Delivery: Lemongrass Thai

One day at work Little A., decided that we were going to get Thai food. With that being said, it fell to me to actually ask people and organise it as usual, since I'm the only person who seems to know places around our workplace that do delivery.

I've used Menulog several times before and yes, like most bloggers in Brisbane I was contacted by them to get a $30 voucher if I did a blog post for them. I declined though, as the area I live in only has three places that do delivery to where I live and all three of them are bloody terrible. In hindsight, I should have taken the deal considering how often we do weekend takeaway at work to cheer ourselves up.

I quite like Menulog as it has clearly listed prices, an always up to date menu, they tell you what time the stores are open, when you can possibly expect your food, a really secure payment option and they offer you a whole bunch of discounts, especially if you're the kind of person to get takeout a lot. They also message you when the food has left the store and is in transit, plus they have a nifty special message part. They never get an order wrong since its all electronic!  Here is their website. My only issue with them, is that the menu options never have very good explanations of what the meals actually are or what they contain.

Little A., wasn't fussed and picked the first Thai shop that appeared on the list, being Lemongrass Thai! Here is a link to their Menulog menu.  As well as their actual website menu. There are actually minute differences between the two menus, the main one being that you can actually have duck for a $3 surcharge in the Menulog items, it shows up as a protein option after you select a dish like green curry/stir fried noodles.

Here is the vegetable tom yum soup that Mr M for Megababe and A*., ordered. They both marvelled at the large assortment of vegetables they received, nappa cabbage, green beans, broccoli, button mushrooms, floating stalks of lemongrass and a few other bits and bobs. Mr M for Megababe remarked that it was quite sweet for a tom yum soup, but he actually really enjoyed it and despite the sweetness, had a good balance between sourness and heat. He added that he regularly had tom yum soup and would give it a 9/10, and would gladly reorder this soup if we got Thai in the future. A* echoed these thoughts and was very happy with her soup as well.

So many veggies!

I need to add that H., ordered the tom yum goong soup, basically a tom yum soup with prawns. She received a stingy two prawns and not a single vegetable with her soup. She was bitterly disappointed and lamented that she had paid an extra $2 for a soup that was worth less than the vegetarian version. H., is urging me to give Lemongrass Thai a zero for all scores, just ignore H., everyone knows she orders the worst thing on the menu, time and time again.

Little A., on the other hand, picked a chicken laksa. It came with two separate containers, one of vermicelli noodles the other of the coconut based broth full of tender poached chicken, zucchini slices, green beans, bean sprouts and broccoli. I had a taste of her soup and it was really good, a rich, creamy and well balanced soup with a lovely, gentle heat to it. She ate about half of it before declaring that she was too full for anything else.

Soup soup!

Noodles and soup!

I got duck mi goreng. The noodles here look a lot like they stir fried packet Mie Goreng including a near identical spice mice together with some vegetables, zucchini slices, red capsicum, broccoli, green onion, carrot and onions with a LOT of roasted duck meat. The roasted duck meat was absolutely delicious, succulent, soaked full of flavour and so tender, like the good roasted duck you would get at a yum cha restaurant. I absolutely adored this meal, and would absolutely get it again. The container was packed right up to the top, and I was really happy with the mix of vegetables, noodles and duck meat that I received. Sure, it looks like you made a fancy Mie Goreng mix, but goddamn its tasty.

Mie goreng, I love you

Z., got the chicken satay with a massive pool of satay sauce. The chicken satay sticks themselves were tender, slightly charred but not dry. The peanut sauce was delicious, with lots of crunchy peanut pieces, that aromatic scent and flavour of coconut and spices. We were scooping it onto our other meals to finish it off. There were three chicken satay skewers in all.

Chicken Satay!

Z., and Al., both got chicken pad thai and disliked it. They both thought the seasoning was off and heavily skewed towards an overly sweet pad thai, and I had to agree with them. Other than that, the pad thai was quite adequate, lots of bean sprouts, green onion slices, salted radish pieces, peanut pieces, al dente rice noodles and large chunks of egg and chicken throughout the mixture. Z., was scowling the entire time she was eating but still managed to eat all the pad thai. Al., regretted her choice and was pining for a red duck curry but forgot what it was called until the food came, so she just went with chicken pad thai.

Had better

This was L.,'s prawn salad. This place didn't have a som tum or larb style salad, which we were disappointed by but they had other random salads with no descriptions? In contrast to H.,'s meal, her meal had eight large prawns, a lot of tomato, green and purple onion, Thai holy basil, cashews and a nose watering thai nam pla sauce drizzled everywhere. L., was panting by the time she finished and she luckily had some rice on hand from the dinner that she had bought into work. She said it was delicious but quite spicy!

Nice colourful mixture though

Delivery: Lemongrass Thai:
Timeliness/Service: 8. They arrived at exactly the time that we had planned it, 6.30pm. They called us before the left to confirm where they were going, what we looked at since we met them part of the way and at the end, the delivery guy sent me a text message saying he hoped we enjoyed our meal!
Pricing: 6, solid, I've seen cheaper Thai but the proportions for most of the meals barring H.,'s tom yum goong, were really good and filled right to the brim with food. $6 delivery fee isn't too shabby either, although it was a shame that it was still included in the price with us ordering over $120 worth of Thai food.
Food: 6.5, really mixed opinions. On one side, Mr M for Megababe, A*., L., and myself were all happy. Z., , Al., and H., weren't. So my score reflects that divide in our group. I thought it was odd that no one opted for a good ol' Thai curry, so I suppose I would be keen to have more food from this place to see how they go with curries. 

Spring

C., said that we should go to Spring for their excellent breakfast meals when we were discussing new places to go to. I thought this was a great idea while I was on holiday so we agreed to meet up. C., also managed to wrangle H., and L., into it as well. This was the third time in four days, I had gone out to breakfast in the city. The other two times were Plum Tucker and Cornershop Cafe, I was officially part of the living dead at that stage.

I woke up that morning feeling like absolute shit, as I'm definitely not a morning person and for some reason, I had decided we should all get there at 9am. I was a little bit late in getting there as I had taken the train in, due to my hazy knowledge of adequate parking spaces in the city as well as peak hour traffic. I saw H., and C., there first and they both said that upon waking, they had both regretted agreeing to have breakfast so early as well. It was one of those cold mornings when you wake up early and you just wanted to call off whatever you have planned to stay in bed a little longer.

Spring is an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous place though. H., said that she knew friends of hers who had held their wedding reception here and I can see why.

Pretty pretty

They have a quick stop/tuck shop style window at the front where all the business people were waiting for morning coffees and fresh juices. Spring also has quick lunches from here too according to their website.

Pit stop!

I quite liked the decoration of this place, very bright and slightly fancy sorta place.

Perfect little brunch spot

I liked the gate

Where we were sitting

I didn't like our flower arrangement, there were much better ones at the tables nearby to us.

):

I also liked these decorative plates? It looks like something my dad would have in his house from a garage sale.

Not sure why I liked this

Here is their menu. It doesn't seem to be updated very frequently though as there are some bits that seem to be missing and some descriptions are different to what actually appear. I've included their drinks menu as it wasn't available online, they also have changing daily flavours.

Macaron frappe?

All the usual suspects

I ordered the Miss Berry drink, but received the watermelon special. It had apple, mint, watermelon and lime wedges, it was very light and refreshing.

Mint!

C., ordered the watermelon special but recieved the Miss Berry drink that I wanted and we both had no idea until L., arrived and we had both drank our entire drinks. L., ordered the watermelon special as well and was wondering why she had the same drink as I did, if I had the Miss Berry drink. The Miss Berry drink was quite sweet and I remember when I had a taste of it, that I wanted that drink over my own.

Berries!

H., ordered the cherry haven which was made out of cherries, raspberries, lemon and yoghurt. I think it sounded more impressive than it actually tasted because it seemed like a thick, slightly bland yoghurt rather than a smoothie.

Hmm

I got the farmhouse breakfast, toasted sourdough, wilted spinach, mushrooms, a choice of eggs which I had poached, bacon, tomato, sausage and then I ordered a side of bacon hash browns. The bacon hash browns were absolutely delicious, super crunchy with a soft potato mash and bacon flecked interior. My next favourite thing was the sausage also closely followed by the bacon. The veggies sorta meshed into one, I wasn't particularly fussed about them.

A big brekkie by any other name

I swear sometimes I enjoy popping poached eggs more than I actually enjoy the meal.

Pop pop!

L., ordered the brioche french toast with apple, cinnamon sugar and syrup. The french toast was lovely! Sweet, eggy, fluffy and very rich from the use of the brioche and the tartness of the granny smith slices worked very well with it as well. I think L., used only a small portion of the sugar syrup that was offered. 

Jumbo slices

H., ordered the veggie breakfast, wilted spinach, avocado, mushrooms, tomato, grilled haloumi, sourdough and a choice of eggs, which she got scrambled as you saw. She said the haloumi was quite good and she managed to eat everything barring the crusts of the toast as her braces are still stopping her.

Solid

Spring:
Atmosphere: 8, quite a pretty little location. There is a really nice little window nook that would be ideal for curling up with a book in. 
Service: 6, happy cause they split the bill. I can't think of anything else particularly noteworthy.
Food: 6, pretty standard food, nothing was particularly bad but at the same time nothing was excellent. The pricing was a bit expensive as well. Its a lovely place for a catch up though, especially for a quick coffee in a lovely setting.

Chester Street Bakery

E., and I went to breakfast the day that we finished up our nights together. We had somewhere else originally picked but we finished up the day of the Queens Birthday public holiday and so we didn't have many places to choose from. Plus the place we went to at first was shut as I was looking at the previous year's list of open places.

I looked up the real list and decided that Chester Street Bakery wouldn't be a bad choice and off we went! We were very surprised to find out that it was only maybe five or so minutes away from where we had dinner the night before at Ribs and Burgers!

Its located in industrial wasteland

Its located right in the corner and there is pretty average metered parking around in case there isn't any parking in the little lot there.

In this little nook

It was a pretty chilly place but there are lots of space heaters everywhere to keep you toasty warm.

Ooh yes giant heaters

This is their desserts board! Only available after 5pm for the solid price of $14.90.

This was their desserts board!

I had a lot of fun looking around because there are large clear refrigerated cabinets everywhere with lots of pretty and delicious looking cakes waiting to be sliced up and eaten.

Ooh

Ooh yes

More cakes!

Even more cakes!

Jesus

I took a brief picture of the front display cabinent but I didn't snap a picture of the bread behind the counter or the front display of freshly made baked goods. Too many serving staff around ):

Not just cakes, salads too!

We decided to sit inside on this long communal dining table. We were a bit hidden away from the cool breeze and were staring right at the pizza oven and bar area.

This fun place

I had my eyes on the front counter for quite a while though. I finished my meal quite quickly and was then eyeing off a dessert for the longest time.

This was our other view

Anyway, I got the raspberry, watermelon, strawberry, lime and coconut water frappe. It was very sweet and refreshing, there wasn't one particularly dominate flavour, just a nice blend of all the fruits used. I finished my drink off quite quickly as a result.

Mmm~

I got the breakfast pizza, cracked egg, speck, oregano, cherry tomato, rocket and mozzarella. It was quite a small sized pizza with just the one egg cracked over it. The base was absolutely delicious though, super crunchy, wafer thing and it was made so it had a good crust to grab a hold of. It had a lovely smoky odour from the wood fired ovens they use. The speck was quite salty and fatty, sliced super thin like prosciutto normally is and it contrasted very well with the sweet cherry tomato and runny egg. The rocket was a good mix too, sharp, peppery and very fresh against the rest of the toppings.

Quite tasty

E., ordered the hiker's breakfast, baked eggs, grilled chorizo, white bean ragu, lemon creme fraiche and two slices of baguette. It came out in a little cast iron pan, which I always enjoy the appearance of. I really like the sweet richness of the ragu and the mildly spicy and garlicky slices of succulent chorizo throughout the dish. The yolk was a little overcooked for my liking as I love a gooey yolk, spilling all over my food. The baguette was a delicious, freshly baked one with a chewy crust and soft, fluffy innards. The only thing I disliked was that there was so little of it. The creme fraiche was a surprisingly light contrast to the rest of the rich food, the creaminess and sourness of the creme was a really good contrast.

Please sir, can I have some more bread?

I decided that we should get desserts afterwards. I had my eye on this salted caramel doughnut from the moment I saw it on the counter. It was a glorious round puff of a thing with this little ooze of caramel out the side, like just for a little tease.

Ooh, you so damn pretty

I split it down the centre and we marveled at its prettiness, without feeling the least bit sleazy. The salted caramel was so utterly delicious, it was so thick, buttery smooth and sweet with a hint of salt. I don't like sweets but I loved this, I would've eaten an entire jar of the stuff with a spoon. If they had sold salted caramel as a spread, I'd be dead by now.

So damn good

E., also bought us two salted caramel and chocolate shortbread. The shortbread was so buttery and short, with a cocoa hit that we found very intriguing since both of us are very used to the traditional all butter shortbread. The cream sandwiching the two shortbread pieces was faintly salted caramel but not to the same extent of the salted caramel doughnut, it was still delicious and for $3.50 hell yeah, I'll get some more. Then again, the doughnut was only $4.

Also good

Dr S., JGirl, VGirl and myself went back to Chester Street Bakery after we went to the Smoke. Dr S., and JGirl saw my pictures and had been drooling over the salted caramel doughnut and wanted to go here like crazy. We went for just a quick dessert run, Dr S., decided to get this salted caramel and chocolate bar, it was a dense dark chocolate brownie, covered in a white chocolate icing, small malt balls and a squiggle of salted caramel. We partially split them between us and then we were scraping the salted caramel off the plate to get the last bits of it.

Also only about $5

VGirl spent like 20 minutes trying to decide on something to eat, she doesn't like chocolate a lot and most sweets, but she likes most of the really old school classic Aussie desserts. She was hoping for a little lemon meringue pie but she didn't want a large slice of one. We kept saying she should get something to eat so she ended up getting this lemon slice. It had a buttery, crumbly and short base topped by a deliciously tart lemon curd.

She enjoyed it

I was the only one to get a full dessert, I got the chocolate fondant with malt ice cream and ovaltine crunch. It was the last thing to come out for obvious reasons and we all marveled at it when it came out.

Mmm fondant

I cracked open that bad boy and watched all the molten cake spill everywhere.It melted the malt icecream beautifully and I loved the crunch of those little Ovaltine balls, it was a wonderful contrast in textures. It was very rich though, and I'm not sure if I would order it again.

Oooh that close up

Chester Street Bakery
Atmosphere: 5, cold but I like the display of the 
Service: 6, decent enough I guess. They do a lot of run by cutlery and dish grabs.
Food: 7, I quite enjoyed all my food here, the portions are bit small especially the mains but they are very tasty. I'm a fan of big meals, so I wouldn't be happy always getting this small a meal. The small desserts are fantastic though and especially for the price they are. I'd gladly go here for a quick dessert with friends after a big meal.

Ramen Champion

I have been waiting for Ramen Champion to open up for the last two months, I keep spotting the sign whenever I drive into Sunnybank. A*., at work told me that it had opened and I quickly organised a get together to go here. This was in the phase where I just opened it up to whoever replied to my Facebook status, only W., and Little A., were interested, so off we went!

I was a little worried about the place as its located on the Sunny Park side of Sunnybank and I swear, that most places that open up on this side end up closing. Its like a never ending shuffle of restaurants that open up, get absolutely panned by every Blogger and Urbanspoon reviewer that goes there and shuts down within a year of opening. This side isn't quite as cool as Market Square with its lack of sweets and cafes to sit down and relax in.

This place!

We saw this really cute little airplane above us when we went there. It was a bit of an odd addition to the decoration of the place but it was still very cute.

Tiny airplane haha

The restaurant was absolutely packed when we went. I think from memory, we went in the first few days of it opening. During the hour or so, we were there, the table turnover was incredible. Pretty much every time someone finished a meal, the table would get wiped down and someone else would take their place.

Busy. busy

We agonised over the menu for a bit before deciding what to order. W., wanted to do the giant ramen challenge, however since we went just after noon, we weren't able to do the challenge. Little A., came a little bit later than the W., and I, otherwise we could've made the challenge. I was lurking at the table to make sure that we kept it while we ordered so Little A., did my order for me. She was behind W., but didn't know that he ordered the miso champion which I wanted. So we got two miso ramens, two orders of gyoza and then an order of champion ramen in total.

Here is their menu!

Here is the prettier order of the gyoza, they were pork and cabbage with that faint, crispy and crinkly edge you get from pan frying. It came with a little dipping saucer of soy sauce as well.I think it was quite a good serving size for $5, they were quite homely in flavour but perfectly executed in appearance, with their identical sizing and golden brown edge. The filling was soft, a little moist and faintly seasoned.

We used the plastic menus as place mats haha

W., and I both got miso ramen. There were wheat noodles, half a soft boiled egg, lots of green onions, two slices of char siu pork, some bean sprouts and a slick of white miso paste against the side of the bowl. W., and I both found the thick, cloudy broth to be almost too rich in umami flavour, it was hard to find a balance and it became quite salty towards the end. The char siu pieces were a touch dry, the soft boiled egg had no other additional flavouring to it. Typically they have a strong soy flavour or that's what I've had at other ramen places. I've definitely had better ramen elsewhere.

Pass

Little A., ordered the champion ramen with soft boiled egg, a sheet of nori, pork slices, green onion, bean sprouts, red onion and green onion with some wheat noodles. She remarked that the soup was quite good but it wasn't as good as she thought ramen would ultimately be.

Twinsies.

Ramen Champion
Atmosphere: 5, simple little eatery, reminds me of a cafeteria. 
Service: 5, friendly but there was nothing much too it.
Food: 5, the food here is super cheap, relatively large proportions, the flavours aren't the best for ramen I've had but people seem to like it well enough. L., D., A*., and a few other people at work have gone and everyone holds mixed opinions on whether or not this place is any good at all. I personally say, I dislike it but give a crack I suppose, you'll never know until you try it and $10-12 a serve isn't bad at all.