Wilson's on the River

This was my first invitation of the year! Off to Wilson's on the River, brand spanking new seafood restaurant. They just opened up a few weeks ago along Coronation Drive in Milton. So new in fact that they still hadn't got a website up and going or parking approved. Parking in Milton is a massive pain in the ass due to its 2P regulations. Apparently they will get onsite parking pretty soon!

I went with my friend E., from work! She drives a massive truck car and she lovessssss seafood!

This place!

The interior is absolutely lovely! It's in an old converted Queenslander that's been split in multiple buildings now and they've been super busy sprucing the downstairs for dining and upstairs for a champagne bar. It's the bright white Queenslander near all the office buildings in Milton along the river, it's been quite a few other restaurants in the past so I don't doubt it has a very familiar appearance for everyone Brisbane based.

Lovely!

We sat beside the window and spent a lot of time perusing over the menu before the head chef came out to introduce himself and have a bit of a chat to us. Then the general manager came up to talk to us about the history of the place which I recounted in a nutshell earlier.

Mama Pham would enjoy this place

The first entree that we recieved and arguably the best in my eyes were the Harvey Bay scallops with apple and onion puree, black pepper caramel shards and a truffled cauliflower timbale. The scallops were perfectly grilled, large, sweet and creamy. The apple and onion puree was also perfectly balanced and a tart contrast to the super creamy texture of the timbale, think the creamiest scrambled eggs you've ever had. The only issue I had with these was the huge size of the caramel shards, I found the flavour overwhelming as there was so much of it in one mouthful. I think a bit of a finer crumble would have been preferable.

My fav, defs get it!

This was a super close tie to being my favourite, it was a butter poached Moreton Bay bug, mango salsa, fermented black beans and a chive and sage butter sauce. The super soft, succulent, meaty sweetness of the Moreton Bay bug had me seriously wondering why I don't eat more of the stuff! We were both scraping the plate with this one, everything was delicious from the sweetness of the mango to the salty hit of the funky fermented black beans to the buttery herbaceous sauce pooled under the supple pasta.

I now love Moreton Bay Bugs

This was the Thai coconut milk broth mussels with kaffir lime. I didn't really like this one as I found that the Thai broth lacked the fragrant aromatics that Thai cuisine is characteristically known for. It was a very mild broth and it took me a few sips before I decided whether or not I liked this. E., loved it and said it was her favourite since it combined her two favourite things, Thai and seafood! I've got to say I'm really traditional and love bread with my mussels to soak up the sauce. The chef told me that this was one of their most popular dishes as it was something new and interesting but very mildly spiced so perfect for most people!

Spicier for me thanks!

This was my least favourite dish, I really disliked everything about it, the name of the dish as well as the execution. It was called a Tasmanian salmon ceviche, cured with sea salt and white wine vinegar, dressed with a Glasshouse Mountain honey and pineapple dressing. The slices of fish were very ragged, each slice a different shape and size to the one beside it. There were even some holes in the slices and I felt like this was a terrible way to treat such delicious fish. There wasn't a particularly strong sour flavour from the vinegar and when I've had ceviche in the past, it's been gorgeous hunks of fish cured in some type of citrus juice and a jumble of crunchy and refreshing things like onions, chili, tomato or coriander! It's normally a super fresh and light dish, which I find this dish isn't.

I'm sorry for you salmon ):

This was the Fremantle octopus served grilled over a bed of baby zucchini, red cabbage and radicchio and topped with a green chili jam. I really liked the green chili jam, I love the punchy sweetness of it and I found the octopus well cooked, quite tender but not as tender as the one I had from the new defunct Char Char Yiros that still remains my gold standard. If you get octopus so tender you think its chicken aside from the suckers, you're doing a great job. E., said that she really enjoyed this dish despite not liking octopus.

 A beckoning curl says come on by~

The chef dropped by and asked if we were getting full yet. We said no and so bring on the reef and beef! We got half a Moreton Bay bug grilled with garlic butter dripping off the side, a thick Diamantina Angus tenderloin cooked to a perfect medium, salt and pepper calamari, prawns on top of a cracker of a crunchy potato pieces and sauteed spinach. Remember what I said earlier about Moreton Bay bugs? I double down on that and say this is the best one I've ever had, it was the length of my forearm and I wear a size 9 1/2 woman's shoe! It was so, so, so juicy, pure white succulent meat that I dragged through the garlic butter pooled under the rest of the food! The steak was perfectly cooked as I said and so tender, it cut through like butter! The prawns were also perfectly cooked, juicy and bursty. I think I need to stop saying things were perfectly cooked, because it all was!

Omg yassssss

We got the black truffle risotto with soft boiled egg, three jumbo grilled prawns and a scattering of toasted black rice aka inedible shards of rice that were everywhere. I don't like risotto and this one wasn't an exception, it was cooked to risotto prime standards with a chalky hint in the centre of each rice grain, well separated grains of rice, a buttery pool lightened with a hint of citrus and a strong truffle aroma and flavour. That doesn't mean I like it though, risotto just isn't my thing! That being said if that sounds up your alley, I'm sure you would love this dish.

Shotgun gooey egg

It was time for another main but I made a quick break for the upstairs champagne bar to check out the fixtures and view!

Hella fancy nice

I can imagine leisurely sipping champagne or for me, fancy mocktails as I turn my nose up at the city workers below me!

Brissie river, why you so brown

There's also an upstairs dining area!

Gorgeous otherwise though

Our last main was the angel hair pasta with spanner crab, cherry tomato, broccolini with crunchy garlic and a lemon, olive oil and fresh basil sauce. I thought it was delicious! I loved the large pieces of fluffy white crab meat scattered throughout the pasta. I thought that the pasta itself was more like a noodle but it was still tasty. I loved the freshness of the lemon, crunchy garlic, basil and olive oil sauce! While E., disliked it, I would solidly order this again due to how much I enjoyed this dish.

Omg so good!

There were a few desserts but E., and I were seriously gunning for the passionfruit and mango semifreddo and the hazelnut creme brulee. We were absolutely ecstatic when our waitress told us that's what we would have. The biscuit was a touch on the thick side but packed full of macademia pieces and white chooclate, it was still a bit soft so it was easy to bite through. I was stuffed but I pocketed them for the road since E., was too full to eat them. The creme brulee had a wonderful crunchy sugar top that I smashed through with a spoon. The creme brulee had large chunks of hazelnut pieces and a super smooth frangelico and hazelnut flavoured cream. This has got to be the best creme brulee I've had in a long time!

Omg sooooo good!

On the other hand I wasn't as impressed with this dish. The semifreddo had a good flavour to it and was complemented well by the sourness of the passion fruit, the golden toastiness of the coconut and I felt that the mango was too sweet. I prefer my fruit sour and sweet! I prefer the contrast from that a lot more.

Not bad though

Wilson's on the River
Service: 5, solid 10 actually but they know I'm a food blogger so yeah.
Atmosphere: 10, lovely place and a great place for a fancy dinner.
Food: 9.5, everything was well cooked, super flavoursome, great quality and I'd go here with Mama Pham. If you think I'm picky with food, you KNOW Mama Pham is worse!

Zeus Greek Food

Zeus Greek Food got so damn hyped on Instagram that I was really excited to go. I assembled my food posse, Mr A, Dandelion, A*., and Manda. Unfortunately this was the day after we had that Storey Bridge event and so Dandelion and Manda felt too unwell to go and Mr A., was at work util 7.30pm so we were still waiting for him. A*., and I were the only ones left and we told Mr A., not to bother once we had eaten here.  I feel like I was the only person on Instagram who didn't get a wrap. Or that's how I would feel if I had gotten the photos on Instagram. 

Anyway, Zeus Greek Food is right across from Guzman y Gomez aka the roundabout on Stanley Street. Parking is rough, I highly recommend parking somewhere else and legging it, but I'm cheap and love walking so there's that. 

To the lightning bolt!

All the drinks and a lovely set up!

Nice

They have this wonderful kitchen sink/condiments stand. Yes, I want to wash my hands at all occasions before I eat, because I'm a nurse and a hygienic human being. 

Aw yiss

They also have like a porn window where you can watch all the meat being cooked. 

Thats my fetish

It's got a bit of a weird set up I think? One of those shops that reach both sides of a road cause it occupies all the space in the middle? Head straight to the back, so you can see the view that I've got! 

So bright

A*., and I are dumbasses especially A*., cause she decided to do Dry July. It's a charity project to give up drinking or something for the month of July to fund raise money for more comfortable environments for cancer patients. A*., barely drank anyway but she decided to give up carbs and we had a great conversation about what constituted a carb at work cause we're 15 and love quoting Mean Girls. 

Nope.

We went through with a list of things and I was staunchly of the opinion that if you could make a sandwich out of it, it was a carb. So that removed simple carbs like what you get in fruits and vegetables. She was including things like flat breads and wraps which I vehemently vetoed. Naans, croissants, baguettes, doughnuts, brioche, all the breads really. 

So this little segue way leads me into why A*., isn't eating bread and so we decided to share a main serve of meat and then get sides to bulk it up. The first thing we decided on was haloumi because its delicious and you should always get haloumi, unless you have to pay $11.50 for five pieces. There's nothing wrong with the taste of the haloumi, it was squeaky, golden brown and delicious. We were mumbling words of dissent when we got it though. I know that sides don't constitute a meal but I'm still disappointed. Here is their menu by the way.

It looks sad.

A*., got the naked lamb portion which was 200g of spit roasted lamb which came with a small dish of tzatziki and lemon. Soft and tender, we demolished it in seconds. 

Still hungryyy

Tzatziki, you can't go wrong with it.

Gone in 60 seconds

We got the corn cobs with grated kefalotiri, a hard and salty cheese that you can grill like haloumi! These corn cobs were quite sweet and super buttery, like dripping butter levels. I was surprised that there wasn't a greater char to these corn cobs. 

$9.50 btw

The pita was $3 for two whole pita cut into quarters. I bought that when we had nearly eaten everything else just to fill me up. It was soft, fluffy and buttery, it was delicious.

Can't go wrong with pita bread~

Zeus Street Greek:
Atmosphere: 7, a lovely place to get something to eat. I love the little touches everywhere like the placeholders being ancient Greek philosophers! Our was Socrates if you were wondering.
Service: 5, friendly but a bit slow at times. 
Food: 5, delicious food but so, so expensive. West End is a brisk walk away and you get twice the portion sizes for the same price. I wouldn't go back here unless I was looking to burn money.

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. 

Boom Boom Burger

I got invited to Boom Boom Burger Bar and Cafe the other day! It was a 1940s style New York style bar with burgers and bar place on Chevron Island down the Gold Coast! I know only one person down on the Gold Coast so Jubi came with me to this place!

It's on the main strip of Chevron Island just slightly off the side, so watch out for this sign!

Aw yiss

I liked all the murals and decorative pieces around the bar. I wish I was able to take more photos but there were way too many people around everywhere. I'm talking like 1-2 free tables at any time, except the freezing outside tables. I found the atmosphere to be like a buzzing restaurant, constant background noise but you're still able to talk to your dinner partner without shouting.

So bright

We sat right near the kitchen and enjoyed the view of the restaurant.

Bar!

I liked this table of cutlery and napkins, I like the worn look of it.

Not sure why I like it

Once again, I love the murals. This one was just outside the kitchen.

Great art!

Here is their menu! We got $40 off the tab since we got invited there but we ordered so much stuff we still had to pay a bit hahaha. We got a drink, tapas, side, burger and sauce each for roughly $30! The first pick was by Jubi! We were really indecisive for a long time about what tapas to get because we wanted to eat everything and I mean like, I would eat everything on the menu just to try it. Jubi is the queen of best decisions when it comes to her picks and it was no different this time.

She chose the four hour braised beef cheeks with mushrooms and small pieces of juicy, intensely flavoured tomatoes. I wish I could even convey how tender these slices of melting beef were, I poked it with a knife and the meat fell to pieces. It had a rich, intensely flavoured sauce that was thick, glossy and with that wonderful beef, tomato and mushroom flavour of winter.

Winter food at its best

I went with the slow cooked pork rib sticky fingers, I have no idea what a pork rib sticky finger is but its a super meaty pork rib and I'm a fan of that. This was another super tender cut of meat, when I grabbed the bone to pick it off the plate, the rest of the meat fell off right back onto the plate. The sauce was delectable, I was licking it off the plate when I thought Jubi wasn't looking.

Sooo good

The house specialty on the side dishes was the puff potatoes which after much discussion, Jubi decided to get. We were eagerly discussing what we possibly thought this could be when it arrived at our table. Perfectly round, golden brown, shallow fried, well seasoned mashed potato balls! They were super hot and I'm pretty sure Jubi burnt her tongue trying to eat one, they were amazing but definitely something you should eat promptly.

Amazing!

I picked the onion rings after much umming and ahhing over what to get. The onion rings had very large, sweet slices of onion in a thin and super crispy tempura batter. We got a sauce each that appeared in the photo below, I got the house mayonnaise and Jubi got the tomato relish. I disliked the flavour of the mayo, finding it to have a strong flavour to the oil used and not much of a tang or sweetness. The relish was very good and Jubi ate the entire dish on EVERYTHING, she was highly tempted to bring a jar of it home to be honest.

Wonderful!

I decided to go with the option of two sliders for $12 to try a few more things. My first instant pick was the Hello Lucy! Haloumi, roasted pumpkin, walnut, tomato relish, lettuce and rocket burger and if that doesn't sound amazing I don't know what else does. This is the first and only time I've ever wanted a vegetarian burger and I'm just as amazed as you are. The flavours worked perfectly together from the crunchy of the walnut, the sweetness of the pumpkin, that salty, chewy hit from the haloumi and the freshness and bitterness of the rocket! Oh man, this is the perfect combination and I was in heaven! Jubi was very polite and decided to go with a different burger option but she later confessed this is what she originally wanted. I will make a salad with these exact ingredients one day and it will be glorious, I have all these ingredients at home right now barring the rocket.

Too bad, so sad, its all mine!

I also got the Pig Me Up, 6 hour slow cooked pork belly, green apple chutney, blue cheese, tomato and lettuce. I was somehow under the expectation that this was pulled pork so I was quite surprised when I tasted blue cheese, pork belly and tart green apple. It was tasty but I was so irritated by this that I was put off since I had been expecting pulled pork. Jubi later showed me the menu and I admitted that it was good just unexpected. The pork belly has gorgeously melting layers of fat and soft pork and contrasted beautifully with the rich, creamy blue cheese and tart chunks of green apple chutney. 

So much chutney

This fat slob of a burger is their Boom Boom Bang, wagyu beef, tomato relish, cheese, lettuce and caramelised onion. Jubi ordered it and said it wasn't a super tall burger but the patty was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the burger was very wide. She said it was delicious but ended up having to eat it with a knife and fork due to the sheer size of it.

Classic burger!

Boom Boom Burgers
Atmosphere: 9, bustling American diner, intimate, buzzing but you can still hear people, it would be the perfect place to get together with friends especially with their bar and cheap prices.
Service: 10, absolutely wonderful. They were super attentive, cleared the plates away promptly and asked us multiple times how everything was. I noticed they did this to everyone and not just us as well!
Food: 10, I adored everything I ate here. It has the distinction of having the best vegetarian burger I've ever had the pleasure of eating, the sides are plentiful and cheap and the tapas were all delicious. I only regretted my choice of the house mayo for dipping my onion rings into due to whatever oil they used to make it up having a strong flavour.