The Norman Hotel

www.normanhotel.com.au

We've eaten at "Brisbanes Worst Vegetarian Restaurant" the Norman plenty of times, but until recently always thought the Breakfast Creek hotel was better. Lets face it, their menus are fairly identical in terms of types of steak, accompaniments and pricing. Our last visit at the Breakfast Creek hotel didn't particularly excite us however, so when friends suggested we go to the Norman, we were interested to see if it could be better. 

In our opinions it definitely was. The Norman partially burnt down a while back, and the last time we visited, part of the eating areas was set up as a plain tacky marquee. Things have definitely improved atmosphere wise since then, and in fact its a much nicer venue than the Breakfast Creek. 

L and I both ordered the large eye fillet steak ($38.90), which came with garden salad, a breadroll and a potato with bacon filling. L's had chilli sauce and mine, pepper sauce. All in all, pretty identical to our last meal at the Breakfast Creek hotel. 

Taro's Ramen Cafe

www.taros.com.au

We’ve had a couple of failed attempts to try and eat at Taro’s, but I have been dying to sample the ramen here for AGES. Now I have to say we are by no means ramen fanatics as some people are... chasing the ideal ramen, but we are definitely fans. Unfortunately, our experiences are limited to that of Ajisen Ramen on George St in the city, which is sort of the McDonalds equivalent of the ramen world, so I have heard. 

What we were impressed about with Taros is that ingredients seem to be topnotch and sourced locally, for example, use of Bangalow pork, and eggs from a farm on the Darling Downs. The noodles are all hand made. 

There are other items on the menu, such as Japanese curry, and also Shoyu ramen; a broth made of chicken, seafood and vegetables but what we were here for was the Tonkatsu ramen, the soup being rich and cooked for 2 days with Bangalow sweet pork. 

I had sussed out reports on Urbanspoon and realised that each bowl of soup only came with one piece of char siu (thinly sliced pork), so we both ordered extra, another $1.80 on top of the ramen price.

I ordered the plain Tonkatsu ramen for $14.80, whilst L ordered Fire Tonkatsu ramen ($15.80), obviously being the spicier choice with chilli oil and homemade chilli sauce.

Vue Lounge

www.vuelounge.com.au

Knowing how much my sister likes to eat breakfast, when we proposed to take her out for lunch on her birthday I had to find somewhere that served all-day-breakfast. I found out Vue Lounge at New Farm serves breakfast until 2.30pm every day and so we headed there.

Vue Lounge was busy enough even though it was a Monday morning, with plenty of people ordering takeaway coffees. There was a cabinet displaying various cakes and varieties of macarons. It wasn't a particularly stylish cafe on the inside, chairs and tables are a bit wellworn and shabby. Lacking in atmosphere might be a better descriptor.

We quickly looked over the lunch menu and then all decided to order from the breakfast menu. Both menus have a wide variety to choose from and I had a hard time deciding on what to order. 

L ordered a latte (Vue Lounge uses a DiBella blend), which was unfortunately quite bitter. I have started tasting all of the lattes that L orders even though I don’t drink coffee in order to know what he is talking about and compared to the last few I have tasted even I definitely noticed it.

Symposium Cafe

www.symposiumcafe.com.au/site/

L and I decided upon Symposium Cafe for a quiet Monday brunch the other week. Reading a lot of mixed reviews, they were mostly positive so I was expecting it to be decent. 

I ordered a banana smoothie and L had his usual latte. L loves Veneziano coffee so he was happy, and the latte was well made. My smoothie was really thick just the way I like it, but quite yoghurty.