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

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

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…

We’ve been dining here regularly since they opened over 7 years ago and it has been an honour to see them grow from a tiny 7 tables to… 7 tables. They are booked out every night. This night we called ahead and thankfully they were willing to squeeze us in as long as we could finish our food within 45 minutes. Perfect. We pre-ordered by phone on the way out.

The following is almost what I would consider the definitive Yum Yum culinary experience. It is missing a few dishes, two of which are the Honey Black Pepper Beef Strips with Crispy Rice Noodles and the Steamed Fish (Barramundi). Oh and their roast duck and roast pork, of which they sell out of soon after they open. Place orders in advance or get there on the dot.

Though imperfect, you cannot go wrong with this following combination, lest you don’t actually enjoy eating food, in which case I feel sorry for you.

Peking Duck – Course 1, their best dish on offer. Crispy skin with a little bit of meat on spring onion, cucumber, hoisin sauce and wrapped in a thin pancake.

Peking Duck – Course 2. The remainder of the duck meat shredded on crispy fried egg noodles with onion, bean sprouts and sauce. Alternatively it could be served diced without noodles but within a lettuce leaf. This method is known as San Choi Bow.

Any which way, a respectful way to consume a mighty tasty duck.

Hotpot Tofu with Mixed Vegetables. A boring name contrary to its flavour.

Harbour Style Fried Chicken, also available in Lamb, Beef, Prawns, Fish or Soft Shell Crab. Apparently named after the style of cooking of those who reside in and around Hong Kong Harbour. The chilli and garlic garnish is one of the greatest culinary creations I have ever encountered. I could devour it endlessly. Be sure to keep any left overs for other dishes to come. Trust me.

Belachan (Shrimp Paste) Chinese Spinach. It’s so ridiculously tasty, it could make any soggy green leaf vegetable hater change their misguided ways forever. Yes I am willing to test this on a certain someone.

And finally… Golden Egg Prawns with Rice Noodles. Imagine succulent butterflied prawns battered in finely grained egg yoke on a bed of crispy rice noodles. Not oily, not salty, but a finely balanced textured sensation. Now after your first few, ignore what I just said and add that Harbour Style garnish into the mix. Yes. I think you now understand…

And the experience ends with the bill. So reasonably priced are these meals, you feel compelled to contribute to the tip jar. It’s only fair, even despite the EDT.

Yum Yum is owned, run and cheffed by a group of friendly people, part family, part friends. They really need to move to a larger and more accessible location where they’ll get the recognition they deserve. We hear they want to but haven’t found a new place to set up shop quite yet. But when they do…

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Yum Yum Peking Duck
Shop 5/146 Scott’s Road
Darra, Queensland, Australia

Prices: Entrees $6 – $18; Mains $11 – $60; Desserts $3 – $13
Hours – Sunday to Monday Lunch and Dinner; Tuesday Closed