REVIEW: Taro's Ramen

A pretty temporary looking sign...

Sometimes I surprise myself. Be it by what I say as I have no filter or perhaps it's by my conviction to a cause, usually ice cream. In this case, I surprised myself by never having ramen. Such a common and popular food, especially amongst those who have Instagram accounts. Why has it taken me this long? Well, I don't know. I love Japanese food. And I love soup. And noodles. Look, let's not dwell on the reasons lest we're here all night.

Last time my sister and her husband brought their gorgeous little peanut up to visit, we called in to Taro's Ramen on Edward Street. Taro's frequently appears on the Best Of lists for soup and is a Brisbane ramen institution. The restaurant used to have a more substantial restaurant up at the Koala Building (maybe not the real name but there is a koala statue on top) but the current address is said to be temporary and more of a café than restaurant.

Look at that bowl of yum.

Heeding the advice of my sister who has been to Japan about 354,126,462 times, we got the Tonkotsu Ramen ($14.50) with an extra bowl of noodles ($2.50) to share between two as well as a bowl of Fire Tonkotsu ($15.90). We also ordered some Kimchi ($4.80) and stocked up on the condiments, including a d-load of chilli.

Basically literally ate all that chilli.

Tonkotsu Ramen is made from pork bones, boiled basically forever, which breaks down the collagen, fats and marrow which flavours the creamy coloured soup. Since it was my first time, we went traditional. The serve was very generous and the noodles were delicious. I ended up adding a huge amount of chilli because I am me and I love chilli, so I might as well have ordered the Fire Ramen, and I certainly will next time.

Should have cut out the middle man and just ordered the Fire ramen. Note to self: always get the hottest dish available.

The Fire ramen was a party in the mouth and I was very jealous of my brother-in-law. Although he did struggle to finish the bowl on his own. The egg in the fire flavoured bowl seemed even more unctuous and moreish. Everything about ramen is amazing and what took me so long! I wonder why kimchi is served with a Japanese dish, since kimchi is Korean but why look a delicious preserved cabbage horse in the mouth.

This shot was taken by my drone cam.

Taro's Ramen was great and my experienced ramen eater guests agreed that is was a great introduction. I would love to visit the Ascot restaurant and dive deep into the different varieties. Can't wait to keep this ramen exploration going! 

Food: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5

REVIEW: The Vietnamese



This place has been here since before I was born and is still doing a busy trade...that's got to be legendary in the restaurant scene.

Long before there was banh mi and rice paper rolls in every food court, there was The Vietnamese, a Valley icon serving up Vietnamese 7 days a week. With criminally cheap prices and one of the ever dwindling number of BYO restaurants, The Vietnamese has established itself as the perfect place to line your belly before a night out. We called in late on a Thursday night and even after 9 on a school night, the restaurant was still busy.


I took this as we were leaving after 10:30, so it's uncharacteristically empty.  

We were seated without much fanfare, no one's coming to The Vietnamese for the service - while the staff aren't rude, they're not going to walk you through the menu or be sparkling conversationalists. My feelings weren't hurt though, I'm though like that. After a few minutes, we signalled to the waiter that we were ready to order. For entrée, we ordered a serve of Vegetarian Spring rolls, $7.50 for 4. The spring rolls arrived as soon as they were ready and at the same time as the mains. Ain't no fancy fine dining course timing here!


Some nice hand modelling there.

The spring rolls were fine, each spring roll was quite large, hot and fresh. They didn't taste like the best spring rolls out but they also aren't out of the freezer and for less than $2 each, you can't complain.


FUN ROLLS! They are fun! You even get to open your own plastic bag!

My lovely lady friend ordered the Fun Rolls ($13.00), in Stir Fried Satay Chicken. The fun rolls are make your own rice paper rolls. I've never seen them called fun rolls anywhere else but I adore the name. And rolling your own really is a lot of fun! The dish comes with cooked rice noodles, crispy lettuce, mint and an insane amount of satay chicken as well as rice paper and a bowl of water to soften them in. It's messy and fun. The chicken was a little bit fatty though, but still delicious.


Before I customised it...

As has been documented on this blog here and here, I have a deep love for pho. Wikipedia has just told me that it originated in Northern Vietnam and spread through the entire country during the partition of Vietnam in 1954. So there you go. When you come to Cassie Cakes, it's not just about the food but the history as well. I should get that trademarked.

...and after! Love me some bean sprouts.

Anyway, so I ordered a bowl of Pho, on The Vietnamese's menu as Sliced Beef Noodle Soup. I ordered a large bowl for $10, the regular bowl is $9 and I thought, for only $1 more, why not go large? Because it's obscenely large, that's why. And I know this. Every time I go, I think, 'I'll get a regular' because I know I can't eat it all but then I see it's only $1 more for the large and here I am, drowning in pho. But what a happy death. The pho comes with the usual accompaniments and as usual, I add the chilli in by the tablespoon. The pho here is not the best, I won't lie, but it is good and decent, with all the desired flavours of coriander and star anise. And the price can not be beat.

And my feelings about the pho at The Vietnamese really sums up my feelings about the whole place. It's good, not amazing, but well priced, hot and fresh. And once you factor in how much you save with BYO, it's a great pre-gaming venue before a night out. Plus it makes me think of my friends and good times and that's nothing to be sniffed at.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 2/5

REVIEW: Ananas

Just off Argyle street is this little gem.

First off, I will apologise for the quality of these photos. It was lovely and romantically lit inside the restaurant which made photography a bit challenging. Plus, it was my birthday and we were drinking which also made photography challenging. Had we not had such a wonderful time which I want to tell you about, I wouldn't be posting these terrible photos. If something doesn't look amazing, it's me and the camera, not the restaurant.


Oui, indeed,

Those mitigating circumstances aside, let me tell you about Ananas. If you've been following me closely, you'll know about my obsession with all things French and being my birthday, I wanted to have a sophisticated French dinner with my best girls, who both live in Sydney. So I went on a hunt for French restaurants in Sydney! And found Ananas. Which means pineapple in French, and pretty much every other language.

Pretty table flowers.

We walked down the cobble stone alley way and up the stairs for our 8pm sitting. We were greeted quickly and walked through the busy cocktail and bar dining area to a large, plush booth at the back. The restaurant was low lit with candles and rustic chandeliers, it really felt like a wonderful date venue. But dates can include lady dates! The atmosphere was great, and even a not-so-keen eye could spot the namesake fruit dotted everywhere.


Lets get turnt!

We ordered cocktails, one Ananas Bellini ($19) which was vanilla, honey, pineapple and champagne,  two PBE Martini's ($20). The bellini was fruity and bubbly, but for $19, I'd want more than just some champagne. Which is why I got a PBE Martini. I don't know what possessed me to get a coffee based cocktail as I don't drink coffee. I drank it though as I figured the coffee would give me a boost in addition to the alcohol.

Creamy butter soup. Butter soup...I bet I could make that with 500g of butter and a hot day.

The waitress was so patient with us and we ordered each course one at a time, talking too much and drinking a lot. Generally being merry. But she kept coming back and helping us out with menu details and topping up our drinks. Eventually we got around to ordering. To start, we were given a complimentary veloute - a French soup, thickened with butter - made from apple, fennel and black garlic. The soup was creamy and smooth, but I couldn't pick up any of the garlic.


Big shoutout to all the body parts of friends and family who appear in my photos.

We got things started in earnest with our starters...wait, I see what I did there. First, we had 6 oysters, at $4.50 each. We choose the Merimbula oysters which were Sydney rock oysters. They were plump little oysters, served with 3 sauces of which the cocktail sauce was the nicest with the oysters. They were plump and flavourful.

Can I be really uncultured and say this pate tasted like Strasburg ham? But I mean that in the best way possible. I love Strasburg ham!

The second of our starters was Le Pate de Campagne - country style duck terrine with cherry gastrique and brioche ($23). This dish was delicious! The duck and the cherry sauce along with the brioche struck a balance with sweety and salty. It was snaffled up in no time.

That's some shadow over that risotto. I'm sorry, risotto. You deserve better.

For our first entrée, we ordered Le Risotto a Notre Facon - Ananas style risotto for $24. The risotto changes depending on available produce. When we visited, the risotto of the day was beetroot, asparagus and speck. Other than colour, the beetroot didn't lend anything to the dish but the asparagus was firm and the little bits of speck were little chewy treasures in the risotto.

Shadow strikes again. I even know how to get rid of those shadows but my mind was pretty addled by this point,

Our second entrée was Les Langoustine - crispy scampi papillotes with sweet basil, extra virgin olive oil and sauce rouille. Sauce rouille is basically a fancy mayonnaise. I really liked this, it was one of my favourite but I don't know how French it was. The crisp pastry and plump prawn were cooked really well, but the sauces were little more than decoration. A bit more of them would have been nice.


Snails. You may use your fancy name but I know you're snails. And that's what I couldn't get over.

Now since we were in a French restaurant, how could we not get the snails! Les Escargots ($22), Burgundy Snails, parsley, garlic butter and hazelnuts. And it was my first time. They came out in a dish specifically made for escargot, which I thought was pretty cool. There were little discs of pastry atop the snail in parsley. I can't say that I would order them again. They tasted fine but for me, I couldn't get over the texture. My dining companions who had more experience in the snail eating arena both agreed they were very good and for my first escargot consumption, it was a good introduction.

Lamb shanks are da bomb.,



We had chips too! Cos where there is Cassie, there are chips.

After some more drinks, we ordered our mains. Because not everyone is as awesome as me, two of the mains were entrees. For my main, I ordered the L'agneau ($44), lamb, charred eggplant puree, couscous, yoghurt and capsicum. This dish is usually lamb rack but on the night we visited, they ran out of lamb rack so it was a lamb shank instead. This was very pleasing to me. The lamb was unctuous and tender. I would have liked some more eggplant but this is fine dining. There was a good serve of couscous and the meal itself was well portioned. I enjoyed it very much.

Pretty, but small. Just like the lady who ate it!

For the next main, we ordered Le Saumon ($27), citrus and cognac cured ocean trout, petits potato galettes, cucumber, dill and radish. This dish was quite small but the waitress advised us of such. It was beautifully presented and the fish absolutely melted in the mouth.

How can raw meat taste so damn good?

The final main was so wonderfully French, Le Filet en Tartare ($24), steak tartar, capers, quail egg and toasted brioche. Ordering steak tartare is said to be the biggest compliment to the chef, as you trust the quality of their meat. And the chef didn't let us down. The steak didn't even need chewing and with the quail egg mixed through, was so delightfully creamy. The amount of steak was also really generous. It appeared to be a whole steak, which is good for a high quality steak.

I wish you could hear the crack of that chocolate. Amazing.

We were stuffed to the gills with fine French food but it was my birthday so the girls got me a dessert, with a candle and everything. We ordered the Snickers Revolution ($19). There was no description on the menu, what was presented was a chocolate cylinder of mousse atop candied peanuts with a quenelle of peanut and chocolate ice cream. What it was bliss. A dish of pure transcendence. As full as we were, I think we all could have had a hundred more. It was the perfect way to end the night...or the dinner part of the night anyway.


Also this. Source: here.

The atmosphere was dark and romantic, the staff were helpful and the food was lovely. Ananas was an absolute pleasure and my only complaint about the restaurant is that they're so far away.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4.5/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4.5/5

 

REVIEW: LONgTIME

.

Love you, LONgTIME? Maybe...

There are so many places in Brisbane I want to eat. I have lists in my mind and lists in my diary of places I'm going. I wait for an opportunity to steer groups to one of these restaurants so I can tick them off my list. Then, other times, it's 9:30 on a Saturday night and we haven't eaten since lunch and shiz just got real. And our visit to LONgTIME was one such occasion.

LONgTIME is tucked between Birdies and the Peter Pan travel agency on Ann St, down an alley way lit with festoon lights and vines, the space outside had an almost Italian feel. I can't say I gave it much notice as I almost ran in and asked for a table. Even at 9:30pm, the host told us we were in for up to an hour wait! Well, my heart was already set so we settled in for the long time wait at the bar.

The busy kitchen.

I don't think it was in my mind that there was an air of fierce competiveness for a table: every time the host came near, all hungry eyes bored into him. Thankfully, the bar staff were very attentive and we were never without a drink in our hands. After literally 127 hours (not literally, it was 40 minutes), I had gnawed my arm off a la James Franco and was starting on the second when the host became the most beautiful person I'd ever met and took us to our table. Given that we didn't have a booking and were just 3 drunk souls who wandered in, a 40 minute wait on a Saturday night really wasn't that bad.

The interior with big communal tables.

LONgTIME is all about share plates and I must confess, I have a secret fear of share plates. I get panicked that I won't be full. Which is the worst thing when you've gone out to eat, in my opinion. But this fear is most assuredly unfounded, especially in company who know me well, as I'm not shy about taking the last spring roll. Even so, it wasn't without a little trepidation on my behalf, that we ordered.



Trust me, there were 2 more of these. We were ravenous!



 First to arrive was Bangkok Taco with Crispy Prawn Laab ($4.50 each). The tacos had the most wonderful crisp, deep fried shell. I could have eaten a bowl full of them on their own. However, I'm glad I had the prawn filling. The prawn taste was very strong but it was a good thing. They were bigger than I anticipated and at 10:30pm on a boozy belly, this was also a good thing.



There were 4 of these...don't worry, we gave them all a good home.


The tacos were devoured in almost an instant and quickly to follow them were the Longtime Pulled Pork Hock Bao with Fried Egg & Pickled Greens ($4 each). Four of these came out for some reason, even though we'd asked for one each. I thought maybe it was a freebie but it did turn up on the bill. Never mind. The dough of the bao was amazing, with just a touch of salty and soft as a marshmallow. The pork was well done and it's sweetness went perfectly with the dough. It was pretty special.

Nachos? Sort of?

The final of our starters was the Smoked Rice Noodle Nachos with Coconut Cheese Sauce ($8). Now this was something different and even days later, I'm not sure if it was good different. Instead of your usual corn chips or some sort of crispness, LONgTIME have used little sausage-like pieces of rice noodles. It was most unexpected, however it can't be that unexpected as it's right there in the name of the dish. The sauce had a strong coriander flavour and also that of a BBQ sauce. I felt a bit undecided about this dish but Mr. Cakes and company quite liked them.  

Penang curry, which is my favouritest curry.

For the first of our substantial plates, we ordered the Penang Curry of Grilled Pork Loin, Pickled Ginger and Peanuts ($29). Now my heart did fall a little when this dish came out. For $29, it was a bit small. And since it's a share dish, that's extremely upsetting. Also, the meat wasn't amazing, the pork just a touch tough. I think I would have preferred chicken. However, the curry sauce itself was delightful. The nuttiness and sweetness was perfectly balanced.



Crying tiger. Maybe he was crying about the price.



Next up was the Crying Tiger 12 Hours Slow Cooked Chargrilled Rib Fillet, With Roasted Rice and Lime Dressing. The price on the menu was $36,  but the waiter advised us that it would be $42 because of the serving size that night. The meat in this dish was amazing. It absolutely melted in my mouth. Everything about this was amazing. Again, the price to size ratio might have been a little off, but when you consider what a steak costs in most restaurants, it wasn't the worst value in the world.

Uhhhh there may have been more of this. Obviously still learning in the restaurant reviewing department.

Leaving the best til last, we had the Salted Crispy Pork Belly Pad See Uw, Chow Sum and Pickled Chilli. At $18, this was by far the best value and I think the best tasting. We saw a return of the sausage-like noodles and while I still was not the biggest fan, they suited the sauce of the pad see uw much better. It was the crispy pork that was the stand out star in this dish, and each mouthful of pork and chow sum (which is maybe the correct was of spelling chow sum?) with the wok flamed flavour was so tasty.


The lovely laneway.

The service at LONgTIME deserves a shout out too, as our glasses were never empty and the staff were excellent at making wine and cocktail recommendations as well as being wonderfully well humoured. LONgTIME's staff are a credit to the restaurant.

LONgTIME offers a great option for late night dining and some really unique menu items. Both the space and the staff are fantastic. I'm not sure I'm in love just yet, but I'm keen to go again to see where things go.

Food: 3.5/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 2.5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

REVIEW: Southern Attitude

Mmmm steaks. Nice ring, mysterious menu holder.

On a particularly warm Saturday night, we decided to go down to Southern Attitude on Oxford Street for dinner. Southern Attitude is fairly new, opening in 2014. The restaurant is the north of the border sister to the Mexican restaurant next door, La Quinta. We've been to La Quinta many times and always had good experiences, except for once when we made a booking and yet didn't get a table. At the time, I remember being reminded of a Seinfeld episode - "You know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to hold the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation".

Delicious apple pie cocktail. Get in my mouth!

Fortunately that didn't happen when we visited, although our request for an outside table went unfulfilled. We were seated at a booth inside and it was warm, but seemed bearable. The ordering system is the same as at La Quinta, you place a small flag atop your table number to get attention and it works really well. We ordered a few drinks, some soft drinks, a Pabst Blue Ribbon, of course and Sweet Apple Pie cocktail which was tequila, butterscotch schnapps, apple cider, lemon juice and cinnamon sugar for $13. The Sweet Apple Pie was delicious. Could easily have had a few more.


Wings are always a good idea.

After drinks, we ordered starters to share. First up we got a serving of 8 wings in Original with Blue Cheese Dip and Celery ($18). These were pretty good, and I liked the full wing being served. The flavour was good with a tasty mix of spices, and so was the texture. Often wings are drowned in sauce and they lose the crispiness of the fried batter but this was not the case with these wings.


Oh crab cakes. What would Mr. Krab say?

Next we got a serve of Crab Cakes ($9). There was a definite taste of crab in the crab cakes but the size was a little disappointing. They were okay. Finally, we got the Baked Chili Cheese Fries for $10, which was a generous serving of chips with beef chili, sour cream and shallots. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of these fries - they were very meaty, which for most people would be a good thing but I'm a bit meh about these kind of chips. They're too much! But they all got eaten, and they're very much up Mr. Cakes' ally.

They look good. And they were good, for those who like them. Totally making perfect sense.

The mains came out before we'd finished the entrees. There was a slight feeling of being rushed, the restaurant by this time was getting busier and maybe it was because of the bodies in the room or the hot food in front of us but I was starting to feel the heat now. We made room on the table for the mains. First, there was the Kentucky Pulled Pork Sliders served with Rocket, Apple Cider Slaw and Chipotle Aioli for $14 with a serve of Blackened Corn for an extra $4. The sliders tasted really good and the meat wasn't fatty. The bread wasn't the greatest and I didn't think the corn was worth the extra $4, it looked a bit sad.


Mmm less than impressive. That little sauce drip is though.

Next were two Smoked Double Bacon Cheeseburgers ($14), each with a Wagyu Patty, Smoked Bacon, Cheese, Pickles, BBQ Sauce and Ranch dressing with Onion Rings and Fries ($4 each). The burger was good, the meat had a bit of a taco seasoning flavour to it, which was a little odd but not horrible. The chips were a lot better without the chili on top but the onion rings weren't cut up properly so some bits of onion were a bit thick.


So much fried goodness.

Finally, for my main, I ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken which was Southern Fried Breaded Chicken Breast with SA Seasoning, Fried and Served with Maple and Mustard White Gravy. It came with two sides, I choose Coleslaw and Sweet Potato chips. What came out was not what I expected. Instead of a whole bit of chicken breast, a flattened, breaded schnitzel type chicken breast was served. It wasn't terrible, but with the thoughts of my mothers southern fried chicken in my mind, I can't say that I wasn't a little disappointed. However, the chicken was good and the sweet potato chips were really good.


See what I mean about the chicken? It was good! Just not what I expected.

By this time though, it was sweltering. I literally had sweat dripping down my legs. I wolfed down my meal and escaped to the night outside, leaving Mr. Cakes to settle the bill with our dining companions.

PBR. Of course.

Southern Attitude was okay, I didn't hate it but I don't think I'll be rushing back. Southern Attitude do have a take away option so I think if I do eat there again, I will be eating it at home in the comfort of my air conditioning and with puppycakes at my feet.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 2/5
Atmosphere: 2/5