my name is Food.

Star Coffee Co. - Harbour Town Outlet Shopping Centre, Gold Coast

Australia October 13, 2018

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Wara Wara Izakaya - Elizabeth St, Brisbane CBD

Asian October 11, 2018

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Cha Kee - Eight Mile Plains, Brisbane

Asian October 09, 2018

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Izakaya Kotobuki - Albert St, Brisbane CBD

Albert St October 08, 2018

Although we've heard many things about Sushi Kotobuki at Kanga Point, the few times we tried going there without checking the opening hours, they were closed. But after knowing that they opened a sister restaurant on Albert St, we thought we give it a try. The Izakaya offers a wide variety of dishes of sushi, donburi and small plates.

With Japanese lanterns lining on the front side wall in front of the counter, exposed brick walls and floor-to-ceiling koi mural on the wall. The seating area is quite spacy, making it suitable for both dates, casual or even group dining. An open kitchen on the side allows diners to view the chefs cook however, I tend to try and avoid the front seating area due to the noise, chaos and having the waiters running back and forth around.

'Lion King' is one of the Izakaya's fusion sushi roll with crab stick, cucumber and avocado with slightly grilled salmon and cheese on top. A good mix of seafood in one bite.. well, in one plate. Drizzled with mayonnaise on top, the grilled salmon and cheese on top is definitely the winner here. For its price, the portion is somehow sufficient but then, also it could be arguably not when compared around.

The crab stick filling was fresh and well balanced with the cucumber and avocado. Well cooked rice, not too dry nor too sticky. Sad thing is that they don't supply with any accompanying ginger, only a dollop of wasabi on the side.

'Chicken Karaage Don', deep fried chicken and salad drizzled with teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise on a bowl of rice. First thing we saw was that the deep fried chicken was not similar to the usual Karaage batter as it was more round and doughy. The drizzle of teriyaki and mayo was only on top of the dish which meant that the warm rice underneath did not have any sauce at all.

The Karaage was seasoned well however the batter was bland and without the sauce, you would be just waiting for the chicken inside to kick in. There could've been more salad or green mix in the dish to balance out the rest of the element.

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Vapiano - Garden City, Upper Mount Gravatt, Brisbane

Australia October 06, 2018

Since its opening in Garden City, we actually never end up dining here due to the many restaurant options now, we end up going elsewhere. But since I wanted something Italian, we thought we'd come and try this branch and maybe compare it to the CBD branch. However, it has been a while for us dining at Vapiano.

'Con Carne' Pizza consisted of smoked Aussie ham, spicy pepperoni, salami, BBQ sauce on homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella First thing first, it took them a while to make this so we basically had to wait at our tables.. When we received it, it was practically burnt? very fired up pizza. At an instance, you were able to tell that they've left it either for too long or they just went all out on something making the pizza's surrounding before the crust be that burnt. It didn't taste nice, I can tell you that. The amount of ham, pepperoni and salami was also not very tidy.. or let me say, balanced throughout. Some slices had a bigger slice of ham but only a very tiny salami or pepperoni whilst some had a big pepperoni, half a salmi and a shred of ham. Very un-organized pizza, or maybe just in a rush.

The BBQ sauce on homemade tomato sauce, I couldn't really tell if it was homemade or not to be honest. It just felt as if the tomato sauce was barely there and all we could taste was just tomato paste. Sad to get a round 'burnt' pizza around the sides, makes us not able to actually eat it whole or just a disappointment. Although we did try to eat the whole slice, the burnt BBQ sauce or some what random parts of ham or dough, just didn't taste that nice.

Hoping that the pasta would be better than the pizza so that the dinner won't be a full failure but sadly, it didn't. 'Pesto Rosso' was a sun-dried tomato pesto with pine nuts, chilli, ricotta and cherry tomatoes. We also added chicken breast on top of that to add to the dish.

First thing we noticed was how dry the whole dish was, especially the past. My previous experiences in Vapiano was that the pasta at least had some sort of sauce or coating of sauce but this one, nope, none of that. Although it was freshly cooked, we weren't sure how long it was sitting there on the bench. As when we started mixing the grated cheese together within the pasta, it seemed a bit stuck and dry throughout. The slices of chicken was not much and the amount of pine nuts also, I wished that there was more.

Yes, there was a slight hint of chilli but another, not so good dish. The bread was also dry and a bit tough, it did not feel or smell as fresh as it used to be back then when dining here.

Sad to leave this place with a disappointment of not one dish but both, most likely not planning to come back anytime soon. Maybe one day we'll come back but, not sure when.