Jubi picked the rye bread. 

My god, it was a good combination of flavours, the meaty juiciness of the mushrooms, lots of caramelised garlic, a creamy and perfectly ripe avocado cushioning the perfectly crisp toast with a still beautifully fluffy bread interior. Oh and that goats cheese, it was so damn good. It didn't look like there was much initially, just three pieces but it was a beautifully mild and delicate goats cheese. It was rolled in some crunchy seeds and crushed nuts that added a nice contrast to the creamy texture of the avocado. Oh good god, this was a good veggo breakfast. Jubi was immensely happy with her meal and kept muttering, "these mushies are so good. So goooood." She adds that she thought the goats cheese was a bit strong for her taste, but it was essential for the goats cheese to be in every mouthful to add a bit of saltiness to the dish. She thought there was too much but we ended up nibbling it all at the end.

Can you see her body language is all like, YESSSS

I fluffed over whether or not to get the chorizo baked eggs or the black truffle scrambled eggs and got the chorizo baked eggs. It came in a thick, rich and slightly spicy tomato sauce, with chunks of tomato, roasted skinless capsicum, zucchini, onion and garlic. The chorizo acted as a perfect foil to the richness of the sauce, cutting through the flavour, I think it was from a fresh chorizo sausage rather than the dried ones as it had a nice bouncy texture. The eggs were perfectly oozy gooey and popped for me when poked. The bread that I picked was the ancient grain sourdough, it was slightly sweet, a bit nutty and had a mildly grainy texture, I wondered what the ancient grains used were. My bread was also perfectly toasted, crisp yet fluffy.

Oooh baked eggs

Pow!

Grocer and Grind
Atmosphere: 8, gorgeous, bright, airy with lots of things to talk about. I really liked our table setting and the coffee bean table. I really liked the brass tree sign in the back wall of the restaurant.
Service: 6, I think this place is still quite new but they have their heart in the right place. They were very enthusiastic and energetic, quick to clear tables and easily to find. Our waitress forgot to give anyone water until Jubi loudly said if there was any table water and started peering around the room. We also noticed a lot of the waitresses looked a bit lost trying to find the tables.
Food: 9, absolutely beautiful. I hope I can go here again in the future to try other food from them. The food was beautifully presented, with interesting ingredients that worked well with each other and well seasoned to boot. The ingredients were also all lovingly chosen and very trendy I think.

Coffee and walnut brownie

I winged this recipe for a mate's going away party. It was quite well received since it had a good combination of flavours, coffee and walnut, chocolate and coffee, chocolate and walnut, why not all the above?

Coffee and walnut brownie

Ingredients:
200g of dark chocolate
100g of butter
1-2 tablespoons of instant coffee or shots of expresso
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
Hot water

1. Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Line a brownie tray with baking paper and set the oven to 150C.

I swear I have like five copies of this photo on my blog

2. Allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes, add in eggs, sugar, vanilla bean paste until just combined.

So glossy

3. Dissolve the coffee in bit of hot water and add to the mixture.

Shiny shiny

4. Sift in the flour and mix lightly until fully incorporated.

Nice and thick

5. Mix the walnuts into the brownie mixture or scatter them at the bottom of the pan before the brownie mixture goes on top.

This?

Or this?

6. Bake at 150C for an hour and allow to cool before slicing.

Commune

Jubi moved down the Gold Coast! She decided this was the first place we should go to down here. Apparently this place is very well known around the Gold Coast. I was unable to get a photo of the sign as there was very little space directly opposite the cafe to snap a photo, plus there was a lot of oncoming traffic too!

This is the front of the cafe

We had just come back from the beach with Siri so we decided to have our food outside. Siri was very eager to walk around even after running around on the beach.

Can you smell the food Siri?

There's quite a nice selection of cold food and sweets in the display. I was eying off all the salads cause they looked very colourful.

Enticing

Siri was very good and settled down while I was taking photos. Jubi dragged over the water bowl they had set out for dogs and she was very content.

The leash was attached to my foot hahaha

I couldn't decide on what I wanted to drink until I got up to the front counter. I was deliberating between the banana and expresso slushie and this cold drip latte. I asked our waitress which was the sweeter of the two and she recommended the cold drip coffee. Jubi came back on a different occasion and remarked that the expresso slushie had a very strong banana flavour.

The cold drip latte was faintly sweetened with raw cane sugar, had a nice creaminess from the milk used and a faint bitterness. I didn't particularly like it and I swapped with my Boyfriend. He really liked it, said it was a good coffee and that he would drink it again. Jubi kept sneaking drinks when she thought I wasn't looking as well. I liked that they served the drink with a glass of ice even though it was kept chilled in a tub of ice and water.

They reuse the bottles :O

My Boyfriend ordered this forest berry, coconut yoghurt and banana smoothie. I was very puzzled as he hates banana. When he tasted it, he said, "it's got banana in it!" So apparently he hadn't seen the description in the menu at all. It was a very, very thick drink with a creamy texture from the banana used, the colour was very vibrant and had a strong banana and berry flavour. We swapped drinks as I said, but I still struggled to finish this drink as I don't particularly like banana either.

Its so pretty though

Jubi ordered the same drink as she had the previous times she's been here, an apple, mint and ginger drink. It was a very bright, fluffy and tart drink with a faint hint of ginger. I liked the restraint of the ginger, as I like the flavour but it's very strong and overpowering one.

Faintly green too

Jubi picked the bircher museli with yoghurt and rhubarb compote. She said it was a very good museli with lots of crunch and dried fruit bits, I saw pumpkin seeds, rolled oats, dried apricots, flaked almonds, macademia nuts and other bits I can't remember. The rhubarb was wonderful, soft, sour and super sweet, haha I love rhubarb! I always think of it as a winter thing though.

Rhubarb? In summer?

I got the blueberry buttermilk pancakes with banana, coconut ice cream, golden syrup and cinnamon. I have no idea why I got pancakes, it's probably the first time I've ordered something sweet for breakfast. It was an odd choice but not bad. It was a topsy turvy day cause it also came with banana which as I've already said, I'm not a fan of. The pancakes were tall fluffy and full of sweet purplish blueberries, faintly sweet and they came in a stack of three. I had a large sweet and firm sliced banana piled on top which I mostly gave to Jubi. The coconut ice cream was odd, it have a very icy texture like ice cream that had defrosted and then refrozen, it had a thick mouth feel and a good aroma of coconut. I did eat everything except half of my banana hahaha.

There was way too much cinnamon however and I did choke taking my first bite, I did a cinnamon challenge.

BANANA

Commune
Atmosphere: 7, cool, casual beach side cafe. The interior was plastered with band posters and surfing paraphernalia haha!
Service: 7, efficient, well aware of their menu and quick to clear plates.
Food: 7, solid food and drinks. There's too much banana, but since everyone else I know seems to love banana, maybe that's right up your alley haha. I saw some of the other meals floating by and they looked amazing! I would definitely go back here.

Beef rendang

Oh man, beef rendang. I can't even describe the deliciousness involved, super slow coated beef that melts in your mouth, coated in a thick spiced coating of lemongrass, galangal, ginger, onion, garlic and chilli smothered in a thick coconut and tamarind sauce that's been absorbed with golden roasted coconut. You smell it before you even see it. That appetising looking mess of dark brown curry on top of snowy white plain rice. Even if you aren't lucky enough to get a piece of beef, the spicy gravy goes so wonderfully with rice.

It gets better with age, so if you even manage to not finish it off, the flavours just meld even more divinely overnight. It freezes beautifully and I find myself making huge bloody batches of the stuff for a special day at work. The looks of envy on the faces of friends at work is worth it, when they catch a hint of the smell. Just one mouthful transports me to a world of bliss. My god, I love beef rendang.

I first had beef rendang as part of my nasi lemak at Malaya Corner a few years ago and kept going back there to eat more. Then I realised I could probably make it at home. Then I made it from a few different premade jar mixtures. Then a spice paste mixture. Then I tried several online and printed recipes before settling on this one by Neil Perry by way of this ladies blog. I played around with a few different things though, but this one is a very good starting point.

In general, the recipe is an easy one. Make a spice paste, fry off the spices in oil until fragrant, add the meat until coated in spices, top up with water, coconut cream, tamarind, sweet soy and kaffir lime leaves. Put on a lid and simmer for 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally to stop it from sticking. Once you're happy with the consistency of the meat, take off the lid and simmer it down. Toast some shredded coconut and throw at the simmered down sauce to thicken it up. Serve and enjoy!

The honest to God, worst part of this dish is finding galangal. It's a pretty tricky spice to track down as its not particularly well known and there aren't any alternatives like a powdered/frozen/paste version like you can find with say tumeric/ pandan leaves/ lemon grass/ kaffir lime leaves/ shrimp paste. Most of my Indian/Vietnamese/Korean/Taiwanese friends didn't immediately recognise it when I showed it to them either, mistaking it for ginger until they noticed the red hue. The only places I've been able to find it are in Yuen's Market in Sunnybank and certain small Vietnamese run market stalls when they sell it exorbitantly and in poor condition too.

Yuck, avoid

Mama Pham took over and found me a miraculous kilo of the stuff for six dollars a kilo at Inala. Goes to show, that Inala has everything and super cheap too! The stuff she found was the freshest of the fresh. I wish I had taken a photo of it before I put it in the freezer. It was a bright pinkish red, with a glossy skin and no dried out wooden chunks. Picking a good piece of it is very similar to how you pick fresh ginger, the bigger the better as you don't want too waste all your time peeling a little chunk, the thinner the skin and the smoother it looks the better it is too.

Pretty shiny stuff :D!

Unlike ginger however, it has a very, very tough skin. Ginger can be peeled with the back of a spoon, galangal requires a very sharp knife, brute force and possibly chainmail gloves to stop yourself slicing off a finger. Not for the faint of heart.

For the beef, use whatever cheap fatty cut you fancy. I've used topside, chuck steak, gravy beef, blade steak and anything labelled casserole cuts. It's a slow cooked curry, so all these fatty cuts turn into the tenderest meat imaginable while the fat turns beautifully gelatinous and adds body to the sauce. Cut the meat into largeish chunks, they will shrink quite a lot while cooking so please account for that. I normally go about a good thumb sized chunk, about four or five centimetres by five or ten centimetres.

Ingredients for the spice paste:
3-4 dried hot chillis
1 teaspoon of dried coriander
1 teaspoon of dried tumeric
30g of ginger
30g of galangal
30g of lemongrass
1 large onion, roughly chopped
5-6 large cloves of garlic
20g of shrimp paste

I like onions

Ingredients for the sauce:
500g-1kg of beef, cut into large thumb sized chunks, 5-10cms
5-6 kaffir lime leaves
1/4-1/3 cup of shredded coconut
400ml of coconut cream
Not pictured:
2-3 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons of tamarind paste
1-2 tablespoons of salt 
1.5L-2L of water

I forgot some of the ingredients in this picture

Instructions for the spice paste:
1. Roast the shrimp paste in foil at 180C in the oven for 8-10 minutes until fragrant or cook in a dry frying pan for 3-5 minutes.
2. Chop up the onion, ginger, galangal and dried chilli and place it in the spice mixer.
3. Put in the tumeric, coriander and crumbled shrimp paste.

Yep easy

4. Put on the lid and blend like a madman until a thick paste is formed.

Great stuff

Instructions for the sauce:
1. Cut up all the beef into thumb sized chunks.
2. Heat up a large saucepan/stock pot whatever on a low-medium heat, chuck in all your shredded coconut and toast gently, stirring frequently until all the coconut is golden brown.
3. Put the coconut aside and give the pan a wipe clean.
4. Turn up the heat to a steady medium and add a tablespoon of oil to the pan.

May have gone overboard on the oil here

5. Throw in all the rendang paste. Fry off until fragrant, expect 2-3 minutes, and mix frequently so the mixture doesn't stick.

Fry off that bad boy

6. Throw in the meat and combine with the spice paste until the meat is coated in spices.
7. Put in everything else in, the tamarind paste, the sweet soy sauce, the salt, the kaffir lime leaves, the coconut cream and 1.5L of water.

Like this!

8. Cover and turn down the heat to a low simmer. Cook for 2-4 hours stirring constantly so it doesn't stick to the bottom.
9. When the meat is tender, take off the lid and turn up to a steady medium-hot. Allow the water to evaporate down and chuck in the toasted coconut so it soaks up the juices.

I made 2kg the following week, hence the pot change

10. When it reaches the desired thickness, serve immediately. Don't eat the kaffir lime leaves.