Haunted houses and the coming of age

I'm a Brisbane girl born and bred. I had a few years living in the UK and have had the good fortune of travelling to many parts of the world. But there is no place like home - at least for me anyway - and Brisbane is my home.

Brisbane has grown up a lot over the last few decades and I think nothing shows this as clearly as the food and wine scene.

I'm very proud to say that my father was even part of this culinary scene back in the 80s and early 90s as the chef of one of Brisbane's very few silver service restaurants, The Clansmen.

My father's legacy to Brisbane's culinary history on a menu from The Clansmen, 1980.

I have extremely fond memories of this restaurant converted from an old Queensland house, after spending many of my weekends as a child with my brother and sister playing hide-and-seek among its haunted rooms. They weren't really haunted - well I don't think so - but courtesy of my delightfully believable older brother, and ably assisted by my incredibly vivid childhood imagination, he told me a story about a terrible crime that had been committed in the house many decades before. Brothers!

However, I still loved the place and would disappear from my mother, who would be washing and ironing all the embroidered tablecloths and napkins ready for the evening ahead, and explore the cigar bar (that would still faintly smell of the evening before's cigar toking patrons), the quaint individual rooms off the main dining area that I always imagined to be for the very rich taking clients out for special business wheelings and dealings, or for a young gentlemen taking his love out to a romantic dinner to speak sweet nothings to her followed by a proposal, all the while surrounded by the old world charm that was the Clansmen. Yes, I was a romantic as a child.

The front of an old Clansmen menu with the history of the past residents of the house.

Of course my most favourite place to explore was the huge commercial kitchen. This was an add-on to the original house and I can still close my eyes and imagine its intoxicating smell fondly. My sister and I, after having enough of our brother trying to scare us, would regularly go foraging in the kitchen for delightful leftovers before Dad would find us and shoo us out again.

Inside one of the Clansmen menus from 1980. Check out the prices.

These were the days when Brisbane was yet to know what a latte was, going out to dinner for the average 'Joe' was a treat to the local pizza restaurant, wine came in cardboard boxes, and no one had even heard of the word sushi let alone the fact that it was something you ate.

Step forward into 2012 and Brisbane's culinary scene has truly blossomed into a vibrant, confidant and fresh city with a love of fabulous food and great wine. Well at least I think so, anyway.

So it is about time that the great people of the Good Food Guide finally launched Queensland's first 2012 restaurant awards to celebrate this great, burgeoning industry in the sunshine state, thanks to Natascha Mirosch, editor of the 2012 Queensland Good Food Guide.

The Queensland Good Food Guide is offering an internet subscription
for only $4.50 for a limited time. CLICK HERE to secure your copy

I'm also very excited to announce that this is my first sponsored post (don't worry, I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon), which means that I have a deal for you. The Queensland Good Food Guide is offering my readers a 50 per cent discount to an internet subscription of the guide, which will provide you with over 570 reviews of eateries in Brisbane, and from Northern Queensland down to and including Northern New South Wales. Never will you have to ask, 'Where do you want to go for dinner?', again. All you need to do is click here and you will have access to the Queensland Good Food Guide for only $4.50 for a limited time.

I was so excited (as only I can get) when the first campaign I received to write about was to spruik Queensland's great restuarants. Growing up with a father as a chef and parents who owned their own restaurant for several years, with a young family, I am only too happy to support others that make their livelihoods in this industry.

This is a RocketFuel sponsored post

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Guest review - Public, Brisbane CBD

I'll be honest, I have no ambition to be a food critic/reviewer. Frankly, the thought of publicly critiquing a chef is not my bag. I think that even the ones that may be having a bad night probably have a thing or twenty that they could teach me about the art of cooking.

However, I did get to go to a fabulous restaurant the other day with two wonderful friends, and we decided, as it is a new restaurant in a quieter end of Brisbane city, we wanted to shout to the people of Brisbane what a dining asset we have gained. So please let me introduce you to my dear friend and wonderful writer, Karyn Brinkley, my guest reviewer. I know you will enjoy.

Intimate lunch? Go Public

by Karyn Brinkley

Let me qualify my credentials up-front: I’m no food critic, and this is my first ever restaurant review. But I do love my food, and I eat at restaurants a lot. Mostly, the experiences blur into one another. I’d recently come to the conclusion that food is food is food.

And then I lunched at Public, at 400 George Street, Brisbane.

Forgive me if I end up sounding like a paid-up member of Public’s food fan club. I promise it’s not just the wine talking – although it was excellent. The list is comprehensive, interesting and high quality, and between the three of us, we put away a bottle of Tim Adams Pinot Gris. I have no idea if that was the right wine for the dishes we chose, but it was served promptly, and perfectly chilled, and it tasted consistently fresh and fruity, so I really don’t care. I do wish I’d ventured into the cocktail menu, but that can wait for another day.

The single-sheet menu was at first a little disconcerting. How could a single sheet provide much in the way of menu variety? My goodness. Public shows you how. 

Kentucky Fried Duck from Public
(photo: SRKitchen)

We started with Kentucky Fried Duck (a small plate, $22) which arrived with a small dish of Paris mash with duck jus. Delicately crumbed and spiced, no trace of grease to test my diet conscience, and as delectable a duck drumstick as I’ve tasted. A superb start which had my two lunch companions tweeting their friends. 

Cauliflower mac and cheese from Public
(Photo: SRKitchen)

Cauliflower mac and cheese followed (a small plate, $8), and the faintest hint of curry made this a surprisingly tasty and far-from-homely starter. Despite having declared myself a curry-hater from way back, I could happily have devoured the whole pot. 

Saltbush organic lamb shoulder with mint jus
(Photo: SRKitchen)

The piece de resistance was a saltbush organic lamb shoulder with mint jus, which arrived whole, aromatic and glistening. We argued over who should carve it, then discovered carving wasn’t necessary. When foodies talk about lamb falling off the bone, they’re talking about Public’s lamb shoulder. Generously portioned and priced for two people ($65 with your choice of two vegetable accompaniments), the three of us forced ourselves to finish it because there was no way any skerrick of lamb was going back to a kitchen rubbish bin. 

Lamb easily falling of the bone at Public
(Photo: SRKitchen)

For sides, we chose crusty potatoes with salt and vinegar – heaven in a bowl – and zucchini wild white, which turned out to be an elegant salad of finely sliced zucchini with mint, nasturtium flowers and pistachios, piquantly drizzled with passionfruit juice.

We were deliciously and comprehensively satiated. But not so much that we turned away from dessert ($16): the smoothest, most decadent chocolate marquis in a bed of coconut snow and topped with lime sorbet. Exquisite. 

chocolate marquis in a bed of coconut snow
 and topped with lime sorbet
(Photo: SRKitchen)

Ambience? With food this amazing, who notices the décor? But it’s sophisticated, contemporary, light and airy, quiet and relaxed. Service was very close to perfect, with the ever-attentive and friendly Bonnie timing the arrival of our various dishes to the table perfectly. Chef Damon Amos deserves congratulations for an innovative, inspiring and nevertheless hearty lunchtime menu.

Public is on level one, 400 George Street, Brisbane, at the end of town that’s not normally known for amazing cuisine. I have a feeling that’s about to change. Certainly, I’ll be back.