Archive for restaurants
The Lighthouse Restaurant
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On a bit of a whim, we decided on Saturday to treat ourselves to some nice nosh and try out a restaurant we haven’t been to before. It’s been quite a while since we’ve treated ourselves to a really good meal out.
I did a search on google and looked at a few restaurant guides and came across the Lighthouse Restaurant in Cleveland, Brisbane. Having visited Raby Bay many times we couldn’t believe that we’d never heard of this restaurant which is just down the road from Raby Bay.
The Lighthouse restaurant, as the name suggests, is situated next to a lighthouse on a spit of land sticking out into Moreton Bay (or is it Redland Bay?). It was pitch-black when we arrived and there’s very little lighting in that area. It all adds to the atmosphere though – we sat outside to eat and couldn’t see the waves but could hear them gently lapping against the bank just a few metres in front of us.
The food was pretty good as well. I had my usual favourite starter – mussels in white wine sauce, and followed this with ‘Earth and Sea’, described on the menu as ’350 g grain fed rib fillet topped w ½ Moreton Bay bug, prawns & garlic cream sauce atop roasted chats & seasonal greens. Delicious! We had Lauren with us so we treated ourselves to dessert and shared some ridiculously tasty chocolate concoction and Croquembouche.
It was a very good meal but we’ve all been on a serious health kick lately so all of that with wine and coffee was a bit of a shock to the digestive system and I for one felt like a bag of crap on Sunday. Some serious detox needed!
Prime Beef
Posted by: | CommentsFollowing up from my last post, when Mike mentioned he was taking me to a nice steak restaurant in Sydney I expected a ‘Sizzler’ or something like that. Instead, we went to the Prime restaurant in the GPO Sydney building where they have a steak on the menu for $155.
I thought I new about steak until I went there.
Their speciality is Wagyu beef and according to the menu:
Wagyu is a western term for a collection of Japanese bloodlines (Wa-Japan, Gyu-Cattle).
It is generally accepted that Wagyu beef is the highest grade, and tastiest beef in the world. The marbling of the Wagyu beef is the Prime characteristic that contributes to its tenderness, juiciness and most importantly its flavour.
The highest grade of Wagyu has a marbling score of A12. However, this is only available in Japan. While other breeds of cattle are not given a marbling score, it can be said for comparative reasons that other breeds of cattle having a maximum marbling score of 3.
In Australia, Wagyu branded meat is predominantly F1 crosses between Wagyu and Angus cattle. The Japanese preference when the Wagyu is not Full Blood, is for F1 crosses to be between Wagyu and Holstein cattle which we have chosen for your enjoyment in Prime.
Outside Japan there is a limited supply of Full Blood Wagyu and an even more limited supply of marble score plus 9 Wagyu.
The plus 9 Wagyu selected for Prime is the highest scored Wagyu product available outside Japan and has been sourced from David Blackmore, Australia.
So what did it taste like you may ask? God knows, the meal was on company expenses so I didn’t dare go for the Wagyu. I would have been sacked on Monday!
Instead I went for the more modest Black Angus – Scotch Fillet (300g), Rib eye without bone, 200-250 days grainfed, full matured at 24-36 months old. It was nice, but I couldn’t help wonder what the Wagyu would have tasted like.
I seem to be drooling.
A Washed-Out Weekend
Posted by: | CommentsSteph and Lucy’s first weekend in Oz wasn’t the best. We’ve had glorious weather for weeks now but since they’ve arrived it has been miserable.
We did take them to Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast on Saturday and braved the beach for a short while, but the wind was that strong we were getting sand-blasted.
We’ve not had much luck with restaurants either. We went to Amici’s, an Italian restaurant on the South Bank in Brisbane Friday night, but the service was atrocious and the food pretty bland. Then, with the weather being bad on Saturday we went for a long lunch while down on the Gold Coast. And it was a long lunch. Again, the service was crap, we waited ages and when our meals finally arrived they screwed up the order. Gordon Ramsey could do with taking a trip out here for his next series of Kitchen Nightmares! Seriously though we’re being really unlucky at the moment because it’s not normally this bad.
Il Centro
Posted by: | CommentsEvery now and again we like to treat ourselves and try out a really nice restaurant. With Rach starting a new job on Monday and with me securing a new job, and with Cath volunteering to babysit for Lauren, we decided to try out one of Brisbane’s award winning restaurants last night.
We chose Il Centro in the CBD.
This is what I had:
POLPI E SEPPI SALTATI IN BURRO D’ OLIO E PREZZEMOLO CON CROSTINO
SAUTEED OCTOPUS AND SQUID IN GARLIC AND PARSLEY BUTTER WITH SLOW BRAISED VINE RIPENED TOMATO, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL AND CRUSHED OLIVE CROSTINOSCALOPPINE DI VITELLO CON FETTUCCINE CARBONARA
PARMESAN CRUMBED VEAL SCALOPPINE WITH FETTUCCINE CARBONARA AND WILTED SPINACHFRITTE TIEPIDO CON GELATO E SALSA DI CIOCCOLATO CALDO
WARM PROFITEROLES WITH CARAMEL GELATO AND HOT CHOCOLATE SAUCE
Rach had:
CAPE SANTE IN PADELLA CON RISOTTO GLI ASPARAGI E PROSCIUTTO
SAUTEED SCALLOPS WITH LIME CARNAROLI RISOTTO,ASPARAGUS AND PROSCIUTTO AND TARRAGON JUSANATRA CROCCANTE ARROSTO, PATATE CON SPINACI E RUCOLA
SLOW ROASTED CRISP DUCK BREAST WITH AMARENA CHERRIES AND BLACK PEPPER SALSA,DUCK FAT BINTJE POTATO, CREAMED SPINACH AND ROCKETTORTINO AL CIOCCOLATO TIEPIDO CON GELATO E SALSA DI CARAMELLO
WARM CHOCOLATE TART WITH PASSIONFRUIT AND WHITE CHOCOLATE GELATO AND CARAMEL SAUCE
All in all, whilst the setting and service was excellent, the food was a bit of a let-down. Whilst no part was particularly bad, the food overall was a little bit bland – it didn’t live up to the promise of the menu. Looking again at the website I can see that whilst Il Centro has won awards, it has been a number of years since the last one.
The total cost including drinks came to $215 (£90) which was about what I expected for a prestigious riverside restaurant, although in the end it proved to be slightly overpriced for the quality of the cooking.
We had a good night nonetheless. Especially afterwards when we watched England beat the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup. I think I’m going to enjoy giving the aussies some stick next week at work!
