When it comes to decent cafes, the Valley is sorely lacking. One usually has to travel further into New Farm for such fare but thankfully that’s beginning to change.

Quirky, cute, whacky and obtusely good natured – Flamingo is all of these, and hidden close to the main Valley drag.

In fact it’s situated right behind The Zoo: one of Brisbane’s remaining live music establishments. It can be difficult to find, but once you do you’ll never forget it.

It has a lawn, crazy seating and an internal tabled area containing a smorgasbord of curious items. Perhaps a little madcap, but it works.

And they make awesome coffee (Genovese), drinks and delicious food (like the half of the ham sandwich above). Actually… delicious AND attractive food; presented with much flair and style. They use to have mini plastic cutlasses in place of toothpicks! Unsurprising considering one of the owners was behind perennial favourite, Pearl Cafe.

The servings are very generous (deceivingly so) and well priced, with sandwiches sitting at around the $10 – $12 mark. I haven’t tried their entire selection but they sure make a mean meatball sub with crinkle cut crisps. Genius.

So if you’re in the Valley, and it’s lunch time, and you are at a loss for where to eat, seek out Flamingo. You’ll tell all your friends about it.

Flamingo
5B Winn St
Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia

It was an invitation one couldn’t refuse. A performance by Jens Lekman in an inner northern Brisbane backyard. A perfect venue for Swedish Lekman’s style of indie pop.

We arrived at a typical Queenslander in an industrial suburb. Our venue for the afternoon.

It began with a performance from BIGSTRONGBRUTE. Normally a six piece, lead singer/guitarist Paul Donoughue set the mood with his acoustic guitar and powerful voice.

Then a change of pace with Lion Island. This folk/pop eight piece did the best they could with the space they had (drummer and double bass hidden in the back). At times it felt as if there was too much going on but ultimately they put on a good performance.

The sun began to set as the audience waited for Jens Lekman to begin. The mood was relaxed and the audience was highly respectful. One would be hard pressed to find a quieter audience. Reportedly a stark contrast (but no less respectful) to Lekman’s previous night’s performance under a house somewhere in Brisbane’s inner west.

And by the light of two unveiled lamps, Jens Lekman, his guitar, tambourine and laptop, and in a way that only Jens can – sang and told stories of love and love lost, of misunderstandings and broken hearts – to the sounds of the odd neighbourhood dog barking, the running water of the fountain next door, and the trains as they softly rumbled past.

Dining at The Buffalo Club is an experience that challenges your sensibilities towards food and its creative possibilities. It isn’t a meal to relieve hunger. It’s experimentation – and we, the willing participants.

Our nearly four hour journey began as we settled in at the chef’s table – intimately designed so that they could serve and introduce every dish.

An envelope contained a menu, made up of simple words listing the ingredients, but none to describe they way in which they were to be prepared. Designed as a memento, they were beautifully formed and marked with the day’s date – perhaps hinting at the transient nature of the creations but not the experience.

Our table adjoined the open kitchen where we could observe the chef’s at work. They were methodical and quick, preparing dish after dish with precision. Hands would sift through ingredients stored in all manner of receptacles, and most were preprepared except most meats. It was fascinating to watch and instead of detracting from the mystery, it deepened our appreciation of this stage of the process.

For fear of repeating myself, each dish was a combination of highly considered visuals, textures and taste. Often you couldn’t tell which component was which ingredient, even when it hit the tongue, but it was always exciting and each dish was highly anticipated.

They were delicious and surprising, hitting on all senses. Not everyone at the table loved every dish, but all could appreciate the love and care in each experiment.

And I’ll leave it at that…

Taster – Manchego

Hickory – Wild Rice, Garlic, Tomato, Onion, Shallots, Basil, Pollen

Smoked Beef Jerky – Lime, Chili, Cilantro, Onion, Peppers, Avocado

Opah – Soy, Honey

Ocean Trout – Nasturtium, Smoked Roe, Fennel, Kettles, Onion, Yolk

Iberico – Olive, Treviso, Walnut, Pawpaw, Endive, Beetroot, Sunchoke, Roquette

Duck – Honeydew, Mandarin, Cashew, Aubergine, Yuzu

Rib – Celeriac, Vanilla, Pumpkin, Pinenut, Pea

Passion – Grapefruit, Blood Orange, Concord

Goats Curd – Strawberry, Goats Milk, Pistachio, Millet, Olive Oil

Buffalo Yoghurt – Date, Citrus Rind, Apricot, Sour Meyer, Carrot

Coconut – Chocolate, Caramel, Custard

Chocolate, Edible Sherbert Filled Sachets

Buffalo Club
1/234 Wickham Street
Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia

You may have heard of Cirque before… okay I kid. Who hasn’t? It’s popular and packed for good reason. On Sunday mornings there’s a lineup out the door so come early, or perhaps just visit for a weekday lunch (from 1pm you should be fine)? It’s worth it.

During peak periods it’s a tight squeeze downstairs…

a small and charming café with pavement seating and concertina windows…

and an upstairs section that looks like your dining room. Large communal tables are intended for sharing and stacked board games are provided for extended stays.

The service is friendly, quick and attentive. I’ve always had a good experience here and I’ve come many, many times. But what of the food?

All-day breakfast, vegetarian options, lunch and fortnightly specials ensure there’s always something that’ll strike your fancy. The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s very affordable compared with other cafés of its ilk, and then the food arrives and you take your first bite…

French toast with berry compote, pouring cream, peanut + almond praline. Mouth watering, scrumptious and well balanced. One bite savoury, the next, tantalizingly sweet. I found myself carefully segmenting and rearranging its toppings at every bite. I ended with a triangle of praline and a single berry – a fond sweet memory of its demise. A worthy competitor to Anouk’s French toast.

Cirque is well known for its breakfast menu – the unchangeable chow down (big breakfast) and array of sides, but I reckon it is its lunch menu that needs to be experienced.

Cirque chicken fillet burger with crispy bacon, avocado, tomato, rocket + dijonaise (ordered without the top). By far the best chicken burger I’ve ever had in Brisbane. The grilled chicken is covered in all kinds of herbs and spices, with each bite resulting in a flavour explosion. Combined with generous and fresh servings of all the other ingredients, I challenge you find one better.

Steak sandwich with blue cheese, mushrooms, onion jam, rocket + dijonaise on sourdough. My Cirque partner’s favourite. The blue cheese bites and complements the steak well, then is rounded off nicely with sweet onion jam. The bread is soft but keeps it all together. This would be my meal of choice if not for the burger.

Open Rueben sandwich with corned beef, dill mayo, pickles, jarlsberg + sauerkraut on sourdough. If you love the sourness of pickles and sauerkraut, you’ll love Cirque’s intepretation. I found it delicious and going by this Wikipedia entry, I feel I may have been spoilt forever.

Cirque exceeded my expectations. It lived up to the hype and from all accounts it seems its new owners, Giselle and Christophe Massieu, have continued its overwhelmingly positive reputation. I highly recommend it and if actions speak louder than words – since my first time there over 5 weeks ago, I’ve been back at least twice a week… and I still crave that damn burger.

Most Recent Visit: 15th May, 2009

Au Cirque
618 Brunswick Street, New Farm
Queensland, Australia

Prices: All-Day Breakfast and Lunch $9.50 – $16
Hours: Every Day 7am – 3pm

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We started the night late but managed to catch the end of The Dø – a folk/pop band formed in 2007 comprising Dan Levy and Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti from Paris, France and Helsinki, Finland respectively [last.fm].

Relief at arriving in time for M83 quickly turned to regret as The Dø proceeded to blow all expectations away.

Their curious percussion chamber no doubt largely responsible for their heavier than expected set – surprising but impressive and confirmed with raucous applause.

M83 finally took the stage. A drummer encased in a sound barrier (see 1st The Dø photo), face to face keyboards, the female vocalist and Anthony Gonzalez’s box of aural bliss.

Starting with Run Into Flowers the crowd seemed a little subdued. It was obvious that most had never heard their earlier albums but no matter – the instant Graveyard Girl hit the crowd responded in kind. Then…

… an hour insight into the end of the world. Beautiful and fantastic.

Setlist
M83
Live @ The Zoo, 31/03/09

1. Run Into Flowers
2. *
3. Graveyard Girl
4. We Own the Sky
5. Teen Angst
6. Don’t Save Us From the Flames
7. Kim & Jessie
8. Skin of the Night
9. A Guitar and a Heart
10. Couleurs

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Some clips from their YouTube channel for those that are interested.

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It wasn’t a particularly remarkable year but for a lot of us 2002 conjures up many fond memories.

Late night (closes at 2am) dinners in the Valley with friends. A casual and relaxing atmosphere. The garish but entirely appropriate décor. A projector showing the latest Hong Kong movie or television serial.

Awe at the size and cost of their beer. Pint-sized bottles tower above food and man as they survey their domain. One must pay respect to Tsing Tao while one is within their mecca.

Let us not forget their lesser beverage disciples. Hot Coke in shiny drummugs (you must insist that it’s “Hot” Coke). Almost as imposing as their Tsing Tao masters, albeit for entirely different reasons.

Part pool hall, arcade and lan cafe. Cyber City is huge as it was once a food court. Unfortunately the food court failed (rumoured to have suspiciously) but thankfully it’s now crammed full with entertainment.

Super efficient service and delici… wait a second, where’s the food? Let’s just say that if looks were an indicator of quality, well, imagine this instead – mountainous dishes of food that will visibly move you (once you realise that it will eventually be inside you). A seemingly endless selection (7 pamphlet pages worth) of delicious concoctions at a cost-effective price. Sure these dishes aren’t entirely authentic to the library of Asian regions they’re native to, but it doesn’t matter. You will not leave hungry and unsatisfied. In fact you will feel like you are about to explode.

It this appeals to you, go back in time, to 2002, in 2009.

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2002 Cyber City
206 Wickham Street
Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia

Prices: Entree & Mains $2.90 – $26
Hours: Every Day 11am – 2am

Brisbane has been annexed by the Cupcake Kingdom. At first it was subtle, Sunday markets and wedding parties, but now they’re out in the open and in force, from the kitchen to the streets. Residents have blissfully surrendered to this bloodless coup. Sugar and flour is the new currency. Finally, our sweet utopia.

Pretty, delicious and sweet. All one could ever wish for in a cupcake. MySweetopia, located towards the Goodwill Bridge end of  South Bank’s restaurant strip is intimate and cute, and perfectly suits. The staff and owners were incredibly friendly and welcoming – part cupcake, part human. Please drop in. Like you had a choice. There’s not much more to say so I’ll say no more.

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MySweetopia on Channel Nine’s Weekend Extra

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MySweetopia
Shop 8, 180 Grey Street
South Bank, Queensland, Australia

Prices: Cupcakes $3.50
Hours: Monday – Saturday 8am – 6pm, Sunday 9am – 6pm

Pearl is tucked away between the antique stores of Woolloongabba and the stadium itself and thus, unlike Anouk, getting there is not a simple task. This also means that there is rarely a queue, which is a mixed blessing, as more people should know about this place. It’s a refuge, a portal away from its surrounds.

Stepping into Pearl Café is like stepping into a modern take on an old world café bakery in a small town, nestled within lush green rolling hills during winter. Antique dressing table mirrors hang from exposed traditional brick walls; the music and lighting is low but glows; homemade pastries and cakes rest atop wooden serving trays that line and almost overwhelm the dining counter. The scent of coffee and freshly baked desserts permeates through the air. With your first step you know you’re in the right place.

There’s much to be said about cafés that attempt to create a complete experience. It shows that they have really thought about and care a lot about what they do. It’s just natural for a patron to extend their first impression to encompass whatever may happen next. To the food, the coffee, the service. Pearl continually steps up to the challenge with flair.

Both outdoor and indoor dining are available and I must mention that it has the most impressive bathroom setup ever for a café. It has to be experienced to be believed, wooden crates of apples and all. But enough about the venue, on to breakfast!

Two free range eggs, calabrese sausage, smoked bacon, bubble & squeak, mushrooms, tomato chutney, toast. Essentially your Big Breakfast but with the tastiest bacon in existence. Perhaps that’s a little overblown but it’s fantastic. Probably the best big breakfast I’ve ever had.

Side customisations are available for all dishes so it’s pretty much as good as it gets. Hard boiled eggs come in cute egg cups, sugar in antique polished metal containers, salt and pepper in dark wooden grinders… so yes, lunch then…

Welsh rarebit, roasted tomato, oregano. Herb gnocchi, blue cheese, walnuts.

I didn’t have these two dishes but those that did said it was the best food they have had in years. An absence of meat makes it perfect for vegetarians.

Steak, mint dressing, tomato, spring onion, olive bread. A menu special that was succulent and tasty, though in a subtle way unlike most other steak sandwiches. Looking around the room, it was interesting to see that you would often find pairs of patrons opt for a combination of this dish and the next.

Homemade fish fingers, chunky tartare, tomato, cos lettuce. Thick hand cut bread that seems imposing at first until you take your first bite. As soft as initially imposing. The tartare was delicious, convincing you to love tartare all over again, and then there’s the fish fingers. Realities apart from the processed variety you find in freezers, instead – thick generous slices of salmon, lightly crumbed and grilled to ridiculous perfection. Biting through this sandwich as you cradle it in both your hands is one of the most satisfying lunchtime experiences you’ll ever have.

I travel there often and everyone, regular or first timer, always comes away with a memorable experience. We’re still yet to properly sample their pastries and cakes and even dinner, so there will be many more visits to come. I can’t recommend this place more highly.

Pearl Café is the best café in Brisbane. The food and coffee are spectacular, the service is friendly and its romantic venue and atmosphere will whisk you to a world away.

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Pearl Café
28 Logan Rd
Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia

Prices: Breakfast $4 – $18, Lunch $12 – $30, Dinner $12 – $30
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 7am – 10pm

Service was friendly and efficient, complementing the vibe of the place. On a busy day, if seated inside, the chatter of patrons and the clanging of dining makes it challenging to speak across the table. If you wish to converse comfortably, sit outside, which says a lot considering you’re sitting less than a metre away from the main road.

Before I get to the food, their drinks menu deserves a special mention. On offer is an expansive list of fruit shakes, juices, muddles and smoothies – all created fresh and taste amazing. A personal favourite is the lychee, lime and mint fruit shake pictured above. Refreshingly sweet and full of bits and pieces, this taste and texture sensation is many cuts above your regular fruit beverage.

But to the food. Anouk’s breakfast menu is largely non-standard, vegetarian friendly, and allows for side customisations like all breakfast menus should. Ingredients are fresh and the portions are generous but overall taste seems to sit at the “subtle and consistent” end of the scale.

Cannellini beans with chorizo, speck and spinach, sage, tomato, fried eggs and bread. Delicious and little spicy but perhaps too much of a good thing. Like your standard Big Breakfast, at first it’s mighty tasty but by the end you almost regret it.

Grilled goat chevre, garlic buttered spinach, ciabatta and lemon. This instance was with a side of chorizo.  It was tasty but it’s exactly what it says it is.

Smoked trout in cream spinach, poached egg and ciabatta. A deceptively filling meal. Hints of smoked trout were the highlight but overall too subtle a taste that didn’t manage to last the distance. Perhaps my taste buds have TADD?

Sardines on toast, prosciutto pesto, roast vine tomato and lime beurre blanc. Everything about this dish was incredibly salty but I guess that’s what you would expect when you order sardines. Will require a palate accustomed to high salt content to discern its other tastes.

Brown butter brioche french toast with strawberries, mascapone and coulis. Now this is something special. Cushion soft and light inch thick french toast covered in what can only be described as sweetness and freshness. An almost daunting serving at first but delicious to the end. I would come back just for this.

Our first experience with Anouk was actually lunch and it contributed to us braving the queues for breakfast. Unfortunately as it was so long ago, I have pretty much forgotten what each dish entailed. What I do recall was that both dishes were simple yet pleasing to the senses. My suspicion is that lunch may provide a less subtle tasting experience and may be worth a second visit.

Anouk is a vibrant and unpretentious dining experience, serving up fantastic drinks and fresh, generously portioned dishes which sit at the subtle end of the taste scale. A worthwhile trip, but not the great Brisbane breakfast experience others make it out to be.

Then again we’ve been back a few times now. What does that say?

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Anouk
212 Given Terrace
Paddington, Queensland, Australia

Prices: Breakfast $3.50 – $17, Lunch $15 – $28
Hours: Every Day, Coffee from 6.30am, Cooking until 2.30pm

Previously at Blue Smoke BBQ…

Wednesday is half-price wings night and this is what 110 chicken wings (27.5 chickens) looks like. The red ones are Blue Hot, the rest are Original (the progression from mildest to hottest being Original – Blue Hot – 3rd Degree). On this particular night they had no 3rd Degree. In retrospect we were very thankful. We were more chicken than human that night.

Flash forward…

We arrived and asked the all important question, “Can you do 3rd Degree wings tonight?”. “Yes we can” they replied.

Is it not beautiful? It brought tears to my eyes.

This is when I decided to let the photos do the talking (because I sure couldn’t any more).

I experimented and learned a few things that night.

Don’t drink water to null the pain. It only spreads it around. Rather sustain the pain so that it eventually nullifies itself. You don’t want to constantly fluctuate between pain and relief. Breathe out as much as possible, not in. Breathing in can be as bad as drinking water. Don’t try to eat as quickly as possible in an attempt to beat the heat. You won’t and it may cause the chilli to reach places it wouldn’t normally reach, such as the top back of your throat. Once the chilli lands there you’re finished. Finally, wash thoroughly and repeatedly. Refrain from touching anything sensitive for the next few hours as whatever you’ll touch will share the memory of your pain. You may think it’s safe to do so but it’s not. Trust me on this.

The next morning I experienced something I had never experienced before. My fingers felt like they were on fire. The same three fingers I used to handle the chicken the night before. Had I unlocked my superpower? Unfortunately no. It would wear off as the day wore on, but it was okay… for something far more important had changed…

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Blue Smoke BBQ
Shop 9/85 Merthyr Road
New Farm, Queensland, Australia

Prices: Entrees $9 – $19; Mains $18 – $47; Desserts $9
Hours: Monday: Closed; Sunday, Tuesday – Thursday: 11:30am – 9:00pm; Friday – Saturday: 11:30am – 10:30pm

Phase 2 is complete. It’s close. Oh so close…