The Ten Best Things to Do at Brisbane Good Food Month 2015
We hope you're feeling hungry.
The Ten Best Things to Do at Brisbane Good Food Month 2015
We hope you're feeling hungry.
Come July, Brisbanites can knock back cocktails at a gin-soaked high tea, taste creations from the city's next breed of culinary wizards, and dine under the stars at Eagle Street Pier, all thanks to one event. That's right, Good Food Month is back from July 9 - August 9. Gird your stomachs, and prepare to go gaga over gastronomy.
To help keep you from going wild and eating yourself to death, here are our picks for the ten tastiest Good Food Month events. Tuck in.
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10
If you love to gamble, Gordita’s omakase offerings may be the adventure you’re looking for. Omakase, meaning “I’ll leave it to you”, is the ethos behind Gordita’s market menu. For $45 you’ll get Spanish wines matched with two courses from the daily menu that includes croquettes of manchego with pesto rojo, and slow-roasted Sovereign Hills lamb shoulder.
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9
If you’re looking for something a little fancy — and can afford to blow your monthly budget for French cuisine and orchestral music in one go — then saunter down to Prive 249 for a one-night-only four-course degustation menu at their beautiful Southbank location. If that wasn’t swish enough, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra will be serenading you all night long (ask them to play the Game of Thrones theme song, please and thank you). The $125 ticket also comes with matched wines.
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8
Gerard’s Bar know what they’re doing when it comes to cured meats and cheese pairings – in fact their menu is pretty much just that (and amazing for the record). Celebrate being a wine-loving, cheese-hungry fancy adult with a wine and cheese pairing for $30. But make sure you go with friends who won’t judge you when you inevitably transition (as we all do) from the grown-up you’re pretending to be to a cheese fiend who wraps a whole wheel of brie in ham and eats it like a burger.
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7
The Young Chefs’ Dinner at Aria is one of the most exciting and unique events in the Good Food Month lineup and offers some truly collaborative and groundbreaking dishes. Six chosen up-and-coming chefs (from The Long Apron, Gauge, Statler & Waldorf, Gerard’s Bistro, Ricky’s River Bar and Esquire) collaborate to create a cohesive menu (one dish each) and then toss the recipes into the fire so they can never be repeated. OK, so we’re not sure they do that, but the dishes are definitely unique to the event. Tickets are $150 (including matched wine and tea/coffee) and are sure to sell out quickly so jump on it.
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6
The rooftop bar Up on Constance is the perfect place to cosy up to a slow-roasted whole lamb or pig and watch the sun set (vegetarians need not apply). A $55 ticket buys you a cocktail on arrival and a set menu from around Europe, including delights from Italy, Spain and France, depending on the week you go. And as you finish your meal, watch as the bar fills up and kicks on into one of Brisbane’s funkiest venues. Go straight from plate to party, exactly as it should be.
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5
Yo guys, keep it on the down low, but there’s an event where you can “taste” (read: drink) free wine at the incredibly fancy Bacchus restaurant and rub shoulders with their head sommelier and maître d’frommage Andrew Giblin. Come along one Wednesday evening and learn how to actually tell the difference between good and bad wine so you can be the fanciest person at any house party.
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4
A high tea at the Sofitel is the height of luxury, but a high tea inspired by the French, the queens of cake and cheese? Step aside. For a reasonable $55 you can indulge in a kir royale on arrival and then chomp (elegantly) through a spread of sweet and savoury treats in the Sofitel’s 30th floor Club Lounge. This year’s tea was inspired by the 2015 Pantone Colour of the Year, marsala, and will feature scones, French pastries, ribbon sandwiches, raspberry choux a la creme, cherry cone mousse and pistachio sacher torte. Zut alors. Do make sure you sing ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ loudly as you waddle home, full of French treats.
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3
You know, Good Food Month doesn’t have to be all fancy wine pairings and food art. If you’re a morning person (the rarest unicorn), you can take advantage of the GFM Breakfast Club. This Breakfast Club unfortunately has nothing to do with Emilio Estevez, but instead involves weekday breakfasting at amazing locations for only $20 with coffee included. Pick up a confit duck and potato waffle with kimchi mayo, apple and poached cranberry salad at Campos Coffee in Fortitude Valley. Or why not start your day right with a brekkie salad: kale, mixed grains, bacon, sausage, chicken, tomato, poached egg and sourdough toast from the Atticus Finch Café in Paddington.
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Although Longtime hasn’t been on the scene for a very long time (geddit?), their contemporary Vietnamese share dishes have certainly made an impression. If you love seafood, sharing, gorgeous interiors and cocktails on arrival, this is the Good Food Month event for you. For $90 you can try a seafood smorgasbord, including soft shell crab bao, Moreton Bay bug curry, banana flower and egg salad nets, plus a cocktail and dessert to finish you off.
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1
The Night Noodle Markets are the jewel in the Good Food Month crown and are exactly what they sound like: a noodle market at night. Take a trip across Asia and indulge in all your favourite dishes from 30 different stalls, including gyoza, Vietnamese pho, ramen, yakitori sticks and yes, lots of noodles. Eat separately or mash them all together into a giant ball of decadent goodness that will earn you jealous stares as you wander around South Bank, soaking up the festival atmosphere.
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