There is one thing I never do when I eat out. It’s dine alone. Call it extreme self consciousness combined with the fact that the best meals to me are the ones shared with friends or in company. My mind automatically thinks that people will stare (and let’s face it they stare enough when the camera comes out) and they may think “Poor girl, she has no friends.” I know it’s silly, after all many people that travel dine solo. But just not me. Until tonight.
Through lack of organisation on my part I find myself in Brisbane one evening without a date. When I walk into The Euro on Mary Street they ask me where I’d like to sit. Apparently solo diners like sitting at the bar but I want somewhere where there is good light. The best light is of course at the table at the very front of the restaurant in the window. Of course! 
Euro is the more casual version of the 10 year old restaurant Urbane which is a fine dining affair (complete with a dessert degustation-lust!). Sitting side by side The Euro has an attractive design with a metal door with cut outs of knives, carrots, duck and pretty much anything you might find on their menu there. The design aesthetic goes through to their menus and coasters which feature a genuine Russian matchbox cover.
Jamon, manchego and pea croquettes (2) with green chilli mayonnaise $11
Listed under amuse bouche, this course, usually complimentary, the amuse is an item that you pay for (I think they’d do better listing this under appetiser). These are more substantial than a typical amuse though which often fits in a shot glass and these are more tapas style sizes. I start with the crunchy deep fried golden balls filled with jamon, manchego cheese and green pea which sit on a green chilli mayonnaise. They’re wonderfully crunchy and addictive although I don’t really get much of a chilli kick from the green chilli mayonnaise which would have been lovely.
Veal carpaccio
The veal carpaccio is appealingly pink centred with carrots in several forms: dried carrot and carrot jam and fossilized carrots. What? Fossilized carrots? Yes not carrots dug up from prehistoric times, instead they’re carrots that have been kept in a calcium dioxide solution for 24 hours to have all of their pectin removed. They then add moisture back into the carrots and scrape out the inside and then the outer is deep fried and served to give the dish crunch. The crunch from the bark like fossilized carrots and the thin croutons does add a nice crunch as well as the crumbs and the creamy labne and tender thinly sliced veal.
Hervey Bay Scallops
A gift from the kitchen this is apparently not on the menu which is a shame as it’s really good. The Hervey Bay scallops are succulent and plump and are topped and tailed with thin slices of granny smith apple and topped with deep fried chicken skin. Don’t get me started on chicken skin, I love the stuff and all three elements work well together and they do need each other to balance the crunchiness, sweetness and tanginess.
Tortellini of pumpkin, with maple braised pumpkin, organic goats curd, candied walnuts, almonds and shaved roasted chestnuts $26
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| February 3rd, 2012 - 5:00 am
Although my parents are usually quiet and relatively well behaved there are times when their eccentricities come out. Like when my father first interacted with Aura, Mr NQN’s new 14 month old niece. Whenever small children are around he generally pays them no attention (sometimes he does this with adults too) but he was faced with baby Aura and forced to interact with her, if only for a moment.
Adults can play with a child one of several ways. See if you can choose the way generally not recommended to interact with a child.
1. Say hello and make waving gestures and talk in baby voice
2. Pinch cheeks and tickle a child
3. Threaten with planting your palm on their face
If you chose number 3 yes that’s the one my dad chose. He means well but he is just not a kid person and when he lunged at her face with an outstretched palm she reacted as you would expect – with a genuine “W.T.F.” face. Mr NQN laughed and recalled the story to me and then added “I guess you didn’t turn out too badly after all, considering!”
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| February 2nd, 2012 - 5:00 am
I have to mentally prepare myself when entering hipster joints. I have to tell myself that they’re just hipsters and they mean well enough and that they don’t harm anyone really. For good measure I remember the quote from Seinfeld when they referred to Kramer as the “hipster doofus” and realise that being a hipster is not a state of being for most people. And when I was warned by many that The Corner House was hipster central, well I braced myself. Mr NQN and I were on a date night, just the two of us.
Mr NQN and I walk into one entrance of The Corner House in Bondi which takes up residence where the Old Castile pizza joint used to sit. We’ve dining early at 6pm and we are shown to the empty back room. The maitre’d is brusque and seems as if he has a thousand other important things to do other than seat us. Thankfully the Arctic chill ends there and the waiter and bartender are lovely and everything settles down just nicely. We take a look at the menu (a sheet of paper wooden pegged onto an A4 sized piece of box cardboard) and the waiter gives us some recommendations. Prices are excellent here with most mains hovering around the $30 mark.
This drink is a riot in London $18
The cocktail list has a fun list of names including this one which caught our eye called “This drink is a riot in London” and has Tanquerey, St Germain, Campari, apple and cucumber and is sweet and refreshing and summery. The description reads “All the elements of an English Summer: fresh, floral and a hint of bitter lawlessness.” The bartender that conceived the idea was in London during the riots and was inspired to make this cocktail.
Bread
The bread, two fresh fat fingers, is drizzled in olive oil and salt with roasted pepitas and sunflower seeds.
Crowded House Pizza $23
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| February 1st, 2012 - 5:00 am
There are certain things that you remember from childhood. Seeing your friend’s mother naked is one of them.
I should explain. My parents were and are very conservative. Particularly on some topics although on others, they don’t really care. But getting naked was not something that we as a family did (unlike Mr NQN’s family whose photo album has page after page of naked bottoms). My mother was a strict, knitting, cross stitching mother who cooked food that my father liked and I thought all parents were like them.
I remember when I would visit a friend Erica’s place. Mother would say that Erica’s mum was “alternative” or “European”but as for me, she just seemed cool. I enjoyed being over there because Erica was allowed to do pretty much anything that she liked. Erica could eat donuts. Erica could play wherever she wanted. Erica could eat ice cream (are you sensing a food theme?). Until one day, we were playing and the electricity went out and we went squealing to her mother. She was in the bathroom and stepped out of the shower stark naked in front of us.
I had my first encounter with what I now know to be hippies.
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| January 31st, 2012 - 5:00 am
Some may call it gossip, I prefer to call it a catch up and when you haven’t seen a girlfriend in weeks or even months, well I think that the polite thing to do is avail yourself of all of the girly gossip ahem…current affairs you can.
Except of course if you’re sitting elbow to elbow to the table next to you which happens to be the position Christie and I happen to be in. We’ve got a booking and we are the first customers at 12 noon at Honeycomb, the already popular new place from Cafe Sopra’s Andy Bunn and we take a seat at the banquette against the window of the restaurant. Within seconds, two tables of two sit down right next to us and then suddenly all juicy bits of information disappear from our lips as we feel like we’re sharing them with the other diners so we zip our lips and concentrate on the menu.
The menu is tighter than the sprawling chalkboard menu at Cafe Sopra and seems to be more hand picked favourites which makes choosing easier. The waitress is friendly and recommends some dishes to us-the specials also sound good and we choose quickly. Unlike Sopra where there is a no photos policy, they seem a bit more lenient here at Honeycomb and when I ask if it is ok to take photos the waitress asks if it is for a blog, I nod yes and assent is given.
Vitello tonnato $20
I’m an absolute fiend for vitello tonnato, the Italian dish made with thinly sliced veal, tuna and a creamy sauce. It’s a doppelganger of the Cafe Sopra version except there’s added flavour from the plump white anchovies, baby capers and paper thin sliced lemon. It’s the kind of dish where we wish we had some bread to mop up the sauce (noticed by the waitress who brings bread with the mains).
Roast pumpkin salad with coriander, chilli, aged balsamic and grilled quail $24
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| January 30th, 2012 - 5:00 am
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