Table for One #001
Lavender foam matcha, the chicken sandwich of my dreams and a pickled ginger highball.
Welcome to the first ever segment of Table for One, a Brisbane-exclusive series of weekly food reviews. Here, we will review food and drink venues from French bistros and Japanese cafes to hot pot trains and curry houses so you can better discover Brisbane via your plate. We hope you’re hungry!
Hullo Brisbane reviews are not sponsored or endorsed and are paid indepedently.
Nos Bakehouse
Bread is one of life’s greatest joys. It is the perfect vessel for most food (but especially very ripe tomatoes and flaky salt, chicken salad and taramasalata) and even better toasted, dipped in egg and baked as pudding or torn up for stuffing. At Nos Bakehouse, owner Susan Koh has mastered the shokupan – Japanese milk bread. It is fluffy, subtly sweet and the base of 90% of the menu (which if you’re asking me, is an infallible hospitality concept: make one thing exceptionally and you will have the world!).
I visited this week to try her new menu items. Since opening, she’s focused on a big range of sandos (bulgogi beef, prawn, tamago, tofu, the list goes on) but now, there are more Asian fusion breakfast dishes like Singaporean kaya toast (a must if you’ve never had kaya, a pandan coconut spread), Korean-inspired shakshuka and an English breakfast with Japanese embellishments of tornado egg omelette and sesame-dressed salad. There are curries and pasta for the lunchtime crowd and as usual, a vast number of sweet treats – the matcha purin, bruleed yuzu cheesecake and ube basque cheesecake are my personal picks.
Not to drag Brisbane but many venues jump on the matcha train without doing enough research on how it’s made, how it’s served and the type of matcha to buy in (not culinary grade, for the love of all things good). Nos does matcha justice in many ways but the lavender foam matcha – a floral, earthy, spring-has-sprung addition to an already excellent beverage is a must.
109 Annerley Rd, Dutton Park
Good Things Grocer
What do Brisbane sandwich shops and Timothee Chalamet have in common? They’re everywhere all the time but always passable and rarely foul. From four cheese toasties and croque monsieurs to wagyu sandos and prawn clubs, there is little ground that needs covering. Somehow, I was still surprised (and impressed) when I came across the sandwich offering at Good Things Grocer.
The universe threw me a bone when it opened Good Things 5 minutes away from where I live. I relish any excuse to visit but usually, it’s for a pantry restock of the boutique, upmarket variety – extra-virgin olive oil, anchovies, French potato chips. They also have an exceptional selection of fruit and veg, fresh cheese and meat. The sandwiches are made fresh every day and they always score high on my sandwich criteria:
interesting but not too crazy like venison with candied walnuts and blueberry jam
perfect filling to bread ratio (let’s say for the sake of the exercise, 2.5:1)
flavourful bread that’s soft-ish, a little chewy and won’t cut the roof of my mouth
and most importantly, seasoned well.
On this particular day, the chicken with pesto, rocket, grilled capsicum, pickled onion, cheddar, parmesan and aioli and the ham, provolone, seeded mustard and pickles (with a grating of parmesan on the toasted side of the bread!) were exceptionally fresh and well-balanced. A perfect lunch moment with their fresh OJ and a slice of pecan pie after.
304 Toohey Rd, Tarragindi
Kiku
Three months ago, Anzu Tanaka and Yuma Iwami turned their popular market stall into a permanent izakaya spot in East Brisbane. The space is relatively small and minimalist, with a wabi sabi dusty navy backdrop. Kiku’s menu has a bit of everything, from a daily sashimi selection and nigiri to rice bowls and salads. Their yakitori offering is small and on the safe side, with staples like momo (thigh), tsukune (meatballs), tori kawa (skin) and teba (wings).
If you live under a rock, yakitori – “yaki”, meaning to grill and “tori” meaning bird – is the opposite of typical Australian barbecuing. It’s the Japanese practice of carefully butchering, skewering and coal-grilling all parts of the chicken from the skin to the heart and gizzards. It’s a far more intricate process that takes years of training to get right, which could be why they are hard to come by.
The chicken skin, wings and wagyu skewers are finished with a tare sauce (typically made with soy, sake or mirin and sugar) that is sweet and umami. When I visited, the chicken skin was lacking crisp and the wagyu was quite chewy – and both skewers’ smoky charcoal flavour was overpowered by the tare.
There was an unusual wait time between interactions despite there only being four or five tables in the venue. I appreciated the food being served by the chefs and their thoughtful descriptions of the dishes, especially the daily sashimi plate – it’s always nice to know what fish you’re about to eat.
For drinks, they have a few Japanese beers and a generous highball menu typical of izakayas. The gari sour – a pickled ginger, vodka and sparkling water number was light, slightly sweet and pairs perfectly with anything on the menu.
892 Stanley St E, East Brisbane