Manx Restaurant – Portside Warf, Brisbane, Qld

Name: Manx Restaurant

Location: Portside Warf, Brisbane, Qld

Website: http://www.restaurantmanx.com/

Date visited: 11 May 2008 (and previously)

Cost: Worth it!

Our Rating: 5cracked peppers

Ms OE says:

Lunch at Manx yesterday proved to be an excellent choice. Not only were all the other Portside eateries either closed or packed with cruise-departing diners but for a surprisingly reasonable price we were treated to five star cuisine. The lunch menu prices are approximately $20 (some lower) and all three of us enjoyed the food immensely – OEbrother raved about the pizza, I enjoyed the steak and Mr OE had a lentil salad. All very filling despite the five star size serves and our plan to finish off with an icecream from next door were thwarted by our full bellies. For a while we were the only customers but the service was still impeccable and even though it was lunch still of a fine dining standard. Next time rather than saving a few dollars each for a $13-17 ok meal at a crowded and not so excellent restaurant we’ll try some more fine dining lunches.

Of course we should have known that lunch at Manx would be good. This is my third visit to the restaurant, the previous two encounters were for dinner – once with Mr OE and once for my sister’s birthday. Both times the service and food were excellent. A word of advice – the first time we ordered sides – they were completely unecessary as our meals were filling enough. The dinner menu is slightly more expensive than lunch ($34 for the main) but not ridiculous and with some rather good wines, dessert and perhaps an entre, it could add up, but for a special evening (or even just an excuse for some superb cusine), it is well worth it.

Mr OE says:

There is a way to get five-star dining at cut-prices, without having to resort to copying Jamie et al at home. Lunch. Its also good test to see whether a place is truly somewhere Gordon Ramsey won’t be featuring. We pleasantly re-discovered this little snippet of foodie wisdom at Manx recently, where the service, food and presentation for a lazy weekend lunch was as good as their dinners – and yet three people dined for under $70 – plus coffees!

Vino’s – Upper Level, Eagle Street Pier, Brisbane, Qld

Name: Vino’s Restaurant

Location: Upper Level, Eagle Street Pier, Brisbane, Qld

Website: http://www.vinos.com.au

Date visited: 23 Feb 08

Cost: Worth it!

Our Rating: 4 cracked peppers

Ms OE says:

We were looking for a nice restaurant to celebrate our anniversary and in Vino’s we found it – fine dining, good prompt service, great views and excellent food. We sampled an entree each followed by a shared pizza. I had the scallops – interesting bursts of flavour. OE enjoyed a toffee coated walnut salad. The Wagyu steak pizza was very good. We left pleasantly surprised by the price. Another one to go back to.

Mr OE says:

While this place is not the cheapest eat, its fine dining, and thats what you get. The surrounds are inviting – Eagle Street is somewhat concrete, but inside Vinos its quite human. It really does have a wine bar atmosphere too, which nicely complements the dining, and I’d like to come here sometime just for that. The view, ah yes, that is spectacular, and Brisbane is a pretty city as the sun sets and the lights come out. The wine list is extensive, expensive, and good, and the food is exotic, beautifully presented, and prepared just so. Probably the first time I have had a pizza that WAS a fine dining experience, the wagu beef just melted. And I was impressed by the caramalised walnut, goat cheese and rocket salad, so much that I’m going to steal it for my own kitchen. Popular – people were being turned away at peak time (7.30pm), and justly so. Thumbs up I say.

Mario at the dining room – 49 Gerler Rd, Hendra, Qld

Name: Mario at the dining room

Location: 49 Gerler Road, Hendra, Qld

Website: http://www.thediningroom.com.au

Date visited: Jan 08

Cost: Average – fine dining prices

Our Rating: 2 1/2 cracked peppers

Mr OE says:

This is a restaurant I wanted to give a good review to – but I can’t. I really can’t. Really nice pasta…nice setting, but a place that brags so much about being the best Italian restaurant, its got to have more. And more service is what was lacking. We were left for too long…before ordering, while waiting, after courses, we would have had dessert, but after having waited for what felt like two hours (with very little service in between) to get a entree and then an entree sized mains, well. Also, the bruschetta was far too oily, and it was not the best olive oil, either.

Ms OE says:

We decided to try Mario at the Dining Room after driving past on several occasions and noting it’s large banner proclaiming it to be Brisbane’s best Italian restaurant. We made a booking one rainy friday evening and arrived for a 7.30pm sitting. We left feeling vaguely…disappointed. The pasta WAS excellent – by far the best we’ve had, and that alone probably warrants the Best Italian claim. The restaurant too was nicely presented – a refurbished home in Hendra, it’s stylish and charming. We also noticed the chef himself coming out to serve customers their lambshanks – a nice touch.

So it’s a shame to say that we didn’t enjoy our experience. Although the pasta was excellent our entrees of bread and bruchetta were far too oily – drenched in olive oil. The service was slow and inattentive – fine if you want to sit and chat with friends, sup wine and don’t have anything to go to afterwards, but hey, I’ve had a lot of dinners with Mr OE and since I’m tee-totalling at the moment, sitting around waiting for service/food/menus began to wear thin. The restaurant wasn’t completely full, yet the wait seemed to get longer and longer – a wait to have our orders taken, almost 8 before our entree (simple crusty bread and bruschetta) arrived, nearly 8.30 before our main course appeared on our table. After eating we waited for service – debating whether to risk another long wait by ordering dessert – and finally collared the drinks waitress who asked if we wanted a second drink – no, but the dessert menu would be appropriate. We waited, but when ten minutes had passed and we saw our waitress approach a different table with dessert menus we decided we’d been forgotten and made our way to the register to pay the bill.

Which would all have been forgivable given the delicious pasta had the restaurant not boasted on its marque, its website and in the various framed reviews gracing its walls – not to mention it’s business card and flyers – to be The Best Italian restaurant in Brisbane. Sadly we beg to differ. The best pasta maybe, but we’ve had better service and, as a result, a more pleasant experience at Campo Dei Fiori, another local Italian restaurant with quite acceptable food. The setting, the prices and the website at Mario at the Dining Room all implied fine dining but the service and our entree didn’t match the promise. We tried to think of a situation where we would be likely to go back but unfortunately our desire for excellent pasta isn’t enough to tempt.

Bamboo @ Santai Resort, Casuarina Beach, NSW.

Name: Bamboo

Location:Santai Resort, Casuarina Beach near Kingscliff, NSW

Website: http://www.domainresorts.com/catering_events/bamboo_restaurant.php 

Date visited: Jan 08

Cost: Two weeks of groceries

Our Rating: 5 cracked peppers

Ms OE says:

Some people say save the best til last but we’re going to review the best first. Bamboo restaurant at the Santai Resort is without a doubt the best restaurant I have ever had the privilege of dining in. We holidayed at Kingscliff over New Years 08 – admittedly unfortunate timing given the several metres of rain dumped on that part of the world in those five days. While we were driving around the new housing developments on the beach front, trying to keep our dampened spirits up, we noticed the Santai resort and restaurant. Having exhausted the considerable options of the Salt Village we perused the menu and decided to try Bamboo for something different.

Bamboo offer an Australian/Asian fusion degustation menu but we decided not to go the whole hog and instead selected three sample size meals each. The meals were delicious – small servings befitting a five star menu – but very filling and beautifully presented. Between courses we were offered small sample tastes. If we were rating this restaurant on food alone it would have received a ‘must go back’ however the service was also superb – staff were attentive and the service polished. The ambiance was also extremely pleasant. The restaurant overlooks the resort pool – Balinese in style and with the rain and candlelight it made a cosy yet stylish setting. To top it off, Bamboo serve Dom Perignon by the glass! Deciding that we would never purchase a $400 bottle of plonk I took the opportunity to try it out – very noice I must say and definitely a cut above your $28 bottle of bubbly.

Mr OE says:

One has certain expectations with a restaurant associated with a good resort – that the food and service will be also be good, (but pricey) but not, perhaps, great. After all, there is always a degree of mass production, or buffet style necessity, that seems to creep in. However, Bamboo is perhaps the exception, and long may it be so. Looking unashamedly to the best of Sydney fine dining for its inspiration (yet with Tweed Coast prices),  it is a true ’experience’, food, drink (hot buttered rum!) ambiance, service. Recommended.