Brisbane’s new rooftop bar, Thai food to challenge your tastebuds, stay in a Granite Belt tiny house, new Toowoomba cooking school, museum trashed by artists, firepit dinner or escape to Tasmania, it’s all in Feast on Brisbane #17.
New Brisbane eats
- Brisbane’s newest rooftop bar, Iris Rooftop, opened last week. It tops off the new Hotel X in Fortitude Valley and offers stunning views over the city. I was very happy with a quick dish sample of the fish tacos before I started exploring the city as a Brisbane Ambassador on the weekend. The cumin-spiced fish was soft inside a crunchy batter and covered by a soft taco with slaw ($17). Three to share was perfect to keep hunger at bay. The menu includes bigger dishes right up to Latin spiced wagyu with chimichurri rojo ($44). My stay at Hotel X was equally enjoyable, and their rooftop pool rates as one of Brisbane’s best for me.
- Cameron Matthews has closed his Winston pop-up at Noosa and is crafting his plans for the next instalment.
- Thai food lovers missing the taste of authentic Thai can head to Naga Thai for Head Chef Suwisa’s regular regional dinners. The next one on Central Thai food on May 17 promises seven dishes that will challenge your tastebuds with delicious new flavours. Heads up – Suwisa doesn’t hold back on the spice level, so expect some bold flavours, shrimp paste and herbs. This is going to be some extreme eating. The cost is $79 per person.
- Favourite Brisbane chef Richard Ousby has been granted an expanded kitchen at The Overflow Estate in the Scenic Rim. Last time I visited Richard was cooking up lunch on big outside barbies, but I didn’t realise it was because the kitchen was so small. They are talking about pizzas and an open mic night too. Take yourself around the Scenic Rim with my favourite road trip.
- Eagle Street is buzzing with great restaurants to try including the new Opa Bar & Mezze. It’s from the owners of popular Massimo, Fat Cow, George’s Paragon and Rico who it seems are very fond of the water views and central city location.
- Also new in the CBD is a new look Stock Exchange Hotel. Now run by the RAWGroup, the pub looks fresh, but the menu still includes your fave pub classics such as chicken parmy, pork belly and fish ‘n chips.
Got a Brisbane food update to share? Tag @eatdrinkandbekerry
Cumin Spiced Fish Tacos, Iris Rooftop, Hotel X. Photo: Kerry Heaney
The pool on top of Hotel X certainly has its charms.
MOB gets trashed by artists!
Rachel smiled as she told me they fully expected the RMXRemix exhibition to be trashed by artists because that’s what this creative space is all about.
Museum of Brisbane (MOB) will be transformed over three weeks as artists create a collaborative work under instruction. Visitors can join with a sketch pad or remix on the interactive sticker wall.
Take a look inside Brisbane’s leading museum of history and art, located inside City Hall. I explored it as a Brisbane City Ambassador.
Want to know more? Museum of Brisbane.
Willow Vale Cooking School. Photo Kerry Heaney
Willow Vale Cooking School opening in Toowoomba
Michelin-starred French chef Bruno Loubet and his wife Catherine have sold the Gold Coast home for their Willow Vale Cooking School.
Bruno and Catherine will re-open their school near Toowoomba, in Perseverance, where they have bought a 40-hectare property. The new property is perfect for their newfound passion for equestrian pursuits giving them the chance to quickly saddle up and go for a ride between cooking classes.
More on the new school soon. Here’s a recipe taste from their Gold Coast location.
Plan your next escape
How about a week touring Tasmania’s most interesting eating establishments. You’ll need at least that long to work your way through this list of 15 places that must be experienced.
New Granite Belt tiny house
Straw House B&B on the Granite Belt has built a tiny house where you can stay on the edge of the old vineyard in the field amongst the Highland Cooos, alpacas, miniature goats and Scottish Belted Galloways. This luxury style accommodation (with ensuite) suits two adults and comes with all the trimmings – bathrobes, magazines, wines, chocolates, luxury tea and coffee etc. Cost is from $350 per night (2-night minimum) and of course, includes the famous big Straw House Breakfast. I’d also be hoping for a slice of their banana bread.
Want that banana bread recipe again? Here it is plus more about Straw House.
Find of the week
Have you been to Scrumptious Reads in Brisbane’s Red Hill? The bookstore/event space/exhibition space also stocks local artisan products from Contour Clayhouse ceramics, Robert Gordon crockery and ceramics, 31 Degrees chocolates, Saucy Wench dumplings and sauces, plus Bee One Third honey. Find it at 92A Arthur Terrace, Red Hill.
New on their bookshelves – Slow Victories removes the angst from the dinner rut with creative ways to use slow cookers for surprising results. It throws off the idea that cookbooks directed by convenience are necessarily virtuous or bland instead delivering ideas for across the week that readers may not have associated with this indispensable kitchen appliance. (And in doing so does away with the antiquated view that slow cookers are exclusively for time-poor or lazy cooks.) $35
Diary Date – Taste of the Mary Valley – Saturday 22 May
Mary Valley – one of Queensland’s richest food bowls – will show off its produce under the stars in a relaxed evening at picturesque Amamoor Lodge on Saturday 22 May. Amamoor is an easy two-hour drive north of Brisbane, and less than half an hour from Gympie and the Sunshine Coast.
Amamoor Lodge’s owners, Malcolm Oakley and Christine Buckley, are famed for their hospitality, and particularly their campfire dinners, so a Taste of the Mary Valley will take place around firepits with hay bales and wine barrels as furniture. I have enjoyed some delightful dinners and breakfasts around their table.
But while the atmosphere will be relaxed, the menu will be seriously good, showcasing the best of Mary Valley and Gympie regional produce, along with native ingredients such as wattleseed, bush tomato & lemon myrtle.
Dishes will be served as tasting plates and will include Roasted garlic and cheddar soup, Fig and shallot tart with beetroot, goat cheese and fig syrup, Beef cheek and grilled sirloin with sweet potato puree and speciality mushrooms andStrawberry and coffee tiramisu with strawberry & pepperberry sauce.
- When: Saturday, May 22
- Where: Amamoor Lodge, 368 Kandanga Amamoor Road, Amamoor
- Cost: $69 per person (BYO wine and beer)
- Bookings: Phone 0405 105 702 or email stay@amamoorlodge.com.au. Bookings essential. Accommodation is available at the Lodge (though only a few rooms left).
Feast on Brisbane #17 Recipe of the week – Sausage Rolls
As the weather starts to cool, I’m looking for warmer, filling dishes that remind me of relaxed, low fuss dinners with family and friends. This recipe for sausage rolls is perfect to make for a crowd or just for two. You can make your rolls small and bite-size or cut them into bigger fingers. They freeze and reheat extremely well too.
Sausage rolls with Australian bushfood flavours
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