Brew

Brew, Brisbane CBD

At this moment, I am about 970 km away from Brisbane... I cannot believe it but I am going to say this: I miss Brisbane! I have only been away for a week but this boredom is killing me softly (with the music as the background). :)

Well, I visited Brew (which has been on my wishlist since 2011) quite a while ago after finishing up an errand in the city on a weekday. Walking into Brew does brought me memories of my time back in Melbourne, with cafes in lane ways. 

Prior to entering the cafe, people are already queuing for take-away coffees here:

As for myself, I just made my way into the cove like restaurant, walking past the bar on the right. There are plenty of seats available depending on your comfort of choice whether you prefer wooden chairs, comfy sofas or even benches. Luckily I arrived before 11 am which meant that breakfast was still available!

Looking through the menu I was really contemplating of either the baked mushrooms with brie or the corn fritter with haloumi....

In the end, I settled with the corn fritters since I have not had corn fritters for a very long time. Two pieces of corn fritters were served with chilli jam with a poached egg.

Corn fritter with haloumi - $15

I love the presentation of this dish. Simple and lovely. There was a generous piece of haloumi, cooked well and not overly done. The corn fritters were quite delicious as well with generous amount of corn and they were not too flour-y. My criticism was that I want more of the well-balanced chilli jam. Unfortunately, they have overcooked my poached egg. Otherwise quite a good executed dish.

To accompany my meal and my book 'Inferno', I have a cappuccino for a change. 

I enjoyed my time in Brew and hopefully I will have the opportunity to return one day. 

Haoke Chinese Restaurant (Revisited)

Haoke Chinese Restaurant, Sunnybank Hills

Quite a while ago, we visited Haoke for dinner. I have been to this place for dim sum and I think the dim sums here were quite reasonable in terms of flavour and price.

This time, however, we tried their set dinner which consisted of six to seven dishes of Chinese food. 

What should I say? 

Some type of clams cooked in XO sauce I think. Hmm... the sauce was spicy and I don't think it was XO sauce. I don't really like it.

Our tofu dish of the night. I thought this was all right, but my other three companions said otherwise. To be truthful, it really lacked the 'tofu flavour'. It is probably more of a steamed egg dish.

The steamed fish in soy sauce was all right. Well, certainly cannot be compared to the 'freshness' of a live fish but this dish was a pass. 

This was our vegetable dish of the night. It was more like a soup-y vegetable dish than a simple vegetable stir fry garlic; which I think will be much tastier than that. Hmmm... We were all not impressed.

In my opinion, I think this is the best dish of the night. Pork ribs cooked in some kind of spices. The tender pork ribs were quite flavourful and tasty. 

After having tried the salted chicken dish in '3 Bamboo', I was really looking forward to this salted chicken made by Haoke Restaurant. You should see our disappointment portrayed in our faces! It was a miserable looking chicken with little meat and lots of bone. Haha... We were certainly not impressed. 

To end the night, we had red bean soup for dessert. Let's just say that either SaC's mom or myself can make a much better red bean soup.

Well, well, well... We left the restaurant disappointed. We were certainly not impressed and may not return to this place for now, maybe will return for their dim sums. Even though it was a busy night, the service was actually quite good but the meals were really not up to scratch. Maybe it is better to pick meals individually?

Noggi

Noggi, Brisbane CBD

I have noticed the frozen yoghurt craze in Brisbane lately (maybe months ago now?), and finally I had the chance to try Noggi not too long ago! 

Easy concept to understand: You pay for the size you want and toppings are included in the deal. In comparison to other frozen yoghurt franchise, Noggi do not weigh the yoghurt and toppings for the price. Awesome!

After my last exam, MXM and myself headed to Brisbane CBD with one goal in mind. I need some frozen yoghurt to treat myself after being traumatised from the exam. I knew where I want to go but just could not find the place... eventually we did!

I already knew I want green tea but biscotti was actually much better (had free sampling)! That's my ego... Hehe! I ordered a small size and got to choose three toppings. 

There are lots of toppings to choose from any kind of chocolates, lollies and fruits you can think of. I just opted for crushed peanuts, muesli and flake chocolates. Noggi is actually pretty good! The frozen yoghurt is smooth and creamy; a good alternative to ice-cream and nourishes your gut system with some good bacteria! ;)