The Stokehouse

Mama Pham and work friend Foodie Auntie have started going to restaurants together all the time, if they're not working together, they're constantly having each other for dinner or heading out to restaurants together. This was one of the occasions where they invited VGirl and myself along. Foodie Auntie and her daughter Foodie Cousin are more inclined to fancier food places than my family are. They said that the food here was delicious so off we went!

Its along the South Bank towards the Maritime Museum end, there is very few parking spots there but its an easy walk from nearly everywhere. Also apologies for the lighting in advance, the restaurant had soft candle light like lighting and I didn't think to change the exposure or ISO settings on my camera before this.

This place!

The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived but we weren't allowed in until our reservation time. We were seated promptly and were given a basket of bread with a fruity olive oil for dipping.

Little sack of bread

Here is their menu! I was the only person to grab an entree and I went with the chicken liver parfait. I didn't like the aspic layer of the parfait since it had such a strongly alcoholic flavour and I don't like bitter flavours. The chicken liver itself was silky smooth however with a rich flavour. The pickles were a nice sharp contrast but I wish there had been some other kind of carb to go with the chicken liver parfait. I ended up eating a lot of the bread to have something else as a contrast.

Slate block?

I got the slow braised veal and kale cannelloni with a rich tomato sauce, rocket and parmesan topping. I found the veal to be very tender with a melting soft succulence. The tomato sauce was rich but balanced between sweetness and acidity. I found it hard to finish my dish due to the inclusion of kale in the filling. I had a bad run of dishes at this restaurant, however everyone else had much tastier foods and I know that from constantly pinching pieces off their plate.

Not my pick

This was the vegetarian pasta that VGirl picked it was a ricotta gnudi with zucchini, spinach, pinenuts and lots and lots of other cheeses I can't recall. VGirl was entranced by the texture and appearance of the gnudi and its very much a ricotta/gnocchi dumpling, the gnudi pieces were as soft and fluffy as a cloud. VGirl gave me one bite then refused to give me any more until she saw how disheartened I was with my dish, then she gave me the scrapings off her plate out of pity. Needless to say she thought this dish was amazing and scraped every bit off the plate!

Fluffy clouds!

Mama Pham decided to go with the old steady a jumbo 250g eye fillet of beef with potato fondant, roasted onion and a red wine jus. She got it medium rare because thats what you should eat it at, she personally prefers like medium well, well done kind of steaks, she gets disgusted when I cook medium rare steaks at home. Oh god, this was the best steak I've ever had, it was like eating butter if it was meat, does that even make sense? Such a wonderfully flavoursome, buttery, tender cut of meat! The potato fondant was delicious as well with its crispy, crunchy edges!

Steak!

We got the chili salt chips with a side of aioli as our shared side. The heat from the chili salt was quite subtle but the chips were without flaw, perfectly crunchy with fluffy interiors. They were fresh from the fryer burning hot and we enjoyed every last piece of them.

Oh chips <3

Foodie Auntie also got the roasted pumpkin rocket, salted onion, labnah and honey salad. I was surprised that the pieces of pumpkin weren't larger and didn't have a better caramelisation. I love the combination of sweet pumpkin, creamy cheese and sharp rocket!

This blurry thing

Stokehouse
Atmosphere: 5, fancy but makes me feel awkward setting. I can imagine this being somewhere you'd go for a special event, especially as it overlooks the Brisbane river.
Service: 8, pretty solid service, quick top ups of our water, they memorised where our orders came from and were quick to take orders.
Food: 7, I didn't like what I get but everyone else's food was pretty good. I wouldn't go back just because I disagree about the pricing of the food. Also atmosphere.