Ashton and Old

N., and I went to Ashton and Old as a quick lunch before work! We were entranced by the sounds of pork belly fried rice and so off we went! I really enjoy working with N., like me, she rarely has plans and if so it's planned so far in advance that she can easily join me in my random food adventures around Brisbane. We're both notorious in our work place for having lunches together and going to Korean fried chicken joints late after work ends haha.

Anyway, Ashton and Old is located on Old Cleveland Road, it has 1P parking in the front and some parking at the back if you're lucky! Just hope that you're on the right side of the road approaching, or you might have to leg it across busy traffic!

This place!

Here is their menu!

We went agesssss ago!

I like the set up of the cafe, but you know by now that I love open plan restaurants with an airy appearance. I like sunlit rooms!

I like succulents!

View from where we were sitting

Lots of seating space

Those photos are olden day Camp Hill!

I went there for their pulled pork eggs benedict, cause both those things massively appeal to me! I love the silky creaminess of this hollandaise sauce. I adored that doorstop wedge of bread that soaked up all the juices from my tender pulled pork and the yolk from my perfectly poached eggs. This meal was a dream come true and everything I expected and more, when it came to pulled pork eggs bene!

Yessss

This is the dish that made us come here in the first place! Sticky pork belly fried brown rice with fried egg, fresh Asian coleslaw and lots of crunchy deep fried onion garnishes. The pork belly was tender and cooked enough that the fat had rendered nicely but despite that we didn't really like the fried rice. N., noted that she felt like it was way too healthy for her with the inclusion of brown rice, we both felt like the plum sauce used in the fried rice made it way too sweet and made the rice clump together. It looked great but fell flat in execution.

Meh

We also got giant hand cut sweet potato chips to share, you can tell they are lovingly hand cut because one is the size of an entire sweet potato. They had a nice crunchy exterior and soft sweet fluffy interior. I love sweet potato chips. They also gave us a dish of garlic aioli to dip with!

Giant chip

N., got this fluffy strawberry, apple and orange juice drink.

Fluffy drink

I got this coffee frappe, without sugar syrup like a dummy. So it was just a fancy iced coffee really. Note to self, don't get it without sugar syrup.

Bleh needs sugar

Ashton and Old
Atmosphere: 7, I love the look of this little cafe.
Service: 5, not bad, nothing special.
Food: 7, pretty good! They have an inventive menu that constantly changes and I would go back to try some other stuff on their menu.

Habitat Restaurant and Bar

I finally decided to go to Habitat with friends after my night shifts! Then we went again for W.,'s birthday! This place is right beside the Coles in Woolworths, I highly recommend parking there and walking across to it.

This place!

This is an outdoor seating area of theirs, perfect for night time drinking or catching up with friends.

Cushions, cushions everywhere

The inside looks more like a standard bar.

So many stools

I don't get the point of this spot, more cushions but how are you supposed to sit on them?

Wat.

They had these lovely little leather booths, for some reason the upholstery reminds me of caramel coloured padded room material.

Super comfy though

Here is the menu! They had an interesting selection of condiments for their table, olive oil, raw sugar, salt flakes, Huffman's hot sauce and a pepper mill.

Salt dishes weird me out

I got an iced latte! I kinda like the glass, it looks like its based off a chunk of bamboo. I like the layered effect of the coffee but I can't remember too much about the drink itself, not even a month later and I'm mind blanking :/

Looks good though!

D., came along since L., was on night shifts with us and he grabbed the Habitat feast plate, roasted tomato, mushrooms, bacon, choice of eggs, chorizo, black pudding, zucchini fritter and sourdough. He finished everything and said it was pretty good. I had everything else on the plate on everyone else's meal so I'll go through bits in other meals.

Not a bad looking plate

L., got the little Critter Fritters, zucchini fritters, red pepper jam, pumpkin mousse and lots of coriander garnish. I thought this was a bit of a weird pick for her since she normally goes for sweets and stuff without eggs or bacon. I guess this counts? She was a bit mixed between thinking this was a stingy serve but she also doesn't eat very much for breakfast so she was actually full.

Interesting

H., was obsessed with the name of this dish below, that's what I'm Guaccan about. I warned her off it, you know she picks the worst option on the menu. I was dubious about it because I feel like avo on toast should have something salty like feta or goats cheese to balance it out. This version of avo on toast came with sourdough, mashed avocado, dukkah, red chard salad with raspberry dressing. She said the dressing was quite sour and she would've liked something salty to go with the avocado.

Hmmm~

V., got the Andele Andele Paprika! Basically a breakfast burrito made with scrambled eggs, black beans, roasted capsicum, avocado, chorizo and wilted spinach. She ate everything but the chorizo and I was confused as to why then she fed me some. It was sort of like a chorizo flavoured breakfast sausage, quite greasy and fatty.

I still don't like Mexican food :/

I got the Squeaky Scotsman, black pudding, sweet potato bubble and squeak, brussel sprout chips and poached eggs. I remember being disappointed that there was so little black pudding on the dish considering its the main component. Its a very visually striking dish considering the elements but I would have liked more black pudding! The bubble and squeak was very crunchy which I enjoyed. 

Looks great though

The second time I went here I got the Rosie Cheddar Cheeks, a Vegemite and cheddar roll, crispy bacon, poached eggs, rocket and macerated tomato. I didn't feel like the Vegemite and cheddar flavour was particularly pronounced in the roll, I was expecting the scrolls you can get at bakeries where you can see layers and layers of oozy cheese and thick Vegemite. The bacon was great as was the freshness of the tomatoes to counteract the saltiness.

Blurry much ):

Manda got the Bah Bah Little Lamb burger for lunch, she waited impatiently for about 20 minutes for their lunch service to begin. As soon as that clock hit 11.30am, she grabbed hold of the waitress and put in her order! A minced lamb burger with red pepper jam, rocket, pickles and a cucumber yoghurt dressing, she also got a side of waffle fries with it! She said it was a really juicy and delicious burger, she was a happy lady.

Habitat Restaurant and Bar
Atmosphere: 8, its a lovely place. There's lots of spots where you stake out a place with friends.
Service: 5, uhhh a bit lacking, I don't know why they couldn't take Manda's lunch time order earlier :/
Food: 5, pretty average. I was always a bit let down by what was on the plate. The names of the dishes are cute though. I wouldn't go back here again.

Little Loco

I went with my pseudo girlfriend N., to Little Loco after we finished our night shifts together. We spent part of the night checking out restaurants and her eyes lit up when she saw the behemoth of a milkshake that they serve here! She demanded that we go here, so here we are!

Mr H., was supposed to come here with us but he got super tired walking to his car and just went home. He had just started at our workplace so none of us had his number, and so he didn't call us. We just thought he died or something and were talking shit about him for the entire meal.

Here is a menu from Zomato.

N., got the salted caramel milkshake of course, she believes the only way you should eat popcorn is if its sweet. She's a petite, dainty little thing with eyes bigger than her stomach, so I really had my doubts when she decided to get both this and a meal for breakfast. We both didn't really like this milkshake despite its beautiful appearance. The milkshake was made with three scoops of vanilla ice cream and tasted like straight up ice cream, which sounds great but really wasn't, The salted caramel sauce was had an oddly sour tang to it and we got annoyed that there were drips of salted caramel everywhere cause we wanted to eat that. The doughnut on top was gluten free, enough kind of said right?

Beautiful though!

Great minds think alike so N., decided to get the breakfast burger that I wanted, like me, she dislikes sweets for breakfast. This breakfast burger had streaky bacon, egg, avocado, spinach, mature cheddar, tomato relish and a polenta brioche burger bun. I had a nibble of this burger and I was actually quite happy that I had to get the choice that I did. There just wasn't enough bacon! Other than that, the other components were solid. The polenta brioche is an interesting experience, its quite buttery/sweet bun which is odd considering its supposed to be a healthy place.

More, more bacon!

You know what is always a rock solid combination? Haloumi and mushroom, no regrets ever. This was the mushroom and haloumi burger with onion jam, rocket, tomato, jalapeno mayonnaise and polenta brioche burger bun! It was amazing, I swear this is one of my versions of a safe bet.

Definitely recommend!

Little Loco
Atmosphere: 5, nothing fancy.
Service: 5, waiters and waitresses seem friendlier to regulars.
Food: 5, not bad, the place isn't my cup of tea with their focus on healthy stuff. If you were into that sort of thing, give the place a crack. 

Yard Bird Ale House

Yardbird Alehouse has been on my list of go to places for a long freaking time, I've never gone because I dislike bar settings, all the noise, drunken people and uncomfortable chairs make me hate them.

Watch out for this sign in the corner of the little food district.

Aw yiss

There are a lot of interesting pieces of artwork around the bar but they're hard to take photos of!

Kitchen

Overexposed photo :(

See! They're pretty hard to take photos of, I really need to work on playing around with exposure settings.

Aw yiss

Love em!

Huh?

Lovely couches!

Here is a link to their menu! The first thing we ordered was the New Orleans Chicken pizza, grilled Cajun chicken, chorizo, roasted capsicum, Spanish onions, mozzarella cheese on a chipotle tomato base. I found this to be a wonderfully meaty pizza with great flavours from all the ingredients. The base was American style, slightly thick but still crispy crunchy on the bottom.

Awesome!

You can only choose one flavour for your wings for every six wings that you buy, we got try all the flavours since we bought so many wings between the . . . fifteen of us or whatever it was that arrived.  Honey BBQ was slightly sweet but had a good BBQ flavour, the Southern fried wings were garlic and parmesan flavoured but I wasn't a fan, Chipotle BBQ was my absolute flavour with a great smoky BBQ flavour that I wanted to lick off the wings and original buffalo had a solid heat and sour flavour.

Lastly was the death sentence wings, they were the spiciest thing I've ever had. I have a solid medium heat tolerance for everything, and like a brown person level of spice too. Ms M for Megababe and I each had one each, my mouth quickly went numb but I stopped being able to feel it and just finished eating my wing. After about a minute, someone asked if something was wrong as I had tears streaming down my face from the heat. I wasn't even aware that I was crying, I looked over to Ms M for Megababe and she was also silently crying. Everyone was very impressed by how strong the spice was and most people there refused to even have a full wing, contending to just lick a bit of the sauce.

Garlic and parmesan on top and then the original buffalo sauce wings

Chipotle BBQ!

I went here a second time with Mr J on a date. He ordered the Cuban sandwich based on my recommendation, I actually had it the first time I was here but I used this photo instead. Its filled with pulled pork, smoked leg ham, Swiss cheese, gherkins and American mustard. The pulled pork was the main part of the sandwich, I found it slightly too dry and needed some more sauce to stop it being so cloying. The sandwich was huge and it was a massive struggle to finish it, even Mr J had issues trying to eat it all.

Meat tornado sandwich

I got the cheeseburger which came with a side of fries. It was terrible, the beef patty was quite dry, cooked to a well done state and the patty itself was quite small in size.

Tiny patty

The chips were delicious, freshly fried and well salted.

Good chips!

Yard Bird Ale House
Atmosphere: 5, its a pub. It could be worse I suppose.
Service: 7, super fast pub service!
Food: 5.5, sometimes passable, sometimes bad, generally huge portions for cheap prices though. I'd happily go here for food while drunk.

Rare Pear - Holland Park

This is yet another post that I was super lazy with starting. I've been here twice with large groups of people both times and yet I still haven't posted this review. I have no idea why other than sheer laziness as I quite enjoyed my meal here. It's very easily located off Logan road in the more or less direct centre of the shopping district for Holland Park, very close to it is Cafe Deedot.

This place!

They serve Di Bella coffee

There always seems to be a new lunch and breakfast special every time I go here. This was the special the first day that I went. Their menu is also available online.

So many bits

W., ordered the green protein smoothie which consisted of spinach, berries, protein powder, banana, greek yoghurt, almond milk, chia seeds and cinnamon powder. He said it was pretty tasty.

Very green

Miss Chatterbox had a cappuccino and thought it was also pretty good.

A soy latte for Z.,

Mug!

This was my somewhat chewy drink of the apple berry chia smoothie, it was made with apple juice soaked chia seeds, mixed berries, fresh apple juice, banana and ice. I found myself frequently stopping to chew either the chia seeds or the raspberry seeds in the drink. I found the drink to be quite thick and have a pronounced banana flavour.

Chewy

H., picked up a mocha!

Pretty

One of my friend's daughters decided to get a babycino, hot foamed milk in a teacup with chocolate powder and sprinkles on top. We all thought this was a super cute touch.

So cute

We arrived just in time for lunch to start so half of us went with brekkie and half with lunch. I got the southern fried chicken burger which came with rocket and corn salsa. I found the buttermilk marinated chicken to be super crunchy but thought that the chicken flesh was a bit lacking, I wanted there to be a slightly bigger portion of chicken as the majority of it was crunchy coating and I frequently got a mouthful of fried chicken coating and bun.

It looks lovely though

Z., got the pulled pork breakfast burger which consisted of pulled pork, barbecue sauce, fried egg, grilled haloumi, bacon, coleslaw, corn salsa and rocket with a side of beer battered chips. This is my kind of breakfast! It would also be perfectly adequate for a lunch or dinner hahaha. The pulled pork was succulent and the mixture of other decadent breakfast ingredients with the runny fried egg, grilled haloumi and crispy bacon made it utterly delicious. I was very jealous of Z.,'s choice. I think if you're a big eater at breakfast, definitely pick this burger.

There is pulled pork under all the rocket!

W., got the special of the day which was a pork and fennel sausage with blue cheese dressing, smashed avocado, grilled apricot, mushrooms, tomato and a side of beer battered chips. I had a little bite and the flavour reminded me of a falafel more than a pork and fennel sausage? The sausage was presented as a loose mince patty.

Very interesting

Miss Chatterbox got the grilled barramundi with chorizo, roasted potato and pumpkin, asparagus, lemon and rocket salad. She said she really enjoyed the fish as it was well done and had no hint of pinkness at all, remember she grilled some salmon sashimi at a different restaurant as it was too raw? She said that her favourite part of the whole dish were the potatoes, she said they were super crunchy but fluffy and wished her roasted potatoes came out like that.

Mmm chorizo

This was S.,'s big brekkie which she shared with her toddler, it comes with bacon, lamb and rosemary sausages, sourdough, house baked beans, garlic and thyme mushrooms, grilled tomato, your choice of eggs and a herbed hollandaise sauce. They tend to change the components of this big breakfast quite regularly I think but those were the components when we went last year. She said it was an absolutely huge serving but managed to finish it anyway.

Big brekkie!

We went back here a few months later for Ms S.,'s birthday. I got the summer sorbet smoothie which had lemon sorbet, fresh apple juice, yoghurt, strawberries and mint. It was quite a pleasantly sweet and sour drink that I really enjoyed. Ms S.,'s little daughter kept reaching over and wanting to drink my drink so I let her! You can't really ignore little toddlers requests can you hahaha. We had a lot of fun trying to feed her things but she seemed to prefer simple flavours ad textures like the ones present in this drink. In hindsight, she ate a fair bit of my feed but refused everyone else's!

Little O.,'s choice!

This is the Rare Pear salad ordered by L.,! It contains grilled prawns, crispy pancetta, fetta, roasted capsicum, pumpkin, beetroot, pearl barley, couscous, mixed seeds, nuts and a chipotle and sumac dressing. It's probably one of the prettiest dishes I've come across in a long time, L., loved it and really enjoyed picking apart the components of this dish. I like the fact that its primarily a bacon salad haha.

So pretty

This is the almond and herb crumbed barramundi with roasted potatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant relish, caper dill remoulade, asparagus and lemon. H., MHZ., and S., all ordered it! Everyone said it was absolutely delicious but S.,'s daughter didn't agree, she only wanted to eat the potatoes on the plate.

Nice

This was my dish, the salt and pepper calamari with asparagus, feta, roasted pumpkin, cherry tomatoes and lemon with a chipotle aioli. S.,'s little girl ate a lot of my calamari and my pumpkin. This was honestly the dish that reignited my love for pumpkin. I haven't eaten it much since I was toddler, apparently Mama Pham fed me so much pumpkin and carrot as a baby that I turned orange! This roasted pumpkin has such a gloriously caramelised crust that I ate it up in seconds!

How did the pumpkin get so good?

The Rare Pear - Holland Park
Atmosphere: 6, a busy little cafe on a main road! I've always sat outside though and its quite nice. Lots of shade and different tables to choose from.
Service: 8, really friendly waiters and waitresses.
Food: 8, I really like the huge portions here and the sheer variety of ingredients and foods that they serve, they have an ever changing seasonal menu too which ensures freshness! The plating is some of the prettiest I've seen in Brisbane. It's a little bit expensive but its good for what you get.