Princess Thai

I really wish Thai Phoenix wasn't located so far north side, I think its a really solid place to go to and everything I ate here was amazing! I went with my friend Dani and we loved everything we had here. I'd go here more frequently if it wasn't north side.

Parking is a bit shit, its near the Nandos! There is SOME parking but if its busy, I doubt you'd get a park directly in front of the store.

Here is their menu!

We went during lunch so they had an amazing lunch special that we took full advantage of. Below is a drink that I remember sounded so good that I wanted seconds after chugging it even before my food arrived. Dani got the same drink and loved it.

Yesssssss

We went with classic dishes for our entree, pork spring rolls and chicken satay. The pork spring rolls tasted very much like what Mama Pham makes at home, a good amount of pork mince and lots of veggies too. They had a really crispy shell despite being a bit pale. The chicken satay was really good, it had a nice char on the outside and the satay sauce was some of the best I've ever had. I could drink it or bath in it. We scraped that dish dry.

Yesssssss

Dani got the chicken and cashew stir fry with plain rice for her main meal. It had a ridiculous amount of birds eye chilli hidden within its depths. We hid them in the leftover pad thai for her boyfriend to accidentally eat haha. She said that she liked how much chicken there was as well as the plentiful cashews you can see in the picture. This was a lunch special for $10! Quite the bargain I think.

+_+ cashews

The real reason I went here is for their Princess Curry aka khao soi, Northern Thai style coconut curry with crispy egg noodles and your choice of chicken or beef. I got chicken and it was melt in your mouth, home cooked style tender! It came with the traditional accompaniments of mustard pickles, chilli oil and lemon wedges, so you adjust it to your preference. I really loved this version of the dish and it had Dani in heaven. She told me that since then she has gotten this every time she's gone there. This is also a lunch special!

Love you <3

Pad thai is always on your go to Thai dish list! This one was really good, well balanced, with tender noodles and lots of egg, tofu and chicken bits to pick at. We did not finish our meals so this became takeaway.

<3

Princess Thai
Atmosphere: 8, I really liked the interior, unfortunately, even during a weekday lunch there were too many people for me to get a good photograph!
Service: 6, friendly and very obliging staff.
Food: 9, really good Thai food. The lunch specials are super cheap and they offer my favourite Thai dish, khao soi, as one of their specials! What's not to love? I took off a point because they are located north side. I'm petty like that.

Seven South

I was prompted to go to this place by Instagram and one of my work mates who is a food blogger too! Her instagram name is SouthEastEats and she's a big deal. Unfortunately we were on very different shifts so I went straight after nights with a friend of mine called W., and K.,!

Parking is a bit sparse, it's a weird little shopping strip in the middle of suburbia. Leg it, if you're unlucky.

Look out for this place!

I like the look of the place though! Nice, brightly lit cafe with minimalist furniture and lots of little plants everywhere. Steal Zomato's menu!

I got this juice and I have no idea what it is. Just from the picture, I can already say I didn't like it because it is ridiculously fluffy. I hate fluffy drinks.

MINT >:

This was K.,'s meal, fried potato and parmesan hotcakes, poached eggs, avocado aioli, poached eggs and your choice of bacon or hot smoked salmon. She got the hot smoked salmon! They had a lovely fresh yolk on these eggs which I forgot to take a photo of. We were both a bit iffy about the potato cakes due to their lack of all over frying, just a shallow pan fry for these poor things! I want crunchy hash brown type potatos for my breakfast please! I think the salmon could have done with a strong smoke flavour too.

Bwah

W., got this dish, char grilled seasonal greens, kale, salsa verde, haloumi and poached eggs on the side. She wanted a fresh option for breakfast, this just looks like a salad gone rogue to me. She doesn't eat out much besides all Asian foods so she had actually never had kale, haloumi or poached eggs before which was interesting to watch haha. She said that she liked this dish but she freaked out over poached eggs and I ended up eating them. I find a lot of traditional Asian people balk at the idea of eating uncooked eggs, which is weird cause we will eat a lot of weird stuff given the chance.

So healthy for breakfast :/

I got this fancy avo on toast, with spiced pepitas, goats feta, smoked salmon and their pumpkin bread. I will stick my foot down and say that cold smoked salmon is my one true love, not hot smoked! The flavour in hot smoked is too mild for my liking and the fatty texture is all gone when they hot smoke it too. This goats feta wasn't too bad, not super goaty/strong on the taste buds like many can be. My pepitas were actually shelled unlike another breakfast joint I won't care to mention!

Lime!

Seven South
Atmosphere: 8, gorgeous little cafe! I love this kind of design.
Service: 5, nothing special.
Food: 7, nothing was bad, nothing was particularly enjoyable but nothing was poorly done? There is actually very little on the menu that I would say I wanted to eat? Mostly because its predominantly sweets or vegetables and I'm a big breakfast kinda girl. Give it a crack but I wouldn't go back here again personally, a swing and a miss!

House of Hygge

Camdog is a devout Danish person. She is obnoxiously patriotic, she's the kind of person to proudly declare her Danish heritage at any possible moment. We received a container of those Danish butter cookies at work, she tells us they are made in Copenhagen from DANISH BUTTER.

DANISH

Number one restaurant in the world is Noma and its head chef!? Rene Redzepi FROM DENMARK.

Stolen from wiki

What does she also bring to work parties? My spinach dip you say? No, its RISALAMANDE, Danish rice pudding.

Stolen from Nordic Living

The Sydney Opera House? Designed by a DANISH PERSON.

Stolen from the Sydney Herald

So when I said there was a new Danish restaurant in town, she said she would go with me before she even knew what was on the menu or where it was. When I said it was near the West End vet, it was easy for us to get to. The other funny thing is that her parents and brother had all separately come to this cafe before she had even told them about it. Also there is a ton of street parking nearby, mostly up the hill.

*To be honest, Camdog only said the first bit about the butter cookies and some rando actor. She also told me some other facts but they turned out to be all incorrect when I was finding the photos.

Their coffee!

They are dog friendly!

Yay

Camdog was tickled pink when she heard of their name. She tried to explain what "hygge" meant, its kinda like a cosy feeling/relaxed vibe, like when you spend a rainy day indoors reading a book, or when you just relax with friends with a few brewskis late at night. According to her, its synonymous in Denmark for that feeling, you describe the situation as "hygge". Google says it means enjoying the good things in life and warm atmosphere so her descriptions were pretty spot on eh?

A description

Yay!

Here is their menu! Here is a legible version of the menu.

Camdog went absolutely nuts when she saw this chocolate. Its apparently a super thin chocolate spread that you can eat with bread. She bought home a box for her dad to eat.

?_?

Flowers at every table

We got there a bit early to have their lunch which is what really wanted to eat since we wanted to have their smorrebrod and risalamonde combo, they had like four different toppings on their risalamande besides the traditional sour cherry and almond combo! Camdog is a fiend for remoulade to the extent that her family have been fined by Australian customs for attempting to sneak it back into the country.

Anyway, she got the smashed avocado, mushrooms and balsamic vinegar onto of a dense rye bread. She said the taste took her back to Denmark and her best friend Lara's mum's rye bread, the perfect start to the day. We both agreed that the best way to have avo on toast is if people presmash it for you, none of this fanned bullshit.

!!!

I wanted something a bit more substantial so I got the Monte Cristo toastie, shaved leg ham, seeded mustard, swiss and havarti cheese, sharp dill pickles on top of toasted Turkish bread. They apparently coated it in egg wash before frying it but I didn't realise notice any difference. I had in mine like a savoury French toast style toastie, which really sounds amazing doesn't it? Those crispy, frilly edges would have been amazing. The flavour combination reminds me exactly of what I do at home when I have toasties so I was very happy.

Mmm bread

House of Hygge
Atmosphere: 7, brightly light, small cafe. Probably higher if you're Danish, cause Camdog was estatic.
Service: 5, friendly but unwilling to part with their remoulade even when Camdog wanted to buy it.
Food: 8, portions are a touch on the small side but delicious anyway. Defs would go back to try some more of their food or to see what a snapshot of Denmark is like!

Suburban Cafe - Greenslopes

Sing's Asian Kitchen Cooparoo

Jubi told me about this place a long time ago. Before when she lived up here in Brisbane before her family relocated to the Gold Coast, it was her local Asian takeaway joint!

This place!

Dr S., C., JGirl, VGirl and I all went together and we had to wait a while for a table since we hadn't bothered getting a reservation despite it being a Friday night haha. The restaurant was packed and they were also doing a roaring trade in takeaway food as we watched. I wish that they did delivery but I guess they would be incredibly busy doing that! Here is their menu!

Bamboo styled cutlery

I got the salt and pepper calamari as an entree. It was crispy tempura coating with five spice powder mixed, the onions were well caramelised and add some sweetness to the dish. Did you know JGirl doesn't eat seafood DESPITE BEING JAPANESE? She eats sashimi and that's it, everything else makes her nauseated, she understands the appeal but can't stomach the taste no matter how often she tries it. I pretty much ate this myself after I gave everyone a piece.

I also got wing wings aka deboned and pork mince stuffed chicken wings that have been deep fried. It tasted like someone had shoved a spring roll inside of a chicken wing, it consisted of pork mince, mung bean noodles, water chestnuts and coriander. The technique is wonderful but I'd rather eat something else for my entree.

Blurry

VGirl got the vegetarian pad thai, she said it was a touch sweet but hoovered it down very quickly. There were cashew pieces, carrot, zucchini, baby corn, green onions, kai lan and onion in this pad thai. It's an interesting mix since vegetarian pad thais are usually just chockers with tofu pieces, this is kinda like when your mum wants you to eat more veggies and adds whatever in.

Your basic stir fry mix

I got green thai curry fried rice, I really like the idea of frying in spice pastes into fried rice like how Indonesian fried rices are. I love that spicy tomato based paste. Anyway, I quite liked the heat in this green thai curry fried rice, it had a great aroma just like the regular curry. It had pieces of chicken breast, egg. kaffir lime and Thai basil pieces. I ended up taking this back to work for my dinner. The rice was a touch gluggy though.

A giant chunk of rice

The other girls, Dr S., C., and JGirl got this beef red curry to share as they had already eaten and really just wanted to chat and hang out with us. This had the same vegetables with the addition of broccoli, capsicum and snow peas so I guess that's actually a bigger change. The beef was tender and the sauce was average.

I've had better

I got the soft shell crab salad, I thought I had ordered the soft shell crab papaya salad so when I received this I was absolutely furious. I cannot review this at all because all my thoughts were tainted by the fact that I got a garden salad instead of a papaya salad. It's been over eight months and I still get angry thinking about, I don't know why I didn't send it back.

Stupid ThatSeriousGirl

Sings Asian Kitchen
Atmosphere: 5, busy Asian restaurant.
Service: 5, nothing spectacular. 
Food: 5, I didn't really enjoy my meal here and neither did the other girls. We were wondering why it was so busy considering what we got. Maybe we picked the wrong food, but there's plenty of other Asian/Thai restaurant other to go to.

Cowch Dessert and Cocktail Bar

I went to Cowch a long, long, long time ago, A*., and I went here straight after we went to Zeus Greek Food. If you can recall, we were still fairly peckish after our feed at Zeus so we were super keen to have something else to fill up on.

Cowch is in the Southbank strip right next Guzman y Gomez,  that means parking is terrible. Good luck finding a parking place.

The interior is a bit odd in Cowch? See below.

I hate sitting at tables that are knee height

Udder lamps

Slightly dark everywhere else

You can get their menu here!

A*., got the chocolate fondant cake with vanilla ice cream. Their ice cream is supplied by Lick! Aka the same guys who supply the Ekka strawberry sundaes! It was perfectly executed, the vanilla ice cream was dense, creamy and flecked with vanilla bean seeds and then the molten hot fondant cake. We smashed it open and watched the warm chocolate spill onto the plate. The cake was quite light and fluffy with a good chocolately flavour.

+_+

Action shot!

Perfectly gooey

Meanwhile I got a belgian waffle with strawberries, banana, salted caramel and vanilla ice cream. All the components were tasty and went well together. The freshly cooked waffle melted the cold ice cream and I was able to interspace the bites with pieces of fresh fruit.

All standard ingredients!

A* also got the hot chocolate milk, rich and creamy, she struggled to finish this with her dessert as well haha.

Cowch Dessert and Cocktail Bar
Atmosphere: 5, ahh I don't really the place.
Service: 5, we got served by a trainee waiter. He got my order of icecream completely wrong and gave me salted caramel by accident.
Food: 5, nothing special with their desserts, they do classic stuff well. Its located in Southbank and its pretty cheap by Southbank standards. 

Lord of the Wings

I'm trying to post my massive archive of 2015 posts, so bare with me as I get them out of the way now that we've hit 2016 and part of my New Years Resolution is to get back on track with my blog! 

VGirl, JGirl and I decided to go out for dinner one day, so long ago I forgot why we went! Anyway, we wanted to eat some type of American food and we also needed to do some quick shopping so off we went to Lord of the Wings in Westfield Carindale Shopping centre.

Uhh, parking is easy of course. Park in the shopping centre, the GoHealth Club/new food court end and then walk in. Here is a link to where their menu can be downloaded.

The decor is very similar to a bar set up with high tables and stools, there are also lots of little booths if you prefer a more restauranty feel.

We sat in a booth, VGirl prefers this

JGirl and I decided to split everything, because we're generous girls and JGirl is student poor. The first thing we got was a serve of eight bone in wings, cause bones are where flavour lives, in classic BBQ. Tiny little wings just about as big as that dipping sauce of blue cheese sauce, they were cooked perfectly tender. The sauce was nothing spectacular. I've heard a lot about these "life changing" wings and I don't get the hype to be honest. I wish that places with lots of sauce choices let you try sauces before you settled on an order, or is that just me? How can I commit to one out of sixteen choices when I haven't tried most of them? Ice cream places let me try their stuff before I buy ):

Oh how the mighty have fallen?

VGirl got the garden salad, it's pretty sad because that's one of the few things she can eat beside every single appetiser. She says she enjoys salad but I don't see the point of going out to eat salad? This was a simple garden salad of lettuce, tomato, grated carrot, purple onion, raw button mushroom, cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of ranch dressing. She wolfed or should I say cowed hahaha it down in about a minute. The girl eats fast.

Inhaled.

JGirl and I split this pulled pork and coleslaw burger as our meaty main, figuring that with everything else we needed to squash it down a little bit more. Don't ever split a pulled pork burger by the way, not if you want to leave the place with your clothing intact. You think eating a pulled pork burger is messy? Try ripping a brioche bun, a notoriously soft bread, then the lusciously wet pork and the fiddly bits of coleslaw spilling everywhere. Solid pulled pork burger, I must say.

On another note, I think it's funny that the pulled pork and slaw burger on the menu has a picture of fries in the background. Then there is a disclaimer in each photo that the burgers don't come with sides. Like, "please excuse our food porn, we were doing it for the 'grams." I get it man, you do you.

I could be a hand model

We got sticks and rings to share between the three of us, deep fried mozzarella sticks, onion rings and a side of both Thousand Island dipping sauce and the same classic barbecue sauce that's on our wings. The onion rings were pretty greasy but still better than the atrocity I had at 8 Bit Burger earlier this year. The mozzarella sticks were disappointing, I pulled apart the sticks, gleefully awaiting the spectacle of endlessly stretchhhhhhhhing cheese and got nothing. Even fresh, mouth burning out of the fryer hot and they still didn't do their thing.

I recognise that BBQ sauce!

I got the traditional poutine, because VGirl loves potato chips more than she loves me and I love poutine, it's in my top 10 foods. Don't ask me to rank the loves of my life though, its just a loose list that changes whenever I'm eating a food that's on the list. Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of this poutine, mostly cause they had clearly shoved the whole thing in a skillet and shoved it in the oven to heat up the cheese so the chips lost their crunch. FOR SHAME.

POUTINE?

Lord of the Wings
Atmosphere: 5, vaguely bar like enterprise. I dunno why there are so many groups here.
Service: 5, permabusy teens, enough said.
Food: 5, passable but I wouldn't go back here again. There's cheaper, larger portioned American food joints in Brisbane, don't bother with here.