Vapiano Garden City

I got invited to one of the opening nights for Vapiano's new store in Garden City! I had previously gone to Vapiano in the CBD with my ex and have been there a few times since then so that's probably why I got invited to this one. I bought my sister, VGirl, along as my +1 since she loves Vapiano and is in fact having her Christmas party there pretty soon. I completely forgot to mention in my RSVP email that VGirl was a vegetarian but they reassured me on the day that there would be lots of vegetarian options for her.

As I mentioned before, this one is located in Garden City so its pretty easy to find! Its located in the eating precinct part of Garden City, near the movie cinema.Parking is easy too, just beware the three hour limit at Garden City shopping centre!

Gummi bears!

We both admired this large silver tree when we went there. It was quite a striking feature. There's also a large upstairs section as well as outside seating area, that I didn't get any photos of. Apparently this restaurant seats 170 people!

I believe it too because the restaurant was packed to the absolute gills when we went there. The lady who invited us said that the busiest Vapiano in the world is London, the amount of people they serve in the Sydney Vapiano from Monday to Friday is equal to ONE lunch session in London. This is a ridiculous amount of people, my mind completely boggles to imagine the amount of people and food that is!

So full!

I really like how Vapiano has fresh herbs to be picked and added to your food everywhere. The only thing here was basil and rosemary but I've also seen oregano and thyme in the CBD one.

Such fresh looking basil

Ooh! VGirl spotted these bag hooks underneath the benches! I thought they were very nifty, I hate putting my bag on the floor and usually have it in my lap for the entirety of the meal. One of my Facebook friends said that was a lawsuit waiting to happen with a kid running straight into it, but I think that would be pretty unlikely cause the way the tables are set up as well as how high up the hooks are? You'd have to remove the chairs and run straight between the rows of tables to run into the hook!

Bag hooks!

This is the Vapiano chip card! Everyone gets issued one of these when they enter the restaurant and as you buy more stuff the card gets the item added to it. When you're finished with your meal, you just go to the front counter and pay. It's very handy for large groups to split bills perfectly without everyone fussing around with breaking notes and things. Here is their menu by the way!

I'm normally the sucker who has to split the bill :/

Our first dish to try was the assorted antipasto platter, I have no idea if this is the large or regular size by the way. There was a selection of meats, prosciutto and salami, bruschetta, green unpitted olives, sundried tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella with pesto and slices of parmesan cheese. The prosciutto was deliciously fatty and succulent, I really enjoyed the flavour of it and ate all the leftover pieces, VGirl and I were sharing with another couple and we were all very careful about splitting the food fairly haha. The salami wasn't too bad but it wasn't anything particularly special. The bruschetta was delicious! Super crunchy toasts, rubbed with garlic with tasty basil, garlic and olive oil marinated tomatoes on top, VGirl quite liked these, probably more so because she dislikes cheese in general and olives too. We both enjoyed the sundried tomatoes, always a nice touch to any antipasto platter. The buffalo mozzarella was gorgeous, so beautifully creamy and soft. I would love to eat that melted on some pizza haha. The parmesan had a lovely sharp flavour and went so well with the salami.

The same lady told us that all the produce in Vapiano is produced in the state by that state. So all the Queensland stores, Gold Coast, Brisbane CBD and Garden City, use the same supplier, they use Queensland wines, Queensland beers on tap from the Newstead Brewery and our olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese and pasta is completely different to what the serve in the Melbourne Vapiano!

Mmmm antipasto

My little plate of food!

The second appetiser that we got to try was the beef carpaccio which came with rocket leaves, raw mushrooms and a horseradish sauce. I didn't particularly enjoy it despite the flavour of the beef, the horseradish wasn't bitey enough for my liking and I've never enjoyed the texture of raw mushrooms.

Swing and a miss for me!

I'm pretty sure this is the Toscano pizza, it came with spicy pepperoni, marinated tomatoes, mozzarella and olives? The olives is the bit that I'm sure is missing, but I remember they said it was the Toscano pizza when it came out and there's nothing else on the menu that matches this similar description. Except maybe the Diavolo pizza? Apparently that came with capsicum and I don't remember there being any on this pizza. Hmmm~ pizza mystery aside, it was a decent pizza, the base was the best part being super thin, crispy but soft closer to the toppings. I thought it was an excellent base and really enjoyed it.

Solid pizza base!

This was the pesto con spinaci pizza, basil pesto sauce on the bottom, fresh spinach leaves on top and then marinated tomatoes to weigh it down. The base on this one was a little bit thicker and fluffier compared to the ?Toscano/Diavolo pizza as well as the Bianco below. VGirl said this was her favourite pizza, although she complained that the uncooked spinach leaves flopped around everywhere and she felt like the tomato was a bit unevenly scattered. It seemed to be a table favourite and disappeared within a few moments of it being placed, photographed and then served up and down the table.

Mmmm pesto

Our table recieved probably about three of these Bianco pizzas, an oven roasted potato with rosemary, cream sauce and mozzarella. I loved everything about the pizza except the actual potato, the potato slices were still quite crunchy so I ate them first and savoured the crunchy base with its creamy sauce, mozzarella and rosemary pieces. It probably just needed a bit more time in the oven for it to be cooked through.

We had a bit of a gap here to check out how they made their pasta fresh on site. Nearly everything was made on site, from cutting of vegetables, to make fresh pasta dough and pizza dough, all the sauces and the other things not made on site were meat and the gluten free options. This is their $60, 000 pasta machine! It was chugging out little crinkly pasta pieces shaped like a cone with a frill called campanelle aka "little bells". They seemed perfect for having a thick or chunk sauce!

PASTA TIME

AW YISS

I also quickly checked out the pizza station. It's way less crowded than the pasta stand for sure. They have a section for quickly stretching out pizza dough and a section below for storing more pizza dough.

Uno.

Then it gets sped down the line to get a smear of sauce and some toppings!

Due.

Then it gets shoved in this massive oven!

Tre!

This is their cute poster of all the different types of pasta you can order. They also do GF pastas as well made out of spelt and their gnocchi is gluten free too.

+_+ capanelle!

We got to try their pesto rosso gnocchi, a sundried tomato pesto with pine nuts, chilli, fresh cherry tomatoes and ricotta. It was a surprisingly creamy sauce, probably from the pine nuts and ricotta. The gnocchi was a bit of a let down, with some of the comments I heard being that it was still a touch hard and firm to touch rather soft pillows that you'd expect.

Pretty dish though

We were then served the crema di funghi with the campanelle pasta from earlier! it was hands down the most delicious pasta I've had in a long, long time, the simplicity of oyster and white mushrooms in a white wine and nutmeg sauce topped with parmesan was simply amazing. The perfect al dente fresh pasta as well, I found the campanelle to hold on to a lot of sauce too and it had a gorgeous crisp texture, it was a very visually appealing pasta to me anyway! VGirl loved this pasta and finished off the plate while no one was looking.

Mmmm mushroom pasta

The second pasta that we recieved was the gambero al spinaci, prawn, spinach and pesto! I don't understand why the spinach here isn't tossed through with the pasta? I like wilted spinach! The prawns were quite large and bursty here. The pasta was a bit firmer than I'd like, just a touch under al dente but that was just my personal opinion. I found the pesto sauce to be a bit thinner than I'd like but I love a lot of pesto with my pasta. I managed to snag a takeaway pack of pasta for a guy I'm seeing and he had no complaints about the pasta I gave him, and he absolutely adores Italian food, so I trust his opinion.

Solid at least

We got the Bolognese with fusilli, it was a pork and beef mince with carrot and onion. It was a super thick ragu that had a really intense and bright tomato flavour to the dish. I think Bolognese is one of those super personal dishes that is completely different from person to person flavour profile wise, so I'll just say mine tastes completely different and that's how I like it!

Bolognese!

We then proceeded to get these nifty Vapiano takeaway containers, microwave proof barring the lid. They are quite sturdy little things and I nabbed two, one for the actual pasta which I gave to a guy I like and the second for a salad container for home hahaha.

Woohoo free container!

We then proceeded to have desserts, each table recieved two complete sets of the four desserts currently on sale at Vapiano. I was a dictator at my end of the table who gave everyone a spoon and a plate, then shoved a spoon in each dessert so that we could all evenly split desserts and try a bit of each one. You know I don't like sweets but here are my thoughts on the current Vapiano dessert line up!

This is the crema di fragola, a super creamy and light as air marscapone and strawberry dessert. It's very light and fluffy, so it tastes very refreshing and is ideal for those without much of a sweet tooth. This was of course, my favourite dessert hahaha!

Fluffy desserts!

This is the white chocolate and salted caramel cheesecake with honeycomb, it was a summer special dish that was permanently placed on the menu due to Facebook campaigns and its popularity. It has a crunchy biscuit base as well. VGirl adored this dish from the start, when we first came in and got our drinks, she saw this and desperately wanted to try it. She finished the mason jar by herself and was saying the entire time, "yassss," "it's so good!" "I literally can't even." She said that she would go to Vapiano strictly for this dessert that's how good it is. 

VGirl's pick

This was the nutella cheesecake created by one of the Gold Coast Vapiano cooks. It had a lot of hazelnut pieces on top as well as strawberry pieces. I found it to be a bit underset and quite runny even though it was a fridge set cheesecake. 

Nutella!

This was the classic tiramisu! Both VGirl and myself found it to have too strong an espresso and alcoholic flavour but the other people at the table finished it off very quickly. I overheard someone saying it was quite sweet but I didn't notice that to be honest.

Tiramisu!

Vapiano Garden City
Atmosphere: 7, brightly lit and with a bit more of a sensible layout than the CBD one.
Service: 10, perfect, but we were invited guests so I suppose that's a give.
Food: 7.5, pretty solid food! I think I had a lot of complaints but the good food was excellent and the other dishes were made average by a few discrepancies such as undercooked pasta and things. Definitely worth checking out if you're with a vegetarian friend due to the huge range of options!
Vegetarian suitability: lots and lots of choices, ideal for a vegetarian or vegan to eat here!

Lastly I got a goodie bag from Vapiano that included four vouchers for you and a friend to eat at their new Garden City store! It's valid until late February 2015 and allows you and a friend, pizza, pasta or salad, a dessert and a soft drink! All you have to do is comment here on my blog, who you would bring and what you would eat! You can also do the same thing on Instagram and since I'm sure the only people who read my blog are my personal friends, comment on the Facebook posts I keep putting up! I will draw this by next Friday 19th of December so get cracking! 

Vapiano vouchers!