Duck Degustation at Isis Brasserie

Isis Brasserie is one of the places in town that I would recommend anyone to go to for some seriously good food. Chef Jason Peppler and his team have, in the past, provided Bev and I with some of our top dining experiences here in Brisbane. For all you food lovers out there, you might like to know that they're running a special degustation menu exclusively for the months of May and June. I have attached the degustation menu here. The menu costs $95 for 9 courses of food, and $155 for food and matching wines.

The feature of this degustation is duck. And my oh my, these people really know how to turn the feature ingredient inside out, manipulating the humble canard into shapes and forms that go beyond our immediate expectations. Lo and behold, duck neck skins, duck eggs, duck livers, duck wings, duck blood, and the entire duck works found their way onto our plates in the most refined and elegant manner.

There was an article in The Age about the dawn of the degustation menu age, and how these dining styles ought to be tools for chefs to showcase their talents and the quality of their ingredients. I completely agree that the chefs at Isis have done precisely that. Even my dining companions agree that they could, I quote: "taste the skill that went into the food".

I apologise for the shoddy photos. I normally have trouble taking photographs at Isis because of the combination of the following 3 factors: 1) I'm still an amateur photographer, 2) their lovely mood lighting makes for a photographer's nightmare, and 3) I just want to dig in as soon as possible, the aroma of duck is way too irresistable to hold off for too long.


Canape: Duck and pork rillettes, sour dough crostini and cornichon


Cappuccino of duck with porcini mushroom powder- my favourite course of the night


Duck neck sausage (in the style of a galantine), with a salad of quince, apple and pistachio


Duck egg pasta, seared Queensland scallop and sauce albuferra- I lapped up every last drop of the gorgeous sauce


Duck liver on brioche, crisp proscuitto and sauce soubise


Civet of duck wing, home-made duck black pudding, peas and smooth potato puree


Sorbet: Lemon and star anise- I personally loved this combination of flavours


Seared duck breast, sweet potato fondant and Amarena cherries


Lemon scented souffle (probably made with duck eggs), white chocolate sorbet

We were highly impressed with most of the dishes on the menu. In our opinion, there were 2 dishes that fell a little under the mark though. We all agreed that the duck liver was slightly overcooked, and the dessert way too sweet. But yet again, in their defence, these are all mistakes to do with the food preparation on the day itself, rather than with the core concept of the dishes. Hopefully, these glitches won't occur when its your turn to dine there!

You need to book the duck degustation menu in advance should you wish to treat yourself to this all out duckfest. I suggest you buzz them real quick as this menu only lasts for a few more weeks!

Isis Brasserie
446 Brunswick Street
Fortitude Valley
Tel: (07) 3852 1155

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Lure Seafood Restaurant @ The Coro Hotel

Eating out:

We had heard and read much about Lure at the Coro Hotel. It was supposedly one of the best and most raved about seafood restaurants here in Brisbane. It even took out the awards for Restaurant and Catering Australia's (RCA) Best Seafood Restaurant in 2005, and Best New Restaurant in that same year, a testament to their committment to serving Brisbanians spectacular food. Sadly for us, when we went to Lure two weeks ago, the food was far short of anything spectacular. In fact, it was our least favourite dining experience in a while.

It was a close friend's birthday, and we were throwing her a surprise party. Her partner had decided on the venue, and Bev and I were one of the ten that would be in attendance. With much anticipation, we arrived at the restaurant before our 7pm reservation. Greeted by Nick, our friendly waiter, we were ushered to a long table which was specially laid for ten.



When all had arrived, and hugs and kisses had been exchanged, we decided on what to order. One of the highlights for the month of March was the Taste of Queensland degustation menu ($85), a special 7 course meal which aimed to showcase the best of Queensland produce. We confidently decided on that, then sat back and waited patiently for the food to arrive.


Watermark Soft Shell Crab, Caramelised Pork Hock, Asian Salad, Green Paw Paw, Nahm Jim Dressing

This was the first course: our first taste of what this coveted restaurant had to offer. And what a let down it was. The first thing that struck Bev and I was "SALT!". The fried piece of soft shell crab was so salty that we actually got salt burns on our tongues- not a good sign. And then the pork: it was very dry and fibrous, and was no where near what they claim to be 'caramelised'. In fact whole dish was very dry, and cried out for more dressing. Oh, and I do hate it when chefs put unrelated pieces of cherry tomatoes on a plate just to 'add' to the dish. Frankly, these break the coherence of the dish, and the act itself sends a signal of laziness- "Hmm... let's just chuck in a cherry tomato half while we're at it, it looks good anyway..."


Vanella Buffalo Mozzarella with Puy Lentils and Spicy Eggplant


This dish was much better than the first, thankfully. The eggplant was nicely grilled and topped off with a slice of mozzarella, then baked. It was accompanied with a pleasant mound of lentils below. Friends of ours who didn't normally fancy eggplant enjoyed this dish. However, like the previous course, it was begging for a sauce or vinaigrette or at least something wet on the plate. Without this liquid, the dish leaned a little towards the greasy side.


Hand Picked Mudcrab Angel Hair Pasta, Chilli, Shallots, Gremolata


This pasta course was very forgettable. What was supposed to be gremolata was missing from the dish. Gremolata is most often a finely chopped mixture of lemon zest, garlic and parsley. Here, it was not to be found. I suppose the chefs simply sprinkled chopped chives on the plate and then decided to call it 'gremolata' because "Hey, I don't think anyone really knows what's gremolata anyway.. so lets just call it that". Aside from that, this was the third dish in a row that lacked any form of moisture. There was much olive oil in the pasta, but not enough water in between to make the noodles 'slippery' as they should be; they were just dry and clumped together, sitting in a pool of oil. Technically speaking, this pasta dish was very badly cooked.


Coral Trout Fillet w Braised Fennel, Grilled Ocean King Prawns,Blood Orange Butter Sauce


Finally, a dish with a sauce! A feeling of relief swept over us as we relished the fact that after a long series of dry dishes, here was one that had some element of liquid in it. But the feeling was short lived. The fish and prawn were overcooked, and the fish felt almost as tough as tuna chunks out of a can. This is perhaps THE ultimate sin for such a self-proclaimed seafood restaurant. Dinner had hit the pits by this point. The hope and anticipation for that shining dish to save the rest of the night was fast diminishing.


Wagyu Sirloin (Darling Downs) (Marble Score 7)
with Red Braised Vegetables, Roasted Kipfler Potatoes


The menu read 'Marbling Score 7', but when our waiter introduced the dish, he said "8". Now I don't know who's lying, but at that point, I just couldn't bother anymore. The beef was cooked medium well. It tasted uniquely buttery, like Wagyu beef should, but was cooked too tough for my liking. The potatoes were really good, I must say. Fancy that- the potatoes outshining the Wagyu beef.

Anyway, let's not even carry on to talk about dessert and cheese. They, like the courses before, were nothing worth singing about. Lure's certainly not a restaurant that you'd find us returning to anytime soon. Normally, degustations are a vehicle for a restaurant to showcase the best of the chefs' abilities and the quality of the produce. In this case, Lure just messed up a really good opportunity.

We welcome any differing opinions, so please leave a comment, we'd really like to hear about your experience.

Lure Seafood Restaurant
28 McDougall Street
Milton, Brisbane
Tel: (07) 3369 9955


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Restaurant Two

Eating out:
Bev and I had gone on a quest to dine at every one of Brisbane's 3-star restaurants, as rated by the 2005 & 2006 Courier Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guides. Restaurant Two was one that we had yet to dine in.

We walked through the doors with high expectations; this was driven by the fact that out of the numerous restaurants in Brisbane, only 5 are awarded 3-stars, and Restaurant Two is one of these elite 5.

Upon ordering the degustation menu ($110pp), we sat back and let the night unfold:


Feuillitine of Queensland Asparagus and Leeks, smoked garlic and thyme butter-.
A rectangle baked puff pastry, split open and filled with leeks, green and white asparagus. The vegetables were perfectly cooked. The garlic and thyme butter sauce was the highlight of the dish, but I somehow wished I had a bit more of it on my plate to spread on my puff pastry. Nice start to the meal though. Expectations at this point, I must say, were still relatively high.


Seared Hervey Bay scallops and Mooloolaba tuna, green paw paw and Thai spiced dressing.
I personally felt that this dish was a complete waste of time. Unfortunately, the tuna was overcooked for my liking, the scallops undersalted (or not even salted at all), and the salad uninspiring. To make things worse, the "Thai spiced dressing" was diluted and weak, and flowed on the plate like water. As I sat there, I suddenly began to have doubts about what was to come.


Sauteed organic potato gnocchi, confit of Tetsuya's ocean trout, goats cheese, trout roe, preserved lemon butter.
Now, this dish was good, despite a few ups and downs. The gnocchi was a little on the firm side, but the tasty caramelisation on the surface made up for that. The confit was, in my opinion, done very brashly. I have been to Tetsuya's and eaten the 'original' version, and this was no where close to it. The intention behind the trout confit is that it barely cooks, changing the texture a little, but not the colour whatsoever. As you can see from the photo, due to overcooking, the proteins had actually been allowed to coagulate, changing the colour of the raw trout to an opaque pink. However, based on taste alone, this dish was fantastic; the goat cheese and ikura, a perfect compliment to the fish. Had it not come with the labels 'Tetsuya's' and 'confit', I would have given it a 9/10 instead of an 8.


Roast breast and confit of Rannoch Farm quail with celeriac remoulade and Madeira jus.
Nothing much to complain about this dish. I thought the quail was cooked perfectly, with a little spot of pink on the inside. It was juicy, savoury, and went really well with the remoulade.


Peking duck consomme, duck, pork and prawn tortellini.
This dish was not on the degustation menu. Because Bev was so keen to try it when she overheard it being recommended to the next table, we asked our friendly wait staff if he could somehow slip in an order of that duck consomme between our remaining courses. Ten minutes later, two degustation sized bowls of consomme arrived at our table! The consomme was served with small bits of duck meat and prawns, and a petite duck and prawn dumpling. It was a fairly refined dish; but is it just me, or have all the consommes I've had in the last 6 months been way too salty?


Crab risotto with lobster oil.
We have a winner! I adored this dish from the first bite till the last grain. The risotto was chock-full of crab meat; and from the taste alone, it was obvious that the crab meat was freshly picked, rather than out of a can (some restaurants are actually guilty of that). The rice grains were cooked spot on, the lobster oil intensely fragrant and the baby arugula fresh and crisp. I would come back to Restaurant Two again just for this dish.


Asian barbequed duck, steamed greens, fig and chilli jam, spicy cumquat sauce.
I've always been a bit skeptical about dishes that sound like that. The problem is: I'm particularly familiar with authentic Asian food, and have actually become quite a purist in that area. Thus, I'm not too enthusiastic on such dishes that attempt to 'modernise' Asian food. But being the open-minded individual that I would like to think I am, I eagerly shoved aside these reservations and dug in. The sauce was lovely, the fig and chilli jam even better, but as good as the duck was, I'd much rather be caught burrowing my face into Golden BBQ's (Fortitude Valley) authentic barbequed duck on any given day.



Rare seared 'Cervena' venison, parsnip, leek, white bean and foie gras crumble, buttered spinach, morels and bitter chocolate sauce.
The idea was there, but unfortunately, something got lost in translation. As you can see, the venison was nowhere near 'rare seared'. The crumble did not taste of foie gras at all, and it was a little too dry on the inside.


Assiette of miniature desserts.
We waited 35 minutes for this. It eventually came on a huge platter, with a selection of 5 baked goodies and at least 5 flavours of sorbet and ice cream. There was a Belgian waffle, a creme brulee, a chocolate pudding, a cheese cake with fresh coconut, a lemon tart and a fruit salad. Although I especially loved the fig sorbet, Bev and I agreed that everything else was rather ordinary.

What can I say. Dinner at Restaurant Two didn't knock my socks off as much as I would have liked it to. Did I set my expectations too high? Even if I did, I had every right to, given their reputation and 3-star rating. The whole meal was a rollercoaster of hits and misses. I would graciously suggest that Restaurant Two focuses a little more on the finer details of their food in the future; and for their sake, I sincerely hope that my ordinary dinner experience was just a one-off, rare occurance.


Restaurant Two
2 Edward Street
Brisbane
Tel: (07) 3210 0600


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