What does Ziggy Stardust, tea smoked duck and the Brisbane 'burbs have in common?

Good question. Bear with me. 

New on the Brisbane dining scene, Lodger Kitchen and Bar takes its name from a David Bowie album. In particular, the album Lodger is where Bowie really shunned the expectations of popular music and struck out in his own unique way.

In a similar vein, Brisbane dining scene veterans Blaire Gillespie and Daniel Collins have ventured out on their own from the likes of Bacchus and Stokehouse Q, creating their own restaurant that combines the likes of fine dining with a casual atmosphere. 

So is there a starman waiting in the sky for this new venture? What does that even mean? Let’s find out. 

​The term “whole foods” traditionally speaks to an unprocessed, unrefined plant-based food item. Like a raw carrot. 

Healthy? Yes. Mouth-watering? Not exactly in its current form. 

I really do enjoy eating healthy, but I have to admit that I need my healthy foods to be zhooshed-up a little. 

Enter Miss Bliss and her Whole Foods Kitchen in West End. 

Using the concept of whole foods and healthy eating as a basis for the menu, I was hoping for some creativity for getting my five-a-day, within the one meal sitting.

How did I go? Let’s take a look. 

Date night at our house lately has taken on a whole new meaning.

Gone are the candle-lit dinners, boxes of chocolates and flowers, and in are… just dates. Literally. 

This year I decided to enter the Ekka Fine Arts Cookery competition in the highly coveted Date Loaf category. Ok I have no idea if it’s highly coveted or not, but it looked easy enough to have a crack at and was open to novices only.

​Enter me.

So how did I go? Read on to find out.

• Having grown up in Brisbane, I remember the days when the main strip of West End was easily the go-to place for a good coffee and creative meal. Well, things have changed a bit since my early 20s (despite that being just a few years ago… obviously… *cough*).

These days, you need to meander off busy Boundary road to find such a café, but once you know where to look, you’ll be seeing West End again with new eyes. 

Tucked away on Browning Street is Duo Bar and Restaurant, which is exactly the type of innovative and trendy café you’re looking for when you visit West End.

But does the food actually taste as good as the menu suggests? Let’s take a look. 

Busy Sandgate Road probably isn’t the first place you think of when looking for a little oasis in the inner-burbs, but it’s exactly here that you’ll find one.

At first you may just see an overgrown hedge from the main road, but look again and behind the expansive vines and shrubbery you’ll spot My Mistress Café. 

Is it worth taking a detour for a coffee here?
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Let’s find out.

Lately my two-year old has been singing “I can sing a rainbow” in a true two-year-old fashion: repetitively. 

After waking up at 1am to “listen with your eyeees, listen with your eyeeees,” I decided enough was enough and worked hard to change our vocal rotation to songs about twinkling little stars, mice running up clocks, highways to hell; anything else.

My blanket rainbow ban was working.

That is until I went to Piggyback Café in Brisbane’s west-side. And ordered the most radiant meal I’ve ever had in my life.
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Was I seeing red? Or yellow or green and blue? Let’s take a look. 

​Brisbane’s dining scene has seen a great deal of change over the past couple of decades.

​Restaurants have come and gone, and there’s definitely a lot more pulled pork on plates now than there was in the 90s. 

One restaurant that has remained a constant is Mariosarti, which has been a stalwart of Toowong, for over 20 years. 

Recently though, Mariosarti has been placed under the care of a brand new owner. So does its food still stand the test of time?

Let’s find out. 

Healthy eating in the Winter months can be a bit of a challenge. A salad certainly isn’t the first thing you think of when you’re wearing thermal leggings and a puffy jacket. 

This is where a big bowl of warming, healthy pho fits the bill nicely. While on the hunt for a big bowl of this nutritious deliciousness, I stumbled upon Brisbane’s newest Vietnamese restaurant located in Woolloongabba.

Than Nuong translates to ‘charcoal’, and char-grilled meat has cold-weather-eating all over it. 
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So is it possible to eat delicious warming Winter food and not break the diet? Let’s find out. 

It's quite easy to find an Italian restaurant that doesn't veer too much from it's traditional roots. But what about one that serves up goji berries with its carpaccio? Or edamame beans with it's pesce?

Are these dishes crazy or ingenious?

To find out, we paid a visit to Il Locale Italian at Rosalie; a restaurant that isn't afraid to take inspiration from all corners of the world.

So does this creative flair fare well for the food here? Let's find out. 

I have four words for you: Ricotta Blueberry Breakfast Dumplings. 

When I heard these were on offer at our local Nordic-inspired café, I was there faster than you can say blåbær. 

Lokal + Co at West End offers a very innovative menu which puts the old plate of bacon and eggs to shame. But does this creativity translate into deliciousness?
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Let’s go and find out.