Tanja's Cafe Restaurant

Address: 372-374 Main Rd, Wellington Point QLD 4160
Tel: (07) 3207 3120

Website: www.tanjas.com.au

I can't remember what I had here which was notable but I think it was a pastry/pie of sorts where I ate everything on the plate. This is your standard strip shopping mall cafe but does a nice breakfast or light lunch well and if it's anywhere near where you live or a friend lives in Brisbane then you should give it a go!

Cha Cha Char (Brisbane)

Address: Shop 5, Plaza Level, Eagle St Pier, Brisbane QLD
Ph: (07) 3211 9944
Website: www.chachachar.com.au

Highlights - must try the 'moo juice'which has now been renamed to 'beef jus dipping sauce'. It is reminiscent of a thin veil of vegemite reduced with beef stock... love that yeasty-bite of flavour!

Cha Cha Char prides itself on doing good steaks, but of late it has really ramped up its menu to include a diverse range of mains featuring modern Australian cuisine. A really nice place with non-pretentious staff with views of the river and well-executed meals.

Jakarta Indonesian Restaurant

Address: 2/702 Brunswick St, Newfarm (Brisbane) QLD 4005
Ph: (07) 3358 5715

Website: www.jakarta.com.au

Trading Hours: Dinner - Tues to Sunday 5:30pm till late

They do a fantastic satay chicken (written as sate on the menu) - Indonesian style is more like a bbq sauce, so sweet flavour with very little spice. It is a much smaller serving (comes in 6 or 8 sticks but they are smaller compared to the usual shish kebabs you come to expect) and served on a sizzling plate.

Also notable for chilli fiends is the 'end of the world' chilli sauce. This is an additional condiment you can order on the side to add to your nasi goreng or the like. Definitely one of the hottest I've ever had and definitely lives up to its name...

Cafe Portofino (Brisbane)

Address: 650 Brunswick St, New Farm QLD 4005
Tel: (07) 3358 4002'
Email: fabio@morganti.com.au

A best-kept secret in the trendy part of Brisbane - authentic Italian sweet delights and with a strong coffee if you are so inclined.

The overall vibe is quite boutique, flavours are not overly sweet (more a bitter, dark chocolate is used) so definitely caters to the more traditional European tastebud.

Tropical Fruit World

Address: Duranbah Road, Duranbah, NSW 2487
Tel: 02 6677 7222
Website: http://www.tropicalfruitworld.com.au/
Trading Hours: 10am to 4:30pm (QLD time); closed Christmas Day

If you are a foodie and think you know everything - think again! Tropical Fruit World will introduce you to some of the world's wildest fruit & vegetables including the refreshing scent of Lemon Myrtle, the curious tamarillo and the 'chocolate pudding fruit' called black Sapote.

Watch their "Miracle Fruit Show" which includes tastings of some of these varieties. Visit the theme park inside for an awesome tractor-led trailer ride and see how these edibles grow in their habitat! My personal favourite was the train & boat ride which amused kids and adults alike.

Finally, spend some time in the cafe and try the Black Sapote (chocolate) muffins - they are seriously the best chocolate muffin I've ever had! The muffin was soft, fluffy, not too sweet nor heavy. The secret is apparently coconut milk...

Pictured above is the Black Sapote Lamingtons which are also winner - the sponge cake is replaced with chocolate cake which is moist and fluffy similar to the muffin. The coconut shavings give the lamington extra body & texture. Yummo!

Spend some time in the gift shop where I recently picked up some abalone flavoured macadamia nuts, sweet chilli tamarillo sauce, papaya salad dressing and avocado mustard. Lemon Myrtle syrup is a great treat with simple soda water - a great alternative/substitute for the over-sweetened softdrinks commercially available.

Ginger Beer @ Eumundi Markets

Address: Eumundi Square, Memorial Drive, Eumundi QLD (Sunshine Coast)
Trading Hours: Wed & Sat 8:00am to 1:00pm; Sunday 8:30am to 1:30pm
Website: http://www.iloveeumundimarkets.com/eumundi-square-food-and-beverages


I love the taste of Eumundi Square's Homemade Ginger Beer. The taste is clear, light and refreshing with a very gentle ginger flavour which is not too sweet like most commercially bottled ginger beers on the market. This variety is brewed in a barrel rather than in the bottle, giving it a more consistent flavour. Great to wash down a German Sausage hot dog with!

German Sausages @ Eumundi Markets

Address: Eumundi Square, Memorial Drive, Eumundi QLD (Sunshine Coast)
Trading Hours: Wednesday & Saturdays 8:00am to 1:00pm; Sundays 8:30am to 1:30pm


These German sausages are TO DIE FOR! The best I have ever tasted - a crisp skin which bursts as you take your first bite into the juicy meat. Served with sauerkraut and my own tomato/mustard sauce concoction. The sauerkraut is not overly oily, resembles a "German coleslaw" for my lack of better explanation.

There are 3 varieties:

1. Bratwurst - original smoked (saltier)

2. Bockwurst - mild (perfect harmony of saltiness & spice)

3. Spicy (not chilli, more a peppery type of spice flavour)

Note: sorry for my poor descriptions, I took a photo of the sign but it didnt save properly so will have to wait till the next time I visit to update the names.

The Norman Hotel

Address: 102 Ipswich Rd, Woolloongabba QLD
Tel: (07) 3391 5022
Website: www.normanhotel.com.au (picture above from website)

Lunch available from 12noon to 2.30pm daily
(and 3pm on Friday and Sunday).

Dinner available from 5.30pm to 9pm daily (and 9.30pm on Friday and Saturday).

All Brisbane locals will advise that The Norman Hotel will serve you the best steak in the area - and for 30 odd dollars, this is not such a bad deal.

I am not going to concede that this is the best steak I have ever tasted, but it was certainly worth my while. And here's why:

Pictured below is the Midi Eye Fillet - a small in diameter, but large in width cut of (I believe) the best cut of steak. At The Norman Hotel, carnivorism is heightened by your choice of raw cut prior to the ordering process. Amongst some of the other classics (rump, t-bone etc etc), I chose eye fillet to be safe, as I was sure they could not dry it out completely into a charred mess, much to my disappointment. I wasn't happy that the steak stood almost as tall as my fist (my personal preference is flat, thinner steaks) so I was trying my luck here.

Cooked medium, with the steak leaning slightly more towards medium rare due to the thickness, the pepper sauce offset the steak off quite nicely. The salad is dressed with a mustard vinegrette, and that baked potato with 'bacon sauce' was actually the best baked spud I had ever eaten. Pepper sauce + baked potato + bacon sauce (more like shredded, marinated bacon) was just a true bloke's dream.

Pictured below: Baby back ribs - the meat was quite tender and the rib sauce unique in its own way - was more deep in its 'green herb' flavour, thicker and saucier. It did leave me thinking about BBQ ribs for the rest of the week...


I give Norman Hotel a thumbs up for a reasonably priced meal - their steak is passable but it is the sauces and accompaniments which really seal the deal for me. Kudos for having an exposed kitchen that details their cooking process (which seems to consist of a grill and some strategic steak baking ovens).

Hakataya Noodle Soup (Japanese Ramen)

Address: Shop 27B Sunnybank Plaza, Cnr Mains Rd & McCullough St, Sunnybank QLD
Tel: (07) 3344 1313
Trading Hours: 9:00am - 8:50pm (last order), 7 days
Website: www.hakatayanoodle.com
Please note: they also have a vendor in Gold Coast. See website for more details.

You know these guys are hardworking when they're still flogging ramen on Christmas Day - and this is where I found myself this year. I'm not usually a fan of the QLD palate but ramen at Hakataya saved my tastebuds this Christmas.

For a food outlet with only 10 items, it sticks to what it knows best - and at the centre of this, is its' specialty - ramen 'Tonkotsu' soup (broth of pork bone).

According to the brochure, their pork broth is simmered for 39 hours, scum skimmed to draw out the extract flavour. The soup features a mild taste without any associated smell. Free from chemical seasonings, it leaves a clear aftertaste. To top that, the soup is rich in collagen - which is recommended for women who are concerned with losing moisture & firmness in their skin.

I ordered the #4 Miso Spicy-men - Japanese spicy miso noodle soup (with ramen!). The soup was a perfect blend of spice, miso, and that clean, 'tonkotsu' flavour. The ramen (which at first looked like plain old Chinese egg noodle) was thinner, but cooked al dente and really soaked up the soup, giving it a rich & divine flavour. It is hard to expect authentic ramen in the middle of Brisbane, but Hakataya does not disappoint.

They call their thinly sliced 'fatty pork' Char-siu which is a Cantonese (Chinese) term, but I don't think they should have undersold their product to suit an audience which could understand those words. The way pork is cooked in ramen is not at all like Char-siu, which is actually barbequed. As described by their flyer, their pork is cooked for hours with a generous amount of soy sauce and mirin (Japanese cooking wine) - and it melts in your mouth. Tick.

At this time (I believe this establishment was new) they were offering free extra ramen - so save your soup and take advantage of the offer!

Pictured below: a sesame grinder - what an innovative idea...

Café Portofino

650 Brunswick St, New Farm QLD 4005
Tel: (07) 3358 4002

If Italy had a best-kept secret in Brisbane, it would be the cakes & sweet treats served at Café Portofino.

Family owned café, with delicious cakes & sweets of all variety.

Would photograph but the last time went there it was takeaway and it ate it almost instantaneously – was a dark chocolate nougat slice – typical foodgasm.

(Barramundi Boys) Fish Cafe

Address: 461 The Esplanade, cnr Cambridge Pde, Manly Harbour Village, MANLY, QLD 4179
Tel: 07 3893 0195
Website: www.fishcafe.com.au

This café is a real nice getaway in the “marina” suburb of Manly in Brisbane. It faces the marina, with contemporary décor & furnishings and friendly staff.

The dishes are huge, so don’t do what I did and eat an almost $100 lunch for 2 people with a lot of wastage.

I was dying to try the Crabmeat Lasagne - "Layered sandcrab meat lasagne with preserved lemon & chive bechamel served with mixed leaves & Moreton Bay Bug bisque" – simply unheard of! I’ve had red meat, chicken and vegetarian lasagnes so this seafood derivation would be a real treat. I’m also not a fan of crab (usually) but when the meat is pre-extracted for me, I am much more enthusiastic and easily swayed. So I shared this dish, just to get a taste, as an entrée.


The lasagne wasn’t prepared in an orderly fashion, no clear-cut layers, but rather a melding of different flavours, leaving you with a warm & fuzzy feeling. The sauce was between a caramel/gravy flavour with an almost egg-like consistency. Served on a bed of zingy rocket salad which offsets the intense sweet flavour of the crabmeat & sauce.


I had the battered whiting (smaller, butterflied fish in a panko, “Japanese style batter” - pictured above) & ships & my co-eater had beer battered (in beez neez) & chips - pictured below. Both were ridiculously proportioned and we could have shared one between the both of us. They added little value except for oil & fat.

May's Thai

Address: Shop 18, Mayfair Village, Cnr Manly Rd & Burnett St, Manly QLD
Tel: (07) 3393 9999

I remembered I particularly liked the lamb the first and last time I came here, but upon returning to do my food blog it seemed different.

Entrée: Chicken satay skewer sticks – very wholesome with a thick, crunchy peanut sauce (70% peanut pieces, 30% stay sauce i.e. very peanuty).


Main: Lamb green curry made to Thai hotness.The vegies were fresh enough but the curry might as well have been a soup. It did not compliment the coconut rice very well but maybe the soup-like ‘curry’ was that way to offset the denseness of the rice.


Thai heat was very manageable, but did give me the sniffles (but not purple lips).

I remembered the lamb to be seared and crispy on the edges but this was nothing more than blanched and quickly stirfried. Might have to try the stirfries next time.

Palazzo Versace (High Tea)

Address: Sea World Drive, Main Beach (Gold Coast) QLD 4217
Tel: (07) 5509 8000
Website: www.palazzoversace.com



If you can’t afford to stay at the Palazzo Versace, having a high tea there is undoubtedly the next best thing. Enjoy a view of beautiful architecture & furnishings and attention-to-detail, while sipping on tea and nibbling on cake & pastry items.

The high tea experience was not a cheap one, and I do feel that you are paying more for the maintenance of your surroundings than the quality of your actual food.

The top tier of the high tea tray was sandwiches – smoked salmon & cream cheese scrolls; ham & cheese rectangles; egg & mayo rectangles.



The mid tier consisted of bite-sized mini cakes: a mini cupcake, fruit tart, lemon meringue, sponge madeira cake, choc orange drop and chequered chocoloate mousse. Wasn’t the freshest tasting culinary sample…



No high tea is complete without scones and jam – I actually quite enjoyed this with cream & raspberry jam. Simple, effective & filling.

Omeros Bros Seafood Restaurant

Address: Marina Mirage Seaworld Drive MAIN BEACH QLD
Phone: (07) 5591 7222
Fax: (07) 5591 7003

Open for lunch & dinner

Website: www.omerosbros.com

I ordered my staple 2 favourites from Omeros Bros:

For entrée: half a dozen Kilpatrick oysters (it was here the love affair began).


Main: Spaghetti Marinara. The serving size was just perfect, not too small, but not overwhelming unachievable to finish. It was enough to make you feel sleepy and needing to be rolled out the door though. The flavours in this marinara are indescribable and how I believe every marinara should taste – fresh seafood flavour, infused in a ripe tomato pasta sauce. The key word is infused – I suspect the chef uses parmesan or something to seal the flavours.

The Boathouse (Floating restaurant)

Address: Bartender Jetty, 194 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville QLD
Tel: (07) 5440 5070
Website: www.boathouserestaurant.com.au

We chose this more for the novelty factor and there being a lack of any other restaurants I wanted to put my health on the line for. Wanted to see what this floating restaurant business was all about.

Upstairs is a cocktail bar (with not all that many cocktails, 90% of them containing vodka or some flavoured derivative of vodka which did not impress me), and downstairs is the main restaurant area.

For entrees: Scallops pancetta, pea mash - this was very average, mainly due to the scallops, although being large & juicy, undercooked with a slightly slimy feel. Definitely not a winner in trying to get my co-eater hooked on scallops.



Szechuan calamari on the other hand was absolutely divine! It had a spicy, fresh lemon tang to it, light battered and fried which gave a melt-in-mouth feel, and perfectly cooked so as not to be slimy/undercooked or rubbery & overcooked. You could bite through the calamari and taste the freshness. Would come back here just for the calamari – arguably the best I’ve had.


For main I had this very simple pizza – very disappointed that a supposed ‘nice’ restaurant served a cold pizza which looked like the ingredients were plucked from Woolworths (premade pizza base?) and put together by a primary school kid.



There was nothing pretentious about this place, but if they made more of an effort with the menu they could really get away with charging murderous prices for the indoor/outdoor/seabreeze dining experience.

Jack's Teppan Char

Address: 50 Hastings St, Noosa Heads QLD 4567
Tel: (07) 5474 9555
Website: http://www.teppanchar.com.au/


This was a brief lunch stopover in Noosa that was had. Interesting concept but fairly overpriced for what we were getting.

Charred lamb cutlets with sweet miso dipping sauce: The cutlets were juicy, soft and tender enough, coupled with a miso sauce with a strong soya flavour and miso hit with an underlying sweetness.


Charred chicken with sweet onions and feta on turkish bread: a very strange combination which worked surprisingly better than I envisaged. The chicken was tender, soft & fresh and the fetta carried a slight miso taste which made it bearable for the biggest hater of fetta cheese (i.e. me).


This place is traditionally a bar, I guess as dawn hits business picks up and they wanted to provide a higher-end meal service. They don’t serve main sized meals, but moreso a “slight-bigger-than-tapas” collection.

A good attempt at BBQ-Japanese fusion, but not a holistic dining experience.

Pamela's Pantry

Address: 65 Caxton St, Petrie Terrace Brisbane QLD 4000
Tel: (07) 3369 1953

If you can ignore all the nonsense and bad reputation the (league) pub opposite generates, you will really become smitten by this small, home-style cooking eatery. Reminds me of the type of meals an aunt or grandma would make, recipes passed down the generations and modified to bring a more international flavour and zing to it.

Upon entering this very pink store, the smell of sweetness and cookies fill the air. Pamela bakes, fries and cooks hearty meals including:

Homemade sausage rolls: tasty, and made with love – at least there aren’t any strange bits of aorta or sinew in it…

Creamy curried chicken (salad) – smooth, large & decent chunks of chicken fillet in a lightly curry sauce

Oriental brown rice & almond salad – has that popped/roasted rice feel of traditional brown rice Japanese tea, with a hint of ginger and cooked with lychees. Mix well otherwise you will bite into a hunk of crystalised sugar/ginger like I did.

Peanut choc cookies: not too sweet, have that cocoa powder bite and crunch of peanuts – crispy fresh! This is what sex & cookies are all about.

Cha Cha Char Wine Bar & Grill

Address: Shop 5, Plaza Level, Eagle St Pier, Brisbane QLD
Tel: (07) 3211 9944
Website: www.chachachar.com.au

Eagle St Pier is reminiscent of the Darling Harbour of Sydney, semi-touristy in the middle of the city. Cha Cha Char was a recommendation from a Brisbane local, and lived up to its very name for creating a great vibe, atmosphere combined with its delectable menu.

For starters we had bread roll with ‘moo jus’ & pistachio butter (pictured below). Moo jus is like a diluted gravy-like substance you can go ahead and dip your bread in. It has a slightly bitter taste, and one of my fellow dining buddies suggested the secret is actually vegemite.


Main: Pictured is the beef cheek. This wasn’t my dish but I was told that the piece of meat was huge, and surprisingly tender. You can see this place is dedicated to doing a good steak, serving all parts of the cow you didn’t even know could be served as a culinary dish.


I wanted something a bit lighter (plus the lighting was making me tired) so opted for the woodfired chicken. This was a thigh piece, so the meat was guaranteed tender, a little drier on the skin but extremely juicy. The complimentary mash potato was warm, buttery and melted-in-mouth although the lemon flavour was almost non-existent.


Side: Cajun potatoes – absolute foodgasm! They came out with these dried green herb flecks, I was disappointed to see that it didn’t look spicy at all. They were small potatoes, lightly friend to hold their flavour and upon eating these they actually really pack the Cajun punch!


Will also take this opportunity to introduce this amazing (and expensive) natural spring? water served at this restaurant. It is called Voss – Norwegian Artesian Water, comes in a glass bottle as pictures, and has a very refreshing taste, and slight bubbling at the bottom.

Hog’s Breath Cafe

Address: Lot 1, 8-18 The Kingsway, Cronulla NSW 2230
Ph: (02) 9544 0644
Fax: (02) 9527 4033

Website: http://www.hogsbreath.com.au (please visit for more locations around Australia)

I am a picky steak eater - I still claim the best I've had was down the road at the pub and it cost me $6 including a salad and thick-cut fries.

Although I can also reliably depend on Hog's Breath Cafe to make a steak that is largely acceptable and where I can eat more than 50% of it (including the fat which is remarkably tender).

Hogs Breath is best known for their Prime Rib steaks - slow cooked for 18 hours and then sealed in the final stages of cooking. The rumoured secret is that they oven bake their steaks so that the meat (and sinew/fat) is tender - and melts in your mouth (almost!).

I used to frequent the one located in Bondi Beach which has since closed down, so this marks my latest adventure down to Cronulla:

I think Hogs Breath has had a makeover in recent years - staff uniforms and a new menu. Pictured below are the Hoggies loaded potato skins - this one was 'The Sicilian' – Marinated Tomato & Basil salsa topped with cheddar, grilled to golden brown. Add spicy salsa to turn up the heat. It is not a very thin potato skin, there is still some potato (about 0.5cm) that forms the base for these bruschetta-like appetisers.


Below: Salt & Pepper Calamari - these are evenly battered and fried and quite delightful. In between mass production and gourmet, so a decent compromise.


Below: My main which was supposed to be Prime Rib Steak (but they ran out of it, so gave us some other steak, which was not too dissimilar) - Byron Bay Chilli Prime Rib Traditional Cut with extra order of avocado. This was a new flavour and since I am such a chilli addict and this Byron Bay chilli sauce won awards, you knew I had to go there. Very nice - sauce was a tangy compliment to this decently texture steak. You can also choose between salad/steamed vegies and curly french fries/mashed potato.

You may ask why the hell there is half a sliced avocado sitting there. Everything tastes better with avocado! And believe it or not, it tastes great with steak too. Hogs breath is like a build-your-own steak - you can add extras such as sauces, avocado and a variety of other condiments/ingredients (its in the instore-menu). There are also 3 sizes of steak - lite (smaller size), traditional and a lmega cut which is 33% bigger.


I would have had a photo and post on the famed 'Missisipi Mud Cake' which is meant to be heaven on earth but our waiter lost the dessert order so we were left hanging out for 20 minutes for nothing, so decided to wrap-up the bill and go. Maybe next time!