Limon Restaurant

Without a doubt, Limon is my local. More so than Seoul Bistro was due to its proximity with my home. Just a quick nip down the road for a place where we will always have a table, an excellent feed for a cheap price and where everyone we bought has had a good time. I have probably been here about six times, most of which I have stopped taking photos because I end up ordering this same thing. I've also tried nearly everything on their menu. The only thing I don't like about the place is parking is limited.

Limon has an extremely dingy sign, its not neon but watch out for fairy lights and you'll be right.

The interior is a simple little affair, lots of red patterned table tops that can be easily assembled for more seating space! Here is their menu!

With our powers combined!

This is the start of every meal I have there. Their very excellent dips platter! So from the top going clockwise its baba ganoush, a lovely smokey number, cecik, yoghurt, garlic and cucumber, hummus, the king of dips and then cemen, a spicy and salty capsicum and walnut number. My favourite is usually baba ganoush but I actually love the cacik here, its amazing with their bread. The dips platter is a meal in itself basically!

The dips!

For an extra $2 you can get it changed from regular Turkish bread to wonderful cheesy garlic Turkish bread. That's not even a choice, it's such a bargain! The Turkish bread here is baked on site and has a wonderful crust and fluffiness. I love Turkish bread so much, it's the leading reason for my fear of braces, the fear that I might not be able to eat bread afterwards with braces insitu.

The bread!

These are the sigara bogregi, little filo pastry wrapped herb, feta and ricotta cheese delights. I wish they were just bigger, but they have a lovely crunch from being deep fried and the salty creaminess of the cheeses is lightened with the taste of dill and mint. I'd just like a bigger serve please, like an entire bowl of them.

We sat outside, pardon the lighting

This was one time when we just got a vegetarian mezze platter for sharing because we weren't that hungry for some reason. It has haloumi, a fresh garden salad, mixed olives, baba ganoush, hummus, cacik, falafal, stuffed vine leaves and tiny sigara bogregi. Its basically a very good entree for a couple haha.

Noice

I really love this lamb cutlet dish, the lamb is frenched beautifully with not a skerrick of meat left behind, there's a perfectly medium rare lollipop of tender lamb meat with a gloriously puddle of creamy mustard sauce that I slather onto the mashed potato and spinach that the lamb rests upon. For a meal that's basically meat and three veg, its a cracked of a dish. I could drink that sauce down, sometimes I buy an extra serve of sauce and just drown my potatoes in it. The lamb cutlets are small, but when are they ever really tomahawk steak size?

<3

I have no idea what this is. I have a feeling the menus changed since I've last been. I can guess what it is from the photo, but you can too. So that's all I have to say on the matter.

What is this even? Lamb?

VGirl's favourite dish is this falafal plate, six blobs of falafel, Turkish bread, tabbouleh and cecik. This has since been revamped a bit but the idea is still the same. My pick for best falafel in Brisbane is still for King Ahiram in West End but these aren't bad either.

VGirl's fav

Oh man, the Limon style Istanbul kebab is not something I can take lightly, I can NEVER finish this in one sitting. Chips, Turkish bread, a fresh garden salad, haloumi, marinated lamb with capsicum and onion. You get it initially and mock the tiny serving of meat before taking it all home in a takeaway container.

#dying

We failed hard. It makes for a fine second dinner too, might I add!

Failed!

I loved this giant lamb steak with mustard sauce, rice and salad that used to be on the menu. I'm super sad that it's been removed as it was my favourite dish. It was this giant hunk of meat that they grilled to perfection, so tender! You shall be sorely missed giant lamb steak.

Miss you babe.

This is a picture of one of their specials from ages ago, a veggie stack. VGirl was very excited because she never gets the option of a vegetarian special. She hoovered it up and has pined for it ever since.

!!!

Limon Restaurant 
Atmosphere: 5, nothing fancy, brightly lit inside despite its dark interior and big enough inside for lots of people.
Service: 7, really good service actually. Even single time I'm here, the waiters are super friendly and happy to explain anything. 
Food: 10, I love this place. My family go here all the time for good reason! 

Popolo Italian Kitchen and Bar

VGirl has an Italian's love of arancini! She always orders it when we go out because it is nearly always vegetarian and its deep fried, two of her basic dietary requirements. So we have been meaning to go to Popolo Italian Kitchen and Bar in Southbank for quite the while but balked at both parking and the price. We scored one of like four parks nearby having gone straight from our respective works, car pooling at VGirl's and then legging it the rest of the way. Southbank is a menace for parking!

Here is their menu! It has a nice view of the Brisbane river, but it can make it quite chilly at times. Luckily they have giant space heaters everywhere to warm things up.

I invested all my points in food photography

This is their tre formaggi aracini, aka three cheese aracini with roasted pumpkin puree, the three cheeses were taleggio, gorgonzola and parmesan! As a result these aracini were super cheesy with a delicious long stretch that I forgot to photograph. The best part for both of us was the roasted pumpkin puree, I don't know why but when you mix cream and pumpkin it makes this intense kinda mac n cheese sauce feel. We were both fighting over the last bits of puree and I think VGirl may have licked the plate to get the last of it.

Highly recommended!

For once, I wasn't a butthole and got a vegetarian main so VGirl could try some. I got this ravioli con zucca e ricotta, basically pumpkin and ricotta filled ravioli, tossed in a brown butter and sage sauce topped with amaretti crumb and more roasted pumpkin puree. We both liked the silkiness and thinness of this fresh pasta used in their ricotta. I always love a good butter and sage sauce and this one wasn't sitting in a pool of it which is nice. I didn't like the amaretti crumb, it was really sweet and we both didn't understand its inclusion. The pumpkin puree was the same as in the arancini!

Solid!

Haha, I guess if you're vegetarian prepare for pumpkin? VGirl got the pan fried gnocchi, which came with parmesan shaved over the top and more pumpkin puree! She said she liked the lightness of this gnocchi and still was enjoying the pumpkin puree haha.

Golden crust!

Popolo
Atmosphere: 5, we got there super early around 6pm so I can't really say. Its near the river and seems like a good spot to have dinner with friends. Not sure how the noise carries though?
Service: 5, we got our food! Nothing else to say really.
Food: 7, pretty good! Everything we had was pretty tasty but I don't think I'd go here again strictly for the price. We can get cheaper Italian elsewhere!

Purple Olive

It was T.,'s birthday recently! She decided to go the Purple Olive and so there were quite a few of us girls and boys from work who attended her birthday dinner. I had to nip off pretty early on as I had night shifts to go to but it was pretty fun to have a chat with everyone outside of work.

Park on the side streets of James Street's main strip and proceed to leg it to the restaurant! Here is their menu.

I got there late like 45 minutes late because I forgot how bad traffic was coming into the city at that time. Everyone was still happily chatting away though so I managed to get my order in at the same time as everyone else. I decided to go with the special of the day, gnocchi with brown butter sauce, crispy sage, roasted pumpkin bits and shavings of parmesan. The gnocchi were soft and fluffy. I was a bit sad that the brown butter sauce was so bland, it needed a good whack of salt to make it more delicious. There were very small pieces of sweet caramelised pumpkin but I wanted a lot more! It was a delicious entree but I was starving and was definitely a very entree sized entree.

Special of the night!

I got the espresso milkshake as I knew I was going to have to leave for night shifts straight after. Considering it was supposed to be moderately fancy with icecream and cream, it just tasted like a cold milky coffee and not a particularly strong one at that.

Expresso shake!

T., got these zucchini fritters, they were coated in a very little batter. That's all I have to say, they were cooked. I don't see the point of getting this dish, it needs a sauce or something.

Tongs!

W., got this pizza, it was proscuitto and mushroom. He said it was quite salty from the ingredients used. There were only four slices so I didn't bother asking for a slice.

Uneven toppings

I got this quattro fromagi pizza, your classic four cheese pizza with a topping of rocket and it also had proscuitto added on top. I definitely agreed with what W., said, I found this pizza quite salty due to combo of the strong cheese and the proscuitto. Even with the rocket, I found it to be quite salty and I'm a girl who loves her salt. The crust on the pizza is pretty good though.

I've had better

These were the spaghetti con polette della nonna, Nonna's meatballs with spaghetti basically. I think L., ordered these and we were concerned at the giant size of the meatballs that they would be over cooked or even worse under cooked. They were okay, that's kind of all we had to say, not dry, not moist, not salty but not super bland? They were a solid average.

?_?

Purple Olive
Atmosphere: 5, intimate setting as you can see from my dull lighting. 
Service: 6, I was pretty happy that they allowed me to split the bill since I left early. 
Food: 5, I didn't enjoy anything I ate here barring the gnocchi, I felt the portions were quite small and overpriced. I was still hungry on leaving here despite having been the only person to eat an entree, an entire milkshake and a main pizza. I didn't get anything else because I knew I would eat at work later and had already paid about $40~ dollars for an unfilling dinner :(

Suburban Cafe - Greenslopes

Sushi Edo - Sunnybank

I love Edo Sushi, cause its priced cheap, has a large selection and super high turn over rate. There is never a bad time for Edo Sushi, cause there are so many people there, the food is snapped up immediately. Parking is ample, just beware of Asian drivers. That's speaking as an Asian driver, everyone believes in right of way.

Here is the menu in picture form! Everything is $3.50 barring larger plates of sashimi and meals so you can easily work your way through the menu very quickly!

I've been here quite a few times with VGirl, N., and W., so I'm not really sure what I got each time I went. Mostly because I ate nearly the same thing every time. I got this torched salmon and mentaiko nigiri, the mentaiko added a lovely salty, creamy element to the salmon. I was surprised at how tasty this was, considering I love mentaiko spaghetti so much haha.

Well worth a try

I really like their tuna salad and avocado inside out roll. I prefer cucumber inside these usually but their avocado was perfect!

<3

I always get a serving of seaweed salad, I love that stuff. Crunchy little strips of sweet and sour wakame on a bed of mixed leaves, topped with a little sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Well worth trying

We did get a serving of salmon sashimi, the slices were a bit thin but they were evenly sliced, uniform in shape and size and melted on the tongue just as well as any other sashimi I've had.

Not bad!

Ahh chicken karaage, another staple favourite of mine. These were freshly fried and came with a little blob of kewpie mayo for dipping. I think they also have a spicy version but I'm happy enough with this one.

I prefer marinated ones

I got these deep fried school prawns! Tiny little things that you can eat shell, head and all! Always fried to a deep crispy crunch and give you a boost of calcium from the shell. These could've done with a dipping sauce and a squeeze of lemon but I know where to go now if I need some.

Maintain eye contact, establish dominance

I got these chicken teriyaki and avocado inside out rolls and a small tube of kewpie mayo squeezed on top as you can see. Hahaha, I always find that much mayo a bit of overkill, but it is ridiculously delicious stuff so I don't complain too much. The chicken was a little dry here and I remember thinking the teriyaki flavour could have been a bit stronger.

Yum~

This is the oddly named Mango Love roll, its just salmon wrapped around sushi rice and salmon roe. No mango whatsoever! Its a tasty blob of sushi that's for sure, the salty pops of the roe add some extra seasoning to the rice and salmon.

Salmon blob

I cannot for the life of me remember what this is.

Theres mayo and rice?

TEMPURA OCTOPUS. Holy crap this is delicious, little bite sized pieces of octopus that are just a little bit chewy and piping hot. Finish them off quick because they continue to cook and toughen as they cool down. The batter is really light and crispy on these!

<3!!!

I got this miso eggplant nigiri, just a strip of soft, melting, miso covered eggplant on top of rice. Ahh miso eggplant, I love you so much. I'm not really sure when I started liking eggplant but miso eggplant was definitely a big factor!

Eggplant is magic

I got a soft shell crab hand roll, this is one of the few bits of sushi that automatically comes with cucumber! It helps to offset the crunchy sweetness of the crab with its own cool crunch. $3.50 can you believe it! I always find hand roll seaweed to be super crispy, does anyone else get that vibe?

Yum!

We got some torched scallops on rice. No comment! I don't often have it this way.

Just briefly cooked

We got some edamame to share between us! This is a pretty large serve, served cool too! I find hot edamame so weird.

:)

We got this odd deep fried corn nigiri. I hated it, I found it to be a really weird taste that didn't go well with the rice.

?_?

I got deep fried camembert bites, these were unbelievably hot as cheese conducts heat excellently. Do not bite into these immediately, you will get mouth burns. This is such a deliciously, disgusting fat laden indulgence, you will find yourself condemning it while simultaneously reaching for another one.

Probably best for there to only be three pieces

I got pan fried gyoza as well, these had a nice crunchy bottom to them. The filling was nothing spectacular however.

Ehh

I also love salt and pepper calamari, I love many things haha. These were tender and had a decent coating of salt and pepper to spice things up. I always order this, they've never given me a bad batch!

More!

Sushi Edo
Food: 7, solid sushi train. A great place to try new things because its so cheap!
Service: 5, polite, efficient service. The ease of ordering with touch screens makes life easier too!
Food: 8, a great place to first get introduced to sushi! Cheap prices so you can go wild tasting new things!

Morning After

Morning After got massive hype when it opened up for their breakfast carbonara and being super cool. So I went out to see if that hype was true and before you scroll down to see my verdict, I basically found the food to be super pretty but a bit expensive. A great place to take someone to impress them though!

It's located further down the road on Vulture Street. Snag a park nearby if you can, otherwise probably park around Nandos and leg it.

This place!

This is their website menu! I wasn't able to take any pictures of the interior due to the sheer number of people in the cafe. It's a very bright and open cafe though, I liked the furniture used, lots of blonde wood and giant tables.

View from where I was sitting

My table

I ordered this coffee, it was a drip coffee that came in a glass beaker and a little pitcher of soy milk. If this was the first coffee I ever had, I would never drink it again. Bland, sour water to say the least. It had no body and you can really taste the lack of textured milk to top up the espresso.

Gross

I got the breakfast carbonara! Slow cooked hen's egg, mushrooms, fresh papardelle, guanciale and pecorino. Guanciale is a cured pork cheek or jowl, so think of it as a bacon like meat. I quite liked this dish, I really wish there were more pieces of the crispy guanciale and a larger egg or a second egg to better coat the pasta. Hen's eggs are traditionally the first egg ever laid by a chicken, they tend be tinier and I don't know why that's appealing. Give me a second egg, a duck egg even! The pasta was wonderful, silky and with a firm bite to it.

The highly vaunted brekkie carbonara

I went back with VGirl later in the week for our regular breakfast get together. VGirl got this green juice, kale, celery. mint, apple, lemon and ginger. She loves green juices but hates the taste of mint, so she goes around Brisbane finding the best green juices. She felt that this one was a particularly good one and says that the one at Chester Street is her all time favourite though.

Such a bright colour

VGirl got this zucchini and corn fritters which came with sauteed Swiss Brown mushrooms, kale and poached eggs. She said that this was an okay dish but said there wasn't anything particularly good about it. That is all she told me, thanks VGirl for your sterling attention to detail.

Plus cheese

I got the good ol' eggs benedict, two poached eggs, smoked salmon, sauteed spinach, sourdough bread and an overly lemon flavoured hollandaise sauce. I have nothing more to say about this eggs benedict, all the flavours work well except the hollandaise could be more balanced in flavour.

Classic

Morning After
Atmosphere:7, well light place with nice furniture and decorations. Also every time I went there, all two times, there were tons of cute dogs present.
Service: 5, nothing spectacular.
Food: 6, I like the breakfast carbonara. Generally the food was super pretty but not to either my or VGirl's tastes. Give the place a shot, but the hype is half hearted.