The Fox - BBQ and Smokehouse

Ribs - what a magic word.   One mention, and it was all I had on my mind.   So, when we found the deal at the Fox - which is $16.99 all you can eat BBQ Ribs and Pizza.   We wandered down at the usual 7pm - for a 7:15pm seating (they have 3 on Wednesdays - 6pm, 7:15pm and 8:30pm).

Once we got there, we were wowed by the beautiful art deco lights and soft ambiance in the restaurant.   Definitely not what I was expecting at a "pub".   We were seated after a short time, and were greeted by a lovely Texan waitress.   (thumbs up for the "genuine" angle!) We ordered drinks - frozen margaritas for Ann, Ryan and Aimee, a XXXX Gold Bitter for Hayden and a lemon, lime and bitters for me.

We were given a choice of 3 pizzas - pepperoni, margarita and garlic and rosemary.   Although we were only supposed to have 2 - they brought us all 3 to try.   In general, they were ok - but we found the bases on the thick side (although Ann loved the wood-fire aspect of it).   Aimee really liked the pepperoni pizza when it was fresh out of the oven - lovely chewy cheesy goodness.

But... the main event - the ribs!   My heart sang when 3 big plates of ribs came out for us.   Beef and pork - with a tangy BBQ sauce, served with fries and coleslaw.   Yum!   Ann and I completely demolished ours in about 15 mins?  We then looked at the rest of the table and kinda asked them... why aren't you eating? *lol*

The ribs were pretty good - most of them were totally succulent, with meat literally falling off the bone.   My 2 gripes were that some of the ones on the side, were overcooked, and hence impacted my experience of eating the ribs and also a couple of them were really gristly.

Pizza Ratings

Ann - 6/10

Ryan - 6/10

Hayden - 6/10

Aimee - 6/10

Cindy - 4/10

Rib Ratings

Ann - 7/10 - would be an 8 if it the sauce was less tangy and more smokey

Ryan - 7/10

Hayden - 8/10

Aimee - 8/10

Cindy - 7/10

All in all though - fantastic value - all you can eat (including a drink) for about $20-$25 a head, and we did all walk out full.   (Although Ann and I have our eyes on the Apple pie for next time...)   We'll be back to sample the rest of the American smoke house menu.

The Fox Hotel is on the corner of Melbourne and Hope St, South Brisbane.

La Via

It was time for Italian, and a simple google search of Italian in South Brisbane turned up 3 restaurants.  Given that La Via had the best reviews, at 7:30pm 7 of us trotted out to try the food on offer.

When we arrived, we were greeted and sat promptly (after joining a few tables together).   We were given menus straight away and had fun deciphering the menu.   (A bit of Italian understanding would have been helpful!).   We enjoyed the openness of the kitchen and the ambient atmosphere.   It also smelt great!   Additionally, we were seated along the cushy chairs which I enjoyed.

To begin our experience, we chose a red wine (of which we had 2 bottles), and in earnest attacked the menu and made our food choices.
Wine Ratings:
Ann - 8.5
Ryan - 8
Aimee - 8.5
Hayden - 10
Gary - 8
Lisa -  7

The menu small but wonderful, and everyone loved their dishes.

Gary had a wonderful calamari which made everyone go "yum".
9.5/10

Lisa had a pumpkin pizza - 8.5/10

Aimee had a chilli pepperoni pizza - delicious! 8/10
The rest of us who also tried a piece scored it as follows:
Cindy - 8/10
Ryan - 8/10 - and the "Best Pizza I've had in Australia"

Hayden had a Pizza Margarita.
7/10

Ann had a lovely pumpkin pasta.
7.5/10

Ryan had a Wagyu Beef which was delicious, but he felt the cut of the meat let the dish down a little.
8/10

I had the fish of the day (barramundi) served with a crab  / vegetable accompaniment.   Really delicious!   Ann & Aimee reckon they could have had the vegies alone or with bread for dinner!
8/10



After dinner, Hayden had a great coffee, 8/10 and we all agree that we are coming back to this place again!

La Via is located at shop 6e Little Stanley Street South Bank.

Landmark Restaurant

Early Saturday morning, you wake up.. and feel like yum cha!   So for our first out of South Brisbane / West End experience, we headed for land of the oriental - Sunny bank!

After getting slightly confused by the lay of the land, we parked our car on one corner of the Asian suburb and were happy that Aimee & Hayden's iPhones were working so we could locate our eating place.   We crossed 2 main roads, walked through a car park, entered a shopping centre and were about to give up hope, when we saw the lectern with an asian chick standing there handing out raffle tickets.  Awesome.

Since we were pretty early (10:30ish), there was no queue and although at the edge of the restaurant, we were promptly sat down next to the peking ducks, bbq pork window which started our mouths drooling.

We sat down and as the dishes went past, we started selecting and eating.  We ate dumplings, tripe, roast duck, spring rolls.   Some of them were quite tasty, but in my opinion - no where near as good as anywhere in Sydney...   We were also very unimpressed with the service.  When we asked for some vegetables, a man, then a lady simply waved their hands at us.   And when we asked for the bill, the same lady waved rudely at us as well.

All in all, not a fantastic experience.   The service was lousy, the food lacked variety and it wasn't genuine enough for me.   We'll be hunting for another yum cha place thats for sure!

Ratings:
Aimee - 2/10
Hayden - 2/10
Mal - 4/10
Cindy - 3/10

Landmark Restaurant is at Sunnybank Plaza Shopping Centre.  Cnr Mains Road & McCullough St

Ahmet's Turkish Restaurant

We were tossing up between Italian and Turkish tonight, but given the lack of wheels, we decided to keep it local and head down to South Bank for some Turkish.   Walking pass it always seemed quite busy, so I was quite keen to give the restaurant a go.


We entered from Grey St, and were lead through the delightfully coloured restaurant with great table cloths to a table on Little Stanley St.   Although the weather was still lovely, the lack of light dimmed our experience a little.


After we sat down, we ordered some wine (I chose apple tea) as well as some dips for entree.   We then proceeded to strain our eyes to read the menu.   


There were so many delicious sounding dishes to choose from but we eventually settled on the vegetable pide, a mixed grill platter and the Barramundi Kofte.


The dips arrived and we dug into the 6 with much gusto.   The selection we were presented with was:

• hommus - good, but slightly bland - went well with the hot & spicy
• avocado - good, but slightly bland
• beetroot - delicious - my favourite 
• hot & spicy - yum, with a good kick
• pumpkin - really nice - but we thought it was carrot *lol*
• haydari - too yoghurty for me, but Aimee & Gary liked it

We then started enjoying the mains.   The vegetable pide was lovely and warm, and the cheese was at the perfect chewy / stretchy texture which made it great to eat.   

Next, I tried the Barramundi Kofte - which Hayden called Turkish Fish & Chips.   The fish was a bit dry for Gary's liking, but eaten with the yummy potato, "tartae" sauce and salad, I thought it was quite nice.

Finally, I sunk my teeth into the mixed grill.  I was hoping this was good because I chose it!   On the plate was a lamb cutlet - quite yummy, grilled chicken, lamb and beef skewers.  My favourite was the lamb skewer which was delicious!   

After the entree and mains, Aimee and Gary were full, but having had my eye on the baklava since seeing it on the menu, Hayden and I couldn't resist.   I also had to order another apple tea  because it was so yummy!   


The baklava was lovely and sweet - but not sickly sweet, and the pastry was fluffy lightness - I really enjoyed it - will have to bring my sister here when she gets a chance to visit.

All in all, I quite liked it and would come back again.   I think the sharing of the dishes made it more enjoyable - I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed it as much if I only had 1 dish to eat on my own.   Also, I think if we had been indoors and could have enjoyed the ambience and light inside we would have had a better experience.   We had a great waiter though!




So... ratings:
Gary - 6.5/10 - some dishes were a bit dry and it was very dark
Aimee - 7.5/10 - enjoyed it more last time when she was seated inside
Hayden - 7/10
Cindy - 8/10 - apple tea was awesome


Until next time... happy eating!


Ahmet's Turkist Restaurant is at Shop 10/164 Grey St South Bank

Ginga Japanese

Located next door to the cinema, and with 3 of us watching Kick Ass - we thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out Ginga Japanese which is literally appended to the South Bank cinemas.   


We arrived at 6:20 and were promptly seated in the restaurant section.    (There is a sushi bar there as well)   We each ordered what we felt like - quite a wide selection of food to cater for preferences, and after a short wait were served our dishes.

I had the Salmon Bibimbap (sort of like a Korean fried rice - but served with everything arranged beautifully on top which you then mix yourself - photo is post mix) which was pretty good - although I was disappointed that the chilli sauce seemed to be diluted and mixed with soy which made it a bit salty for my liking.    Rating: 6.5/10

Mike had Beef Udon Noodles  - but he was still hungry after!
Rating: 6/10

Aimee had Chicken Yakitori and 

Jeremy had Tonkatsu Curry
Rating:












All in all, not a bad little place but its not a "favourite".


Ginga Japanese restaurant is located at Shop 11-12 Little Stanley Street, South Brisbane 4101