Foundry Records

I got invited to Foundry Records and I do believe this is the first and only time I've been unable to find a friend to come with me, so solo ThatSeriousGirl trip it is! I had no idea what they sold for breakfast when I went there as I couldn't find anything online about them!

I ended up parking on Brunswick Street and legging it to Wickham Street since there isn't a huge abundance of parking down that one way hell hole to Chinatown.

The sign is pretty distinctive

This place!

The interior is very much cool brick cafe!

Lots of photos to buy

Usually there's live music here!

Music here was great

They sell a lot of really cheap CDs and vinyls from local bands as well as popular alternative/indie artists from around the world.

I was sorely tempted checking out their collection of music

They also sell band shirts!

So comfy

This is their bar/counter area!

I spy drinks!

This is a little cosy corner full of comfy couches. I did not sit here of course because I like to creepily watch the door when I eat.

Nice

They have probably the coolest looking menu I've ever seen. It's in the shape of a disc. On the other hand, there's only bread on the menu. 

So cool

Drink wise, I just grabbed myself a soy flat white. It was beautiful, silky smooth, strong with no overly bitter flavours and balanced enough flavour wise that I didn't need sugar.

Solid coffee

As you know, I'm a pretty solid brekkie eater so I went for the biggest thing on their menu the Cheesus and Mary Jane toasted sandwich with smoked ham added inside. The combination of tomato, cheese and ham is a classic one and this one was pretty good with a nice stretchy cheese, smokey ham, ripe tomato and a dark rye bread. I didn't eat my pickle as it was way too salty and there were already quite a bit of rock salt used as a garnish.

Foundry Records
Atmosphere: 10, super cool atmosphere for lovers of cool music.
Service: 5, counter service but the barista was super chatty with everyone there.
Food: 5, toast is toast. This would be a wonderful place to set up shop if you need to get an assignment done.

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!

Corbett and Claude

I got invited to Corbett and Claude when they opened up their first store at the Indooroopilly shopping centre. I hate that place, I rarely go because it's almost a 40 minute drive from where I live and you have to go through Coronation Drive to get there. Not to mention the shopping centre is bits tacked onto bits. I got so lost getting back to my car, I spent almost forty minutes wandering around the empty parking lots at night trying to find it. It's so eerie being somewhere you expect to be

Anyway, it's a bit of a weird place to find but if you just park on the third level of the shopping centre and walk to the food court end where the Lord of the Wings, Yum Cha Cuisine, Guzman y Gomez and other restaurants are you're there! It's on the outside opposite the Pig and Whistle. Don't think you can get there from Station Road by driving! There's nowhere to park!

We got a massive bowl of warm mixed olives to share as our first entree. Beware the pits! As much as I'm a savoury girl I never got into snacking on olives, too briney!

Everyone else loved them though

This is an amazing, amazing cheeseboard! It had so much tasty stuff on it san danielle prosciutto, salumi salami, quattro stelle smoked ham, pita bread, lavosh crackers, maffra red leichester, millawa blue cheese, whitestone double cream brie, whitestone vintage cheddar, swiss gruyere, vanella buffalo mozzarella, pesto, a fruit paste, mini figs and muscatel grapes! I was a massive fan of the blue cheese, mini fig and prosciutto all together.

Cheese please!

After the cheese platters were done we were allowed to pick whatever we wanted from the menu to try and we went a bit nuts picking food. I think everyone picked two or three dishes and we swarmed each other tables like a plague of locusts, snapping photos and sharing food. Food bloggers are great at sharing food, taking photos and waiting patiently to eat!

This was the first thing we got and it was the field mushroom, caramelised onion and goats cheese pizza, a match made in heaven! I can't emphasise enough how much I like the thinness and crispiness of this crust. The other big point I liked about these pizzas is that they had ample topping on each and every slice, at a lot of pizzerias you find there's a dud slice that is smaller than everything else and has no topping. At Corbett and Claude there is no dud slice! I quality tested all the pizzas to make sure!

I love you pizza

This was the crispy potato, rosemary and proscuitto pizza. I've never been a fan of potato on pizza, it's something about the lack of deep fried crunchiness that gets me, even with this one being cut ruffle chip style, they're still not crunchy after being in the oven. The proscuitto crisped up deliciously and of course rosemary and potato is a combination made in heaven. This one had a bit of a higher crust ratio that I'd like, but Mama Pham would love it. Mama Pham steals the crusts and leaves the filling part.

Wonderful crunch!

I didn't try any pizza but I did manage to pinch a prawn, this is grilled prawn, rocket and chili jam! The prawns didn't have any char marks that I could see but they had a great burst to them.

I didn't get to it in time ):

We got random assorted salads bought to our table all the time. This one was a quinoa based one. I didn't try any but the rest of the food bloggers seemed to enjoy it immensely.

Quinoa is weird

This was by far, my favourite pizza as it was the closest thing to a fancy meat lovers! This is the C&C special meatballs with caramelised onion, crispy proscuitto and barbeque sauce. The meatballs were soft, moist and utterly tasty! I think I ate close to half a pizza to myself, quite the feat among nearly 20 hungry foodies!

Yessssss

These all arrived at our table at the same type, nearly too far away for me to sample since I sat right smack bang in the middle. From top going clockwise, there was hand cut fries covered in parsley and grated parmesan with the best garlicky aioli I've ever had, the other food bloggers were rhapsodising ferociously about how these were the best fries they had ever had! Pan fried gnocchi coated in pesto and on a bed of spinach and tomato, I quite enjoyed these gnocchi finding them delicious with their crunchy exteriors and soft, pillowy interiors. I sadly didn't get to try the haloumi ):

CHIPS!

These are the crunchy chicken bits and I paraphrase another food blogger, "these are fancy ass KFC popcorn chicken!" That's exactly what they taste like, just jumbo sized and way crunchier. I'd have gladly eaten the entire tray by myself and I did because everyone had gotten way too full and the waiter made the mistake of putting this directly in front of me hahaha!

Bring on the chicken!

Corbett and Claude
Atmosphere: 5, solid little bar.
Service: 5, mixed at times. The service was a bit all over the place, one minute super attentive, the next forgetting orders.
Food: 8, great food! I would love the crunchy chicken bits or the fries again no problem at all. The pizzas are pretty good as well and I have to commend them on their abundance of toppings. It's just a shame they're so far away from me is all!

The Stock Exchange new menu!

I got invited to the Stock Exchange to try their new winter menu! I've never been there before since I don't drink or go out partying/clubbing very often but I have heard about the place before. I do love my bar food after all and truth be told, the times I've been to bars, they have the best service hands down. Also there were a lot of other food bloggers there, it was nice chatting to people so passionate about food! I saw some interesting techniques for taking photos and made some friends.

The Stock Exchange Hotel is easy to find for any Brisbane local so I won't bother explaining where it is. Here is the menu that we tried on the night!

We got the chili squid with sambal aioli dropped off at our table first, the squid was so amazingly tender here and perfectly cooked with not a single hint of chewiness. I found that the chili only added a tiny amount of heat to the dish but it was an attractive addition to the dish. I didn't get to try much of the sambal aioli as it got passed down the table and ended up where the mini chorizos were.

So good!

The sticky lamb ribs were melting tender and when I grabbed a bone to lift it up, I had to work super fast to get my plate underneath it as the meat was already dripping off the bone. The barbecue sauce was finger licking good with a good smoky and sweet flavour.

So perfectly cooked

Jalapeno poppers stuffed with cream cheese! I absolutely love the hell outta jalapeno poppers, I find them slightly spicy with a wonderful sour and crunchy flavour. I got to eat quite a few of them since a lot of people found jalapenos to be too spicy even with the cream cheese to reduce the heat. Just watch it when you're first taking a bite as it is super hot fresh from the fryer.

Bad food blogger, wait!

I was massively torn between the different dishes I could order for my main, I really wanted steak or beef cheeks or pork belly. I wanted everything but the pasta, which I'm 95% sure no one ordered. I went with the steak though because I was here before work and wanted a massive feed before I had to go into work. I got the steak medium rare and it was perfectly cooked, still blushing pink in the centre and had a wonderful caramelised crust. My only complaint was that the fat on the side of the steak hadn't rendered through yet and was a bit chewy as a result. I really enjoyed the meatiness of the grilled oyster mushrooms, also the golden brown chips and the sweetness of the roasted garlic!

Exchange Hotel
Atmosphere: 5, warm and bright pub!
Service: 7, thoughtful, timely and super attentive although they forgot my drink order initially.
Food: 8, solid bar food with huge portions and cheap prices, I'd definitely go here again.