1 Degree - lots of cocktails

1 Degree

I went to this bar last Friday night for a friend's birthday drinks. We'd looked up the cocktail list on the website and decided it was the place to go. The complete list of cocktails is much much longer than on the website. I had trouble narrowing it down and decided to try a lychee and ginger based one. It was okay, not nearly as good as the raspberry-based ones that other people had.

Next time I go back, I think I'm having a raspberry-based one, then maybe a chocolate one. And then a mojito.

Sizzling Mongolian BBQ House, Taringa

The fun of this place is experimenting with the different ingredients and sauces until you create a masterpiece of your own. This usually takes me two or three goes, by which times I'm full, can't fit anymore in, and then I usually forget what my great invention was by the next time I go.

The process is that you grab a bowl (sometimes lining up is the first step, usually it's not that busy on a week night), pick which meat you want (or combine them all, mystery meat!), and then pile your bowl high with vegies, and then add the sauces. A sign above the sauces advises one of each, and I would share my special concoccion, except I've forgotten it already.

You then hand the bowl over to one of the guys standing at what looks like a giant stove hotplate, and they cook it up for you, returning your steaming hot food with a flourish that's part twist of the arm and part threatening to drop all your food on the floor.

Return to table, eat, and then start over, trying to get the perfect balance.

It costs about $18 on a weekdays, $23 on weekends where there's a random buffet included.

Located at 144 Indooroopilly Road, Taringa, Brisbane.

Chip machine, Nathan Campus

All hail the good use of new technology. While walking through Griffith Uni's Nathan Campus recently I noticed a vending machine with an image of enticing looking hot chips on the front.

"Hot chips in 90 seconds! $4!" the writing on the machine told us. There was no word on the gravy component though, although on closer inspection I did notice another slot labelled sauce.

I'm not sure how it works though (although a quick google would probably clear that mystery up). Does it contain a deep fryer? Does it microwave the chips? Is it an alien technology I am not yet aware of?

Gross misuse of technology? Contributor to the obesity epidemic? Wonderous new invention that deserves an "Australian of the Year" nomination, even if the likely inventor isn't Australian? Sadly I couldn't find out that day because there was also an out of stock notice flashing on its screen.

The mystery will have to remain.

Toscani's

I really should stop going to Toscani's places because they always manage to do something to piss me off. The one at Southbank is a repeat offender, usually losing an order, bringing out the wrong order, bringing out the right order but twice, taking an order and then telling us half an hour later that actually they don't serve that item anymore but leaving it on the bill anyway, and once making me nearly late for a John Mayer concert (I could probably forgive all else except for the John Mayer part).

We went to the one at Carindale recently for breakfast, and it wasn't too bad, except that something which was advertised as having spinach leaves came out with lettuce instead. And not even fancy lettuce.

Not knowing the difference between spinach and lettuce = fail.

Ioesco - new Italian restaurant at Sanctuary Cove

There is a new restaurant in Sanctuary Cove to rival Marinara, my favourite restaurant of all time. The new restaurant on the block is called Ioesco.

According to that link, prices are around $40-$55, which from memory seems a bit high.

It is definitely a lot trendier than Marinara. Marinara is the home of red checkered table clothes, vines growing on the walls, someone singing while playing guitar, and the most awesome garlic pizza bread ever.

Ioesco has floor to ceiling windows, a trendy look, a list of tempting specials and a olive oil and sea salt bread.

The pizza choices aren't as wide as Marinara's, but there's some more interesting choices like lamb shanks, more range of gnocchi, and some old favourites like chicken parmagiana, and spaghetti carbonara (the traditional kind with cream optional).

Even the fussy eaters in my family attempted to eat their own weight in pasta. Actually I'm not sure that I've ever seen my little sister eat so much at the one time. I had risotto, but I want to go back to try the gnocchi.

The big question: is it better than Marinara? I'm not sure. I think I need to go back and eat at both a few more times. Lasagne from Marinara, yum!

A review of Amy's lunch

One of the girls at work had chips and gravy for lunch today (her theory - she was eating a healthy dinner, so needed to balance out her diet with some gravy).

I took the opportunity to borrow her lunch for a few minutes to do a quick review on the presentation of the foodcourt cavery chips and gravy (this was from the carvery in Post Office Square in Brisbane city).

As you can see in the photo, it came in a cupboard cup inside a paper bag. The gravy had gotten on the bag, which in my opinion is a minus (soggy bag and waste of gravy).



Here's another view with the bag pulled down - here we can see gravy spilled down the side of the cup, and dry chips down the bottom. Definitely a sub-standard serving of chips and gravy.

When at uni we could add the gravy ourselves and would end up with a pool of it at the bottom of the cup. Sure the chips down the bottom would be mush by the time we finished, but we'd never run of gravy. And that's the important thing.

Thank you to Amy for letting me take photos of her lunch and not giving me too many weird looks over it.

RIP The Vic

It has deeply crushed the Chips and Gravy team to hear Brisbane's Victory Hotel was engulfed in flames in the early hours of Sunday morning.

To most, the charm of The Vic was the humble bogan-ness of the establishment smack bang in the middle of the Brisbane CBD.

Many bowls of chips and gravy were consumed there, along with many, many pots of XXXX bitter.

The Chips and Gravy team invites you to post your most beloved memories of the iconic Brisbane night spot.

In honour of The Vic, some badly done haikus by Lis.

Victory Hotel
You burned down Saturday night
Farewell sticky bars

Drunk, cold, smoky haze
White plastic tables and chairs
Farewell beer garden

Okay, that's all I've got. Add some comments with your own memories of The Vic (haiku form optional).