Sono Portside

A very thoughtful gift from my best friend of a gift card for Christmas and the fact that Papa is a retired explorer now about to head off on another mission felt like a great reason for us to indulge in a delicious lunch at the beautiful Sono Restaurant at Portside Hamilton.

Sono took out the award for Best Japanese Restaurant in Australia in last years' Restaurant and Catering Awards. Having eaten there before, I knew it was well deserved.

photo courtesy of The Weekend Edition

My father visited Japan not long ago and the cuisine was one of the highlights for him. Me, I just love pretty much anything Japanese and am a fiend for good quality sashimi.

It's a scorching hot day in Brisbane, and we start with a refreshing beer. I order a Nigata Sparkling Mango Beer ($14), and papa, a Suntori Premium ($12).

The Mango beer reminds me of the fruity undertones present in many German Kristals, lots more "beery" than a Matso's and quite creamy.

Having already assessed the menu situation I pipe up immediately to suggest a Large Sashimi Platter might be in order ($55). Dad makes his choice of  Gyu Tataki (Seared Wagyu) ($18) and Scallops with Miso Mayonnaise ($23) we choose to round the meal out with Potato Salad Japanese Style ($14).

The service is impeccable here, the wait staff so pleasant , efficient and smiley.

First to come out was the Wagyu. It was delicately seared, still showing the gorgeous marbling that Wagyu is known for. I haven't raved about Wagyu in the past when I've had it as a steak, but I think that's because to truly appreciate it, it needs to be served just like this.

Accompaniments of garlic, ginger and chili all fresh and minced, finly cliced spring onion and soy to dunk. By adding combinations of each made for such a wonderful mouthful. A touch of lemon pushed it up a further gear.

Next out was the delicious potato salad and green salad.
As German's we know potato salad, and this one was deleicious...mashed, seasoned perfectly... would have as a meal on its' own.

 The large sashimi platter is stunning. Absolutely beautiful presentation and fresh, fresh fish, including but not limited to: salmon, salmon belly, tuna, kingfish, snapper and trevella.
The salmon belly was perfect, as was the regular salmon and tuna, but when fish is this fresh, you just tastes beautiful.

Our scallops with miso mayonnaise came out just after our sashimi, and the scallops were lovely, but it was the totally drinkable sauce that made this dish, we ended up saucing up everything and asking for a spoon so we could savour every last drop.

We enjoyed every bite and every moment of this lunch. It would be very easy to go overboard and order a million meals off the menu, but it would certainly rack up on the bill quickly.

I can't wait for my next visit though.

Cutty Sark Teneriffe

Six months B and I have been seeing each other and we decided to celebrate this with a lovely dinner.

photo courtesy of dimmi.com.au

In case you weren't aware, I love boats and I love water. Everything nautical really. I can't remember how I stumbled on reviews for Cutty Sark restaurant, but they were sterling. So with the name of a ship, river views, and excellent reviews, we made a booking for Friday night.

We arrive just as the sun is setting and are shown to the best table: in the corner of the restaurant facing the river. The sliding door are open and the wafting breezes are divine on the balmy Brisbane evening. Fairy lights drape from the ceiling and it has a lovely casual but tasteful ambience.

The menu is a Spanish inspired modern Australian affair and offers almost too many excellent options

We peruse the menu while sipping on one of the best red sangias I've ever tried and take in the view.

Cutty Sark offers a 'chefs selection' as well as full a la carte, the chefs selection offers a starter, entree, main and dessert for $79 and seems like great value, however on this particular night did not offer a couple of the things we were really wanting to try.

I order the Crispy Pork Belly ($17) to start, B orders the Croquettes ($12).

My last post I wrote about my love affair with pork belly, and quite often when you love something as much as I love pork belly, expectations can be set too high, which leads to disappointment. Fortunately, Cutty Sark absolutely smashed it out of the park. This was one of the best pork bellies I had ever tried. Perfectly cooked, perfect crackling, perfect accompaniments of pickled cabbage and celeriac puree, I was so impressed, I posted pictures all over social media and have told just about every person who will listen.

B's croquettes were also really really lovely. Texturally they were perfect, so light and fluffy inside and crisp and golden on the outside with such incredible depth of flavour. The pimenton aioli is also really fantastic.

For mains I was tossing up between the market fish, which was Barramundi that night or the eye fillet. I opted for the Barra as it is one of my favourites. B orders the Ricotta and Spinach Gnudi.

My Barramundi comes to the table with cauliflower puree, grilled asparagus, spinach, and citrus vierge. I have found with fish dishes, fish is either incredible or fine. There was nothing wrong with this main, it was fine, it just didn't blow me away. The fish was cooked really nicely with crispy skin and veggies were wonderful. Maybe I was just too blown away with my starter.

B's gnudi, which is like a gnocci/dumpling hybrid, arrives with forest mushroom, blistered tomato, steamed greens, truffled cream, and THIS was a great dish, everything that was served added a really desirable element to the dish and it was lovely to try different things together.

With our mains we order a side of patatas bravas which are served with tomato salsa, pepper dressing and the beautiful pimenton aioli again. These were so addictive. B and I say we'd both me happy with a table or these, croquettes and pork bellies!

I had to steal this pic from Cutty Sark's website as I didn't get a snap, and they deserve to be seen by all!

I think apart from how perfectly cooked and crispy the potatoes are, the tomato cubes really bring an amazing fresh dimension to this dish, the aioli is also just stunning with a smoky, savoury, garlicky loveliness.

Throughout the evening the hostess and waitress are really lovely and easy to get along with, attentive but never in-our-faces.

We had decided earlier in the evening that we'd like dessert, hoping we'd have room, and fortunately, we did.

I have the Kaffir Lime Pannacotta with pineapple salsa, ginger crisp and coconut ice cream, B goes for the Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie which comes with vanilla ice cream, rhubarb and mixed berries, and chocolate sauce. The desserts were outstanding, up there with the incredible starters. My pannacotta is light, refreshing and a beautiful creamy consistency and nice lime tang. The coconut ice cream is divine and everything on the plate worked perfectly.

B's brownies were rich and delicious, his ice cream also was really really good.

I really really enjoyed this restaurant. The food was fine dining in an unpretentious but beautiful setting. Lovely staff and beautiful menu and outlook. Really cannot recommend enough and I look forward to returning.

Cutty Sark Riverside Bar and Restaurant is located at Goldsborough Place on Vernon Terrace. We are 200m away from the Teneriffe City Cat terminal and Route 60 City Glider bus stop.

39 Vernon Terrace, Teneriffe, QLD 4005.

Tel: (07) 3257 2266

email: hello@cuttysark.com.au