Restaurant Manx - High Tea

Caught in the wave of new daily deal sites, I bought a high tea voucher at Restaurant Manx on impulse. $59 for a high tea for two, valued at $166 sounded like a bargain!  However, doing the math later, $30 per person for high tea is not really a good buy.  Furthermore, the bottle of wine that comes with the deal is no good for non-drinkers like us.  I have to admit that was partly my fault for not reading the deal clearly. 

I was hugely disappointed when the 3-tier stand arrived. The ribbon sandwiches, scones, sausage rolls and petit fours looked like they had been prepared in a rush and just dump on the plate. Not to mention the measly amount of food on the plate. Surely a restaurant can do better than that!

High tea with champagne instead of tea is not what I would call a high tea at all. The effort to modernise the traditional high tea is a big flop in my opinion.

I have learnt an important lesson about impulse buying and will in future stick with the high tea venues I know and love.


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Tea and Niceties

Tea and Niceties is everything you would expect from a classic European tearoom. Like its name suggests, it is all about tea and everything that is delicate and elegant.

Be warned though that the shop is extremely pink. From chair sashes, table decorations to staff uniforms, everything is one colour, PINK! Even the sugar is pink and sugar cubes are topped with a pink rose. There is definitely no lack of attention (or pink) here.

There is a choice between Traditional Tea ($40) and Elegant Tea ($45). Knowing in advanced that we will be given a box for the leftovers, we happily settled for the Elegant Tea. For a difference of five dollars, we get two savoury muffins, Panna Cotta and two additional petit fours. There was also a selection of 18 types of first grade teas to choose from.

The food is served on a 3-tier stand, sharing between two people. I was lucky (maybe?) to have my own stand because we had an odd number of people at our table. We spent the first few minutes admiring the daintiness of the food, before going on a photographing frenzy, snapping endless shots of the delectable delights from every angle. We wanted to make sure we did the place justice, capturing every bit of our experience.

We slowly worked our way from the bottom up, starting with the ribbon sandwiches, savoury muffins, scones to petite fours. Everything was very tasty, but if I had to pick a favourite, it would be the Chocolate Cup with Caramel and Mousse. I expected the mousse to be heavy and the caramel sickly sweet like others I have eaten before - but it was the exact opposite. The salty sweet caramel, topped with light and fluffy mousse in a chocolate cup was absolutely perfect!

Smooth & Creamy Panna Cotta

This is by far one of the best High Tea places I have been to in Brisbane. It is highly recommended to anyone who wants to indulge in a bit of elegance from the past, or just share a relaxing day out with girlfriends. From experience, weekends are usually booked out up to a few weeks in advance so make sure you book early; and if you're like us you'll even have some leftovers to help with midnight munchies.

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Saké Restaurant Brisbane

Ever since I heard of Saké opening in Brisbane, I have always wanted to give it a try.  The opportunity came when Dan asked me where I would like to go for my birthday.  Well, Sake is on my wish list and I get to choose where to go for my birthday, so it was an easy decision. 

The hostess who showed us to our table was very cheerful and friendly.  As she walked past the kitchen, she shouted a Japanese term and all the staff in the kitchen shouted back ‘Hai’ (we think?).  I am not sure if this is a common culture in Japan, but it was certainly an interesting experience.

Deciding what to eat was not an easy task.  The menu had so many things that we would like to eat and even though we ordered more than enough to feed the two of us, there are a few other dishes that we would like to try.  It sounds like a good reason to make another trip to this restaurant in the future. J

The kingfish, barramundi and salmon from the Sashimi Appetiser were very fresh.  A little bit of wasabi and a tinge of soy sauce was what if needed to fill the palate. 

The Coffin Bay Oyster topped with a bonito dashi jelly & golden flying fish roe was a new experience for us.   The bonito dashi jelly compliments the oysters very well.

One of our favourites was the Popcorn Shrimp.  The balance of flavour was amazing: sweet, sour and spicy.  I just couldn’t stop eating it!

The grilled skewers (Kushiyaki) were very tender and delicious.  We had the Chicken with Classic Teriyaki sauce and Pork Belly with Spicy Anticucho sauce.

The grilled eggplant, Nasu Miso however was the least favourite of the night.  The sauce was tasty, but the eggplant was a tad undercooked. 

For dessert, we had Chocolate Fondant with white sesame ice cream and Green-apple mille feuille. 

It was a great way to finish the meal, leaving us full, happy and looking forward to our next visit to Sake.

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The Olive Cafe

by D

Today we went for a drive to Mount Tamborine, a popular tourist spot known for its’ relaxing Gallery Walk; a street lined with small stores selling homewares, knick-knacks and a variety of home-made sweets.

Also populating the roadside are a number of cafes and restaurants, generally over-priced but still very busy given that there is no alternative once you’ve ascended the mountain.

As we took in the sights, we studied our options and based on the fact that large numbers of people were eating there - we ended up choosing ‘The Olive Cafe’. This is where it all started going wrong (note to self: don’t trust busyness as a sign of good food).

We found a table and ordered our meals, a (safe-bet) chicken parma with vegetables and a ‘medium’ steak served with salsa and potato bake. And then we waited... and waited... and waited.

It would have taken the food a good 50 minutes to find its’ way out to the table. When it finally arrived, it came without cutlery (we’re not barbarians) so we waited some more until finally a waitress noticed us trying to get her attention and wandered across. Shortly after we received some cutlery (no steak knives for the steak though) and got started on our meals.

We had barely made a start when another waitress arrived enquiring “How is the steak cooked, the chef would like to know?”

Now we’re not normally ones to complain about poorly cooked food (there are starving kids in Africa) but the way that question was asked gave us the distinct impression the Chef had just cooked his first steak and we were the test subjects.

Karen answered very politely with “it’s a little bit overcooked” but, not letting an opportunity go to waste, I also let the waitress know that my side serve of potatoes were still RAW. Now, I’m not a chef but I’m not sure how you manage to overcook a (very thick) steak until there is no colour to it, and still serve thinly cut potatoes raw?

The waitress apologised briefly before disappearing back into the kitchen. I was half expecting she might return with an offer of a discount, free drinks or a dessert but as we sat and continued to eat our (somewhat bland and flavourless) meals - there was no sign of any peace offerings.

As we finished our meals we piled up our raw potatoes and dry steak and made our way to checkout, paid our bill and made a swift exit. The food was terrible but not a complete waste, we learnt a valuable lesson, never eat at ‘The Olive Cafe’.

Location: Gallery Walk, 137 Long Road, Mt Tamborine
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Il Vagabondo

We were introduced to the existence of this restaurant by Dan’s parents. After hearing many good comments about the food, we decided to give it a try.

It is located behind The Village Upper Mt Gravatt Shopping Centre. The ambience looks a bit plain and ordinary from outside. As we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted by their friendly host, Giovani (John). The plain ambience gradually transformed into a homely feel.

When the food reached our table, we were surprised by the size of our pasta dishes. It definitely represented the generosity of Sicilian (Italian) cuisine. Our initial doubt of not being able to finish the dish diminished when we had our first bite. We love the beautiful flavour combination on the dish: texture of al dente pasta, sweetness of tomatoes, spiciness of chilli, freshness of parsley and perfectly cooked crustaceans. It’s definitely the best pasta I’ve had. (Mind you, the chilli flakes and pepper can be quite spicy!)

Linguini with Moreton Bay Bugs

Spaghetti Gamberi

Their Cannoli is a must try.  I couldn’t decide between vanilla or chocolate filling, so I ended up getting half and half.

Cannoli with Vanilla and Chocolate filling

The only thing I wasn't impressed with is their tortes.  The liqueur taste was too strong for my liking.

Torte al Italiana

Torte al gelato

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