Blanket with your coffee?

My favourite place to sit and have a coffee is on the Goodwill Bridge. Great staff, lovely coffee and a picture-postcard view. (No, I'm not being paid to write that.) This was taken a couple of weeks ago from a moving CityCat so apologies for the blurriness. As you can see, it was warm enough to take your shirt off while canoeing down the river. It's chilled down to about 20 degrees celcius (68f) which means winter woolies for many Brisbane folks. I know. I used to laugh... but you get acclimatised after a few years. And if you're having coffee on the bridge at this time of year they even provide blankets. Toasty!

Thank Truck It's Thursday!

There's a catering mob in South Brisbane called Wandering Cooks. On a Thursday evening their office carpark plays host to 3 or 4 food trucks and they change each week - the night is called Thank Truck It's Thursday. There's an outdoor fireplace, some fake grass, tables and chairs and also a bar if you want to make things civilised.

Flat White at Cafe 63 in Yeronga

Dinner on Hardgrave Road

PJ's Roast Inn

If you like your lunch old school - and by that I mean things like hot roast meat rolls or a big banana smoothie - then this take-away place is going to float your boat. Not a balsamic reduction or mini herb in sight... or, if I may speak London for a mo, it's not "poncey".  It does a roaring lunchtime trade on Adelaide street with punters of all ages and walks of life.

Lunch Special at The Red Hen

Crispy skinned salmon with lemon and garlic roasted potatoes and a pear and pea puree. The pear aspect was interesting. I'm not sure it worked for me but the rest of it was just fab. Particularly the potatoes.

Yesterday's Birthday Lunch at Pearl Cafe (and Animal theme day!)

My thanks to Joanna. I had completely forgotten about the theme day but she pointed out in the comments that as today's City Daily Photo theme day is "Animal" I could still enter! (apologies to my vegetarian readers)

Being that a friend and I share the same birthday, we felt like we should make a bit of an effort so we trotted off with a few of our frocked-up mates to the Pearl Cafe in Wooloongabba. I had the ploughman's lunch because I am a bit sentimental it reminded me of home.... except it was much fancier than any ploughman's lunch I've ever had in England. There was smoked Wagyu, leg ham, homemade pickles, pommery mustard, cornichons, sourdough, French butter, mature cheddar and a mouthwatering dark brown pickled onion which I think was preserved in balsamic vinegar and a watercress salad. It was glorious.

It probably should have been washed down with a mug of real ale if I was being a purist. I plumped for several glasses of ice cold sparkling wine instead. You need it in this heat, really.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants and hopefully to see pictures of animals more alive than this one.

Dinner on Boundary Street

Going out for dessert with Oriana

Oriana had the "lavender creme brulee with frangelico grapes and marble tuille". I went for the "'Spanish-style doughnuts with espresso ice cream and spiced chocolate sauce" (pictured).  It's really hard to take a photo of your dessert when you are salivating as much as I was.

We decided that the creme brulee was a bit eggy. But the espresso ice-cream made my eyes cross with pleasure. And the French waiter was gorgeous.

 The restaurant was Luxe in fortitude Valley.

Europe "Lite"

Park Road in Milton has a distinctly European flavour to it with French, Italian and Spanish restaurants all spilling out onto the pavement. During the World Cup, this is the place to come - thousands of football lovers from near and far gather for the big matches and party all night. There are Roman-style statues on the street and there's even a miniature Eiffel Tower replica on top of one of the buildings.

Dinner at Alegria

We went out for tapas last night in Milton at Alegria and the highlight for me was this salad. There was goats cheese, baby beetroot, radicchio, "petite herb" (I don't know what that is but it included fennel), green beans and really crunchy garlic croutons. 

 

Absolutely top notch!

 

Ethiopian Restaurant, Moorooka

Moorooka is home to a large and vibrant African community. The main shopping area is home to cafes and restaurants from different African countries, money transfer services, afro-hairdressers and fab clothes shops. This restaurant is down a little laneway and was smelling pretty good when I was there despite it being closed. I must come back!

Coffee at Urban Grind

Boundary Street, West End, is host to a mix of cool, funky hip cats (see above), people with bed heads and bare feet, a bustling Greek community, yummy mummies doing lunch, construction workers, aboriginals, office workers, drunks and nutters. That's why I love it so much. These guys were deep in conversation outside the Urban Grind coffee shop. It took me a few minutes to work up the courage to ask for their photo but they were very obliging and carried on as if the camera wasn't there.

Smoothie Operator

This is another shot from the Finders Keepers market. At the smoothie stall, you gather all your ingredients in the mixing jug and then attach it to the base - which is connected to a stationary bike. Then you hop on and go for a ride - which powers the mixer! Genius!!

All Set

 

Coffee time at the Foyer Bistro, GoMA.

Simon Says Gimme A Pancake

I was taking some pictures for The Sneaky Cafe at the Powerhouse market yesterday when I met a dog called Simon. Just looking at him makes me laugh. "Hurry up and take this bloody picture."

His owner gave him a little Dutch pancake as a reward for his patience and restraint while I faffed around with the camera.

Last night's roasted Queensland blue pumpkin and sage

I went to Moo Moo restaurant last night in the Port Office building to celebrate my fella's birthday. It reopened recently after being affected by the floods and is looking very snazzy. I think it may just be the poshest restaurant I've been to in Brisbane... with prices to match. But the food and wine were heavenly.

Kiosk Outrage at New Farm Park

Grillside at The Norman

 

 The Norman Hotel in Woolloongabba bills itself as "Brisbane's Worst Vegetarian Restaurant". True to form,  last night they would have had about half a cow on the grill at any one time. The line-ups were out the door.

Homemade Burgers in the Valley