I was driving to my best friends house one night, and
stopped in to buy a bottle of red to have with dinner, just off Rode Rd at the border of Chermside and Stafford. As I
left the carpark of the BWS I noticed 2 of those big flame heaters out the
front of a restaurant. On this chilly winter’s ever, I thought it looked
absolutely charming, if not a little out of place in the Northern ‘burbs.
Once I had gotten to my destination, ate dinner and had some
wine, I thought I’d look up this charming mystery restaurant I had seen on my
journey. I was Grilling Art, and had very good internet
reviews/ratings..
Now before I go on, I would like to state, I think the Brisbane burger market is incredibly flooded at the moment, it seems you can’t go more
than 2 blocks without passing a trendy burger joint announcing itself as
gourmet or otherwise.
For me, a great burger doesn’t take too much: a bun that
holds together, juicy, well seasoned meat, a good sauciness ratio, texture
differentiation and a great side (chips, onion rings et al.) (See GBK Liverpool post / Paris airport post). Truffled fries, wagyu pattie, lettuce imported
from Iceland… none of this is important if those other things are spot on.
So in this Great Burger Flood of 2011 onwards, it would
seem, some burger joints are destined to drown.
It was actually the night of my birthday that an imprompu
catch up with my brother had lead us to to visit Grilling Art.
For a bitterly cold Wednesday night, it was a pleasant
surprise to see a two thirds full restaurant in
the 'burbs, we were shown to an indoor booth and given menus. Grilling Art offers beer, wines, spirits and mocktails
or BYO.
The menu is expansive, with breakfast lunch and dinner
offering, burgers and other mains. We decide to go all-out. My brother is very
health conscious, so I always feel blessed when he opts to have a ‘cheat day’
with me.
Bro orders a meal deal that comes with a drink and fries,
and chooses the Tokyo Art Burger (meal $15.40), I go for the Art Works Burger by itself ($11.90) and
between us we order the half serve of beef ribs ($22.95) which also comes with fries and a serve of the chicken nibbles ($7.50). To drink I grab a glass of Giesen Sav Blanc ($8.90).
We request everything come out at the same time, and it does.
The burgers are presented beautifully, with their 'hat's a little off to the side. The ribs are a huge glistening rack and the wings are a very good size indeed.
The Tokyo Art: chicken, teriyaki, caramelised onion, cos and aioli.
Bro doesn’t rate his burger as highly as I do, but I sense he is a little underwhelmed with the size. I think for the circa ten dollar mark, they are excellent value.
The Art Works, beef, salad, onion relish, egg, bacon, beetroot, cheese, aioli.
My burger is outstanding, everything I love in a burger. Great amount of sauce (channeling Manu)
Perfect burger ratio.
Chicken nibbles
The ribs are absolutely sumptuous, so much juicy, slow
cooked meat, no taste of fattiness and the marinade is good enough to drink.
Even the fries get a sold 4/5. (Although, like the Great
TFP, I also believe meat should not be served on top of fries as it has a
steaming effect and makes the fries prematurely sioggy.)
As we eat our meals, the restaurant fills with diners, all
seem very happy with their meals.
The staff is chatty and courteous and the décor is warm and
inviting, (and not a plastic crate seat or jam jar glass to be seen *bonus 5
points).
I really enjoyed my visit to the Art of Grilled and look
forward to my next visit.
Oh and yes, we ate everything we ordered.
