NED'S Cafe Review

On Sunday I was a very bad girl.. I didn't do an ounce of studying and went to the Gold Coast with T, Y and Cocoa instead! It was sort of T's belated birthday present to Cocoa since we didn't do anything special for her and she's been acting bored and moping around the house a bit (maybe because she just turned 4!!). We really didn't feel like having fish and chips at the coast again as we usually do because that's one of the only places we can take Cocoa for lunch, so I remembered that the Brisbane News had a little write up on a little place called Ned's Cafe in Yeronga and suggested it to T. I bulldozed into the pile of old Brisbane News's that we had lying on the floor and lo and behold, actually FOUND the write up and proceeded to read it out to T. It was a fairly glowing review with no negatives whatsoever although they did give it an average rating of 7.5 so I called up to make a booking for a table outside so we could have Cocoa there with us.

To my delight, I discovere that they had milkshakes so I ordered a chocolate one of course, while T got a mocha and Y got herself a skinny latte as she always does. The chocolate milkshake was quite good, although still not up to par with the one ones at Pearl Cafe. I didn't bother asking T and Y what they thought of their beverages, sorry!

All of us ordered from the breakfast menu even though the lunch menu did sound quite enticing. T got NED'S famous gourmet eggs with bacon, onion, garlic, parmesan, spinach, mushroom & tomato tossed through creamy scrambled eggs served with toast ($16.50) with a side of hash browns and sausages ($2.50 each), Y got the Potato leek and parsley rosti with smokey bacon, parmesan rocket served with tomato creme fraiche ($16.50) while I got the Eggs Benedict with salmon ($16.50).

NED'S famous gourmet eggs looked haphazardly thrown together, the toast looked a little burnt and unsightly and as T said, "I don't know what's so famous about these eggs". He thought the whole dish was a bit bland and wasn't a fan of the sausage. Y liked her rosti but commented that it was a little on the dry side whereas T deemed it tastier than his own meal. I enjoyed my Eggs Benedict - the sauce and the spinach were good but the toast could've been better and one of the yolks in my poached eggs was cooked through.

I had gone inside to have a look at the deserts offered in their display cabinet and made my choice pretty quickly! I had to have the Chocolate Velvet Tart ($5.50) after my mains and it was the main reason why I didn't have the buttermilk pancakes for breakfast ;) The tart was indeed velvety and rich and although I thought it was a little too "dark" for my liking, once you mix it with the cream that it's served with, it was beautiful - worth every penny!

The waitstaff were generally pleasant although we did get the sense that again, the place was understaffed and there was an undercurrent of tension and flurry. When we were done with our meals, a waitress even came out with the exact dishes that we had ordered and consumed and when we shook our heads in bewilderment, ran off back  inside, no doubt to an irate chef that had to prepare 3 meals twice for nothing.

Overall, a nice place for a quick bite and we appreciated that we could have Cocoa with us while we ate. They might want to get a manager in so that everything runs smoothly (there was also an issue with booking the table and with a muffin that Y got to take away but I won't get into that).

Rating: 6/10

NED'S Cafe
Shop 3.4, The Village
Cnr Fairfield Road and Kadumba Street
Yeronga

Phone: 07 3848 4406
Website: http://www.neds.com.au/

Sardine Tin Review

After an extremely satisfying day of shopping in the city with T on our ACTUAL 5th anniversary day, we were pretty hungry and decided to have an extremely early dinner... at 5pm :) So after tossing around a few ideas for dinner, we decided to try Sardine Tin in Southbank for the first time. The place is TINY with about 6 tables that seat about 4 people on average and a small bar area which could probably seat another 6-8 people. Some people may find the height of the tables and chairs a little uncomfortable but it adds to the quaintness of the whole place.

Both the menu and the wine list were very small and there was a specials board with about 4 items on it. Sardine Tin is mainly a tapas restaurant with the menu designed to share so as you can guess, we ordered a heap of stuff!! Prices range from about $8 to $15, with the Steak Sandwich and the Ploughman's Lunch being the biggest on the menu. We started with the Pickled Anchovies and Chorizo & Potatos. The anchovies were understandably sour and would probably be better with some bread and the chorizo was tasty with crunchy fried potatoes.

From the specials board we ordered 3 out of the 4 items. The Falafel with eggplant caviar was a little too "green" for me and after having one, didn't venture to have another one. The Tempura Sardines with sweet potato & tartare was unique and resembled a modern day fish and chips (the sweet potatoes were served in tiny deep fried strips)! Lastly, the Pork Belly with apple and leek was a great dish with the flavours all complementing each other perfectly and the pork belly skin crisp to perfection. Needless to say, T ordered another serve of the Tempura Sardines and the Pork Belly.

We then ordered the only two desserts on the menu - I got the Banana and Chocolate while T got the Espresso Creme Brulee. While we were waiting for our desserts to arrive, we noticed another table get oysters deliered to their table. We hailed the waiter to ask about them and it turned out that our first waitress forgot to mention that they had oysters as their specials that night too! T was abit annoyed (cos that's how he is) but I swiftly ordered 2 oysters and that pacified him somewhat. The oysters were served with a very generous dollop of orange sorbet which I thought was a little bit TOO generous and hard to get the whole thing in my mouth. The sorbet did not cut into the taste of the oyster as much as I wanted it so I guess I could've done without them after all!

Our desserts arrived and my Banana and Chocolate dessert turned out to be little cake dumplings filled with melted chocolate and banana and covered with cinnamon dust. I found the dumplings a little too doughy and would have liked more chocolate and banana in them. However, T's Espresso Creme Brulee was served in a little espresso cup and was creamy and had just the right amount of espresso flavour in it. I also ordered a hot chocolate which was absolutely decadent, one of the best I've had in a while. It was rich and chocolatey, just the way I like it! Definitely getting one of those when I go back there!

All our food came out VERY quickly, which T very much appreciated. The service was good - we had one who was always cheerful - although with 3 waiters in such a small place, I thought it would be a lot less flurried. All in all, the Sardine Tin is a great little place to grab a quick meal and coffee/hot chocolate or have a small intimate gathering with plenty of delicious tapas to share around.

Oh, and our bill came in the cutest little... you guessed it, sardine tin!! Love it :)

Rating: 7/10

Sardine Tin
Shop 3a, Arbour on Grey Street
Southbank

Phone: 07 3846 1146