Panama Jacks - Bracken Ridge

We've been to Panama Jacks at Bracken Ridge Tavern twice since we discovered it so close to home. It's the perfect place for a Friday night out or an easy midweek meal. All of the staff are lovely and very helpful.

The Steak & Rib Combo ($36.90) is enormous with a Cape Grim rib fillet, a half rack of ribs, chunky chips, coleslaw, chargrilled corn cob & onion rings. We ordered two and used the Entertainment Book to get one free but it beat us both and we brought home most of the ribs to enjoy the next day.

On our second visit, we ordered the garlic bread, chicken parmy and a chicken snitty with gravy. The chicken serving sizes are much more realistic, i.e. the parmy isn't the size of your head like some of my fav bars back in Melbourne..

If you are after dessert you can head next door to PhoPanama JacksPanama Jacksenix or to the Gloria Jeans inside Panama Jacks for coffee & desserts.

Tips:
Grab a bucket of Coronas for $20 and get a free hat.
Join the BRT Rewards Club to get great discounts, rewards and specials. It's free and you will receive a $10 food voucher for your next visit - you can't beat that.

Enormous Steak & Rib Combo

What's in season - July

Eating with the seasons means great value for money and better tasting fruit & veg. Here's what's in season this month:

Fruit

• Avocados
• Custard apples
• Fuji apples
• Grapefruit
• Kiwifruit
• Lemons
• Limes
• Mandarins
• Nashi
• Navel oranges
• Pineapple
• Pink lady apples
• Pomegranates
• Quinces
• Red delicious apples
• Rhubarb

Vegetables

• Beetroot
• Broccoli
• Broccolini
• Brown onions
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celeriac
• Celery
• Chinese greens
• Dutch carrots
• English spinach
• Fennel
• Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Kumara or sweet potatoes
• Leeks
• Olives
• Parsnips
• Potatoes
• Pumpkin
• Silverbeet
• Spinach
• Witlof

Source: Taste.com.au - July 2009

Market Street Cafe

Whenever we have a hankering for a chicken schnitty roll for lunch we head to the Market Street Cafe...and today I realised that we may have been doing this a bit too often as the lovely lady behind the counter started rattling off our preferences (avo on one side, mayo on the other, lettuce, cheese and tomato on one but not the other - she did well to remember all that!)

There are tables outside and also plenty of seating downstairs (including couches) and they are happy to bring your order to your table when it's freshly made.

Market Street Cafe
30 Market St
Brisbane Queensland 4000

AJ Vietnamese Noodle House - Brisbane CBD

I first heard about this place on The Nutrition Guru and the Chef's blog last year and couldn't believe it was just up the road from work and I'd never noticed it. I hightailed it up Charlotte St and was lucky enough to get a table. I got the Beef Noodle Soup and was hooked.

I've been back loads of times and have tried the Special Noodle Soup (be prepared for some less than common ingredients in this one!), Spring Rolls, Hainam Chicken Rice, Rice Vermicelli Salad with Grilled Chicken (delicious) and today I had the Combination Noodle Soup. Every dish has been excellent and great value for money.

There are about 10 tables inside and it's often full but tables turn over pretty quickly and they also do takeaway. There are often throngs of people waiting on the street for a table or takeaway because it is definitely worth the wait..

It's cash only so make sure you have cold hard cash and a healthy appetite.

On my next visit I'm going to try the BBQ Pork Wonton Noodle Soup, is two visits in two days an addiction??

Combination Noodle Soup

 Hainam Chicken Rice

 Rice Vermicelli Salad with Grilled Chicken

AJ Vietnamese Noodle House

70 Charlotte St
Brisbane Queensland 4000

Arrivederci Pizzeria - Milton

Monday Madness at Arriverderci is well worth a visit - 25cm pizzas for $12 and $5 tap beers.

We won tickets for the Broncos v Tigers game and decided to grab a quick pizza for dinner beforehand. We didn't have a booking but we were greeted warmly and seated, given water and menus and they explained the Monday Madness deal. You can't go past $12 for a 25cm pizza so we grabbed a Pizza alla Diavola (Tomato, cheese, salami, olives, mushrooms, chilli & tobasco) and Forza Roma (Tomato, cheese, salami, Italian sausage, ham & bacon) as well as a couple of beers.

Both pizzas were delicious. The italian sausage on the Forza Roma was lovely with a hint of fennel? They also have 50cm and 1m pizzas which looked awesome. Perfect for a group to share.

Forza Roma

Pizza alla Diavola

Arrivederci Pizzeria 

1 Park Rd
Milton Queensland 4064

Read Kristen M.'s review of Arrivederci Pizza Al Metro on Yelp

Siam Dragon

We had a voucher for all you can eat Thai at Siam Dragon and decided on a hump day date night. We had planned to have light lunches to make sure we could make the most of the feast which lay before us...hmmm, best laid plans often go astray...a colleague won 10 free Guzman y Gomez burritos and after being crazy busy I finally got to eat one for my lunch at about 2:30. Needless to say I was not very hungry when we arrived for dinner at 6pm.

We were greeted, seated and watered and the waitress explained what our voucher entitled us to..one entree each, one soup or salad each and anything from the curries, stir fries, noodles and rice menus. Not a bad deal.

Siam Dragon wont be getting any points for the decor or views, with bright green painted walls and a view of the Sandgate Rd intersection, but they are in a handy spot opposite Nundah Village and walking distance from the station.

We chose the Chicken Satay and Curry Puffs to start. The satay sticks were well cooked and the satay sauce was just right, not too rich. The curry puffs were a little oily but still quite nice. Next we both decided on Tom Kha Gai. I'm a big fan of the more traditional white version so the red soup we were served was not what I was expecting/craving. For my taste there was too much tomato (four large tomato wedges in a smallish bowl) but it was still tasty and spicy enough to clear the sinuses!

For mains we ordered Gai Pad Med Ma-muang (Chicken with cashews) and a Beef Penang Curry with a side of Jasmine Rice. The stir fry was quite nice, not too much sauce and plenty of cashews but the curry was definitely my favourite. It was a delicious creamy curry with thin slices of tender beef with plenty of green beans & red capsicum. Unfortunately we were so full by that stage and could only finish about half and when we asked if we would take the leftovers home they refused...even though the couple at the next table had just been given a take away container for theirs..maybe it's because we had a voucher deal??

Update: We were pretty happy with the meal but we both felt a bit unwell afterwards and today...who can say if it was definitely the meal or a coincidence but I might give Siam Dragon a miss next time I'm craving Thai.

Siam Dragon

1154 Sandgate Rd
Nundah Queensland 4012

On Quay Restaurant Bar- Park Regis North Quay

We won a voucher at the Home Show for two free mains at On Quay and decided to go for our anniversary dinner. We only called in the morning to book and they were happy to accommodate us. It was an easy walk from the city and even though it was quite sparse inside (like most hotel restaurants) we were shown to a table on the raised platform and the view was lovely. We ordered a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauv Blanc but unfortunately they were sold out but they agreed to let us try an alternative before buying the bottle.

We ordered the Garlic Prawn and Char Grilled Chorizo Salad to share which was delicious and generous enough if you are after something light as a starter (5 medium prawns). The Black Angus Rump was fairly thin and although we ordered med-rare it came out med-well but was still tender and tasty. The Confit Free Range Pork Belly was a bit dry and the crackle wasn't as crispy as it could be but the taste...yummo! So delicious.

Dessert was a toss up between the Summer Berry Pudding and White Chocolate and Bailey's Cheesecake to finish. We chose the lighter option to share and the berry pudding was light and fresh with a small scoop of ice cream, strawberries and a pistachio biscotti crumble.

All up the meal was delicious and the staff were attentive without being intrusive.

Grilled Garlic Prawn Salad - Mango, chilli, rocket, semi dried cherry tomato, avocado $18

Confit Free Range Pork Belly - Sweet potato fondant, charred asparagus, fennel and apple slaw $28

Black Angus with Potato Galette - Garlic &  thyme potato gratin, balsamic field mushroom, bacon wrapped green beans $29

Summer Berry Pudding - Raspberry coulis, fresh berries and vanilla bean ice creams $14

On Quay Restaurant Bar- Park Regis North Quay
293 North Qy
Brisbane Queensland 4000

Chocolateria San Churro

After a disappointing dinner at Coast Steak & Seafood we stopped in at San Churro for some yummy churros & affogato for dessert. I'm so glad we did as it salvaged the night.
The churros were deliciously crunchy and the affogato was lovely with creamy ice cream and strong espresso.
The staff were friendly & efficient and we were in and out and heading back to our hotel room in no time.

Churros & Affogato

Cholocateria San Churro

47/48 Circle on Cavill
3184 Surfers Paradise Boulevard
Surfers Paradise, Queensland
Australia 4217

Plough Inn

The Plough Inn is a great pub in Southbank for a leisurely lunch or dinner.

Ploughman's Board

Chilled english pork pie, aged cured meats, tea smoked lamb, vintage cheddar cheese, pickled onions, house- made relishes & chutneys freshly baked sourdough - $34

BBQ Spanish Seafood Sizzle Plate

Sizzling king prawns, scallops, calamari, mussels, moreton bay bugs, salmon in a romesco sauce, sticky saffron rice, grilled corn bread, house salad - $35

Plough Inn
Building 29 Little Stanley St
South Brisbane,QLD 4101

Ciccio's Pasta Bar

With family visiting from Victoria I went in search of an Italian restaurant in the city which was kid friendly and yet served high quality and authentic dishes. I narrowed it down to two and mentioned the options to my future sister-in-law. They had actually gone to Ciccio's the night before with friends and were keen to go back because it was so good - you can't get a better recommendation than that..

We started with pizza breads, a lovely crisp roast garlic thin crust pizza cut into 6 generous slices each.


The Gnocchi al forno was a deliciously cheesy entree with perfectly cooked gnocchi in a tapas style ceramic dish. I will definitely be ordering this the next time I visit Ciccio's.

The Gnocchi della casa had crispy cubes of pancetta and the gnocchi was perfectly cooked and then lightly pan fried so it was crispy and delicious.


The Parpadelle with slow roasted beef cheek was lovely and tender and it came with a slice of crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce.


Penne arrabiatta - get the chef to boost the chilli for a bigger hit

Fettuccini pesto with chicken.


I definitely recommend Ciccio's and will be heading back. They also have a supper club downstairs which can be booked for private functions or if you just want a more intimate setting for your next special occasion.

Ciccio's Pasta Bar
471 Adelaide St
Brisbane 4000 QLD