Lauxes Dining Restaurant Review

Recently a friend of mine had raved about the new staff and menu at Lauxes, being an old regular at Lauxes (as it was once owned by a friend)- I suggested to my girlfriend that we should use our Entertainment Books and go to Lauxes.

Saturday was such a windy day, so I was excited to be sitting in the sunshine by the park. I had a 50^th Birthday on Saturday so we had a late lunch and we were starving… My girlfriend made the booking for 2.30pm, as we arrived it was busy which for Lauxes in the last 6 months was unusual. 

We waited to be seated and we waited and we waited, we then seated ourselves outside in the sun. Being starving, thirsty and slightly impatient after 15 minutes I walked inside and asked the guy behind the bar for a food & drink menu. He passed them to me and said “be with you in a minute”, understanding that they were busy (not packed), I sat back down and scoured the wine list for some Vino- Sav of course.

We decided on a bottle of Nautilus and started browsing the food menu, although the menu is small and they don’t do the tapas anymore (as far as I could see) we picked out a main each.

Another 15mins past so I walked back inside found a waitress and ordered the wine, it had now been 30mins since we arrived and not even one staff member had been outside to greet us….

Being very thirsty and very hungry now I could see that our bottle of wine was sitting on the bar waiting for us to drink it…. Another 10 minutes past and my girlfriend could tell I was getting very very agitated she then stated “if this is how long it is going to take to get a drink, how long is the food going to be”? Agreeing with her we picked up our bags and got the hell out of there.

Now there are no pictures with this post as there was nothing for me to take pictures of, I wont hold a grudge and I will give them another go as every place has on off day but I tell you what the food better be bloody amazing to make up for it.

As it was getting late, we decided to just share a bottle of wine and pizza at Alto Cucina.

Still dying to sit in the sun, we asked politely if they could open the blinds so we could sit in the outside booths and they did. We ordered our wine & pizza and finally began enjoying ourselves well that was until…………

CRASH, SMASH, BOOM! A flipping soccer ball game flying out of nowhere and knocked my girlfriends drink into my chest and smashed it to smithereens! I looked like I had umm well pissed my pants, I was so saturated I was dripping. I had glass shards stuck all over me and not to mention every pair of eyes in Broadbeach looking at me. So now I was thirsty, starving, saturated and reeking of wine plus I hadn’t even had a sip yet. 

The girls (which were about 20) were trying not to laugh but apologised instantly by saying-

Girls: Oh my god, we are sooo sorry can we buy you another drink?

Lady Dash: If you would like to? Go ahead but I am not asking you to buy me a drink.  I do however think it's pretty stupid to be playing with a ball next to restaurant when there is a park just across the road????

They then walked off and a guy comes over

Guy: I am so sorry about my friends, can I buy you a drink?

Lady Dash: Its not your fault, don’t worry about.

Guy: Oh ok you don’t happen to know where the ball went do you?

Lady Dash (with a smile): Mate, I don’t really give a shit where you ball is.

After all that we still managed to sit, eat and laugh after the day we just had. The staff at Alto were fantastic and looked after us and turned a shocker into a nice afternoon.

Rocksalt Modern Dining Restaurant Review

To be perfectly honest at first i wasn't thrilled about the idea of going out for lunch last Saturday, for the 3 following reasons 1. I had hangover  2. I had a dinner party to prepare and 3. I still had a bad taste in my mouth from our last dining disaster.

But poor Horn had been working so hard all week and really wanted to spend some time quality time with me before Monday rolled around again. It just so happened that it was Gold Coast Restaurant Week (restaurants in Broabeach put together set menus to get new people into their shops). 

We were tossing up between Moo Moo's and Rocksalt Modern Dining, we decided on Rocksalt as we have been to Moo Moo's quite a few times and its nice but in the last week 3 people had recommended Rocksalt to us. 

So with a brave face and a smile i got ready for lunch, i knew Horn would feel like a drink as he had just finished a huge week at work. 

The Menu

We made a reservation earlier as we weren't sure with GCRW if it would be packed, when we arrived we were welcomed by a lovely guy named Lee/Leigh. He was chirpy and bubbly- just what we like in a waiter.

I noticed straight away that there were reserved signs on most tables so i was glad that we booked, then I noticed that they had those bloody wall length couches too (you know the ones where you have to sit close to people), i crossed my fingers and prayed that we wouldn't be seated there. It must of been our lucky day because we were the only table for two inside not on the couches.

Looking around the restaurant the decor was nice and clean with modern features, Lee/Leigh was our waiter for the afternoon and he was informative, friendly and fun. There were 3 menus to choose from: Al carte (anything you wish), GCRW (choices of entree, main and dessert) or the weekly lunch special (2 entree sized dishes with a glass of house wine or local beer), we looked through all of the menus and to help me decide i asked Lee/Leigh what the house wine was with the lunch menu and to my delight it was from Marlborough NZ so i decided to go with the LUNCH SPECIAL.

Now Horn pretends he doesn't have a sweet tooth but he does, he in fact loves his sweets! So i wasn't shocked when he suggested that if he got the GCRW menu that we could "share" the dessert....

So we placed our orders and our drinks soon arrived, my wine (the hair of the dog) was lovely and Horn ordered an Asahi (beer), chatting away we were hoping our meals would be nice and that's when our entree's arrived.....

Salt & Pepper King Prawns with
Asian Spanner Crab Salad,
Sweet Corn Custard, Soy Dressing

I ordered the S&P Prawns, it may look small on the large round plate but it was enough and boy was it DELICIOUS.... The light crispy coating on the prawns, the fresh spanner crab and the sweet corn custard was silky and perfect... The only thing left on my plate were the prawn tails.

Pan Roasted Quail with
Pine Nuts, Raisins, Soft Polenta,
Parmesan, Thyme Jus

I wish i was as adventurous as Horn, there are still a few things that i cant get my head around and quail is one of them. I have tried it before and liked it but as Forrest Gump mumma says sometimes you never know what you gonna get, so i stick to what i know. Horn said it was beautiful, the raisins were his favourite part he loved the little pops of sticky sweetness and said it went perfectly with the tender quail.

Rare Peppered Beef Carpaccio with
Celeriac, Horseradish, Garlic Croutons,
Truffle Oil, Parmesan

My second entree was the Carpaccio, it was slightly different to what i am used to but i really enjoyed it. I am trying to find the right words to explain the texture of the meat and i am not sure if this is correct but i am going to say it was "aged" or dehydrated it was NOT DRY at all just not as raw as i expected but it was awesome.  All of the components went extremely well together and i loved the Garlic Croutons and Horseradish.

Loin, Cutlet & Shoulder of Lamb with
Fondant Potato, Dutch Carrot, Glazed Shallot,
Peas & Mint and Lamb Sauce

Now everybody knows that Horn loves Lamb, so its no surprise he ordered it again. I would like to let everyone know that i DO cook Lamb at home, he just cant get enough of it. He also has a secret fetish for baby carrots so his face lit up when he saw it on the plate.  The three different cuts of Lamb were all cooked they way they were supposed too: loin was juicy, the shoulder braised and tender and the "frenching" on the cutlet was precise and the meat perfectly pink. You cant see it in the picture but the "peas and mint" component was a puree and the colour was the most vibrant green i have ever seen.

Dark Chocolate Marquise with
Peanut Butter Mousse, Frozen Banana Zabaglione
and Caramel Popcorn

Dessert time, we decided to go CHOCOLATE of course... The other option was Lavender Panna Cotta, (i hate to sound like a drama queen but i hate Lavender, the colour, the smell, the over use as a fragrant and the fact that its used on toilet paper says it all) there was no way we were getting that. 

This dessert has still got me drooling......... I have really been enjoying peanut butter lately so when i saw it on the dessert menu i got super excited.. I wasn't sure what Marquise was but gathered it would either be a cake or a dense mousse and it turned out that it was a combination of the two and semi frozen, it was nice but really rich. 

The stand out for me was the Frozen Banana Zabaglione i am not sure if any one remembers Barney Banana by Billabong (not to be confused with a Banana Paddlepop they are very different)- it tasted exactly like it, it was creamy and tasted like real Banana not a flavouring and the caramel popcorn, well all i can say is who doesn't like pop corn?

The Bill

So once we polished off our desserts, we asked for the bill after all i had a dinner party to prepare for! The grand total was $113, which we think is very reasonable for 2 Imported Beers, NZ Sav Blanc, 3 Entrees, 1 Main and a dessert. 

We had such a lovely afternoon, it put us in a great mood and got us ready for the night ahead. We were very happy with the service, presentation and taste of the meals- we will definitely be back and by the look of the restaurant (which was packed when we were leaving) Rocksalt Modern Dining is a favourite for locals and tourists...

Score: 8/10

Absynthe Restaurant Review

Finally it was the 16th of July on the calendar, which meant it was our long awaited date night. We had made the reservation for Absynthe over 2 months ago and we were very excited to be having a culinary night to remember.

Apart from the fact that weather was crappy and we were still recovering from our trip physically and finically, we pepped each other up by getting all dolled up, having a sneak peek at the menu online (so we could chat about the menu options on the way) and then we hopped in the car to go to our long awaited reservation.

We arrived at Q1, our original plan was to use our annual passes and go up to the Sky Deck and have a drink and watch the sunset however we decided against that as the sun had been setting at like 5pm. Luckily we didn't go as when we were waiting for the lift in the basement there was a sign saying it was closed for a private function, so my advise if you are planning on a trip up to the Sky Deck ring in advance.

Walking through the doors we waited to be seated, scoping the joint out i noticed it was fairly modern and sterile with some artwork on the walls, no candles  or white table cloths. Once we were seated i knew we had a problem already, we were seated in between to other tables maybe 45cm each side of us which is MY PET HATE. Why your thinking??? Well i am the biggest eaves dropper in the world, i cannot concentrate on my own conversation and i feel the need to whisper.

We were handed the Menu and Wine List. Reading Meyjittes Boughenout story we were very excited to being eating at the restaurant of a two Michelin star chef. First our beverages for the evening Sparkling Water $8.00 and Maven Sauvignon Blanc $70.00 (it was the only Sav Blanc from NZ we could find).  Returning with our vino they waiter asked for our order, now we love a little bit of a chit chat with the waiter so we asked him for any recommendations- very surprisingly he didn't have any. Our puzzled faces must have prompted him to continue talking and he then elaborated by asking us what we like to eat. We said we are happy to try anything once and he then replied with the Lamb Cutlets are good, Horn was very pleased to hear that as he loves Lamb, however there were no Lamb Cutlets on the menu only Lamb Shanks. After some thought we decided on the below.

Now at one of the most expensive fine dining restaurants on the Gold Coast would you expect the full silver service? When our meals where placed in front of us that was it, no "tonight you have ordered the blah blah with blah blah, try eating it in this order blah blah, enjoy your meal." Is it to much to ask for the waiter who's job it is to explain these foriegn dishes to us?

Dinner Roll Complimentary 

The roll was warm, yummy and probably the highlight of my meal- WHOOPIE!!!

Cauliflower Veloute, Vanilla Croutons, Olive Bubbles &
Pan Fried Scallops $32.00

I ordered the Scallops, as i have explained in past posts i love Scallops and normally always order them however after this experince i may rethink that. The Scallops were as small as a ten cent piece and there was only 4. The roe had been removed but the connector duct was still on- so as small as the Scallop was i had to cut a 1/4 off so i didn't eat the chewy bit. There were two Olive bubbles and they were amazing and exciting, i could have eaten a whole plate of just them (they were very similar to the Corn Puree Bubbles at Room81) Vanilla Croutons were OK nothing special and the Cauliflower Veloute was mediocre a little oily and way to much poured into the bowl it ruined the presentation of the dish, if the Scallops had of been big and juicy it probably would have been fine.

Lightly Cured Ocean Trout, White Chocolate
Cannelloni, Shellfish Broth to Drink,
Pomegranate Reduction & Wasabi Ice-Cream  $28.50

Horn had the Trout, he said it was fine nothing to write home about. The presentation was lovely with great colours however all the ingredients that were on the menu did not come out on the plate.

Crispy Skin Pan Fried Barramundi, Lobster Bisque,
Sliced Potatoes & Baby Carrot $45.00

Now i don't normally order Fish when i am out but since i have never tried Lobster Bisque before and we were at a french restaurant i thought what better place to try it. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! This was by far they worst meal i have ever eaten in my life. The Barramundi skin was so thick and chewy it was making me sick and i am not sure because i have never eaten scales before but that i swear it still had scales on it, it was so bad that i actually had to remove the skin from my mouth. The Lobster Bisque was oily, transparent and tasteless and to top it off Baby Carrot was stone cold.

Twice Cooked Maryland Duck Breast, Orange &
Spice Glaze with Artichoke and Sweet Potato $43.00

Horn liked his Duck, he said it was juicy, cooked well but very small, the glaze didn't have any punch and looked bland the plate. Now I don't believe in sending food back to the kitchen because i am too scared of what they may do to it but I will (if asked) explain what was wrong (which is hardly ever). I didn't even eat a 1/4 of my mini meal and the waiter simply asked if i was done and took the plate away.

After that we were asked if we would like dessert (we had previously decided not to stay) we politely declined. Once we declined we were basically invisible, we had to ask for our glasses to be filled (we pretty much sculled so we could get the hell out of there.) I was dying to have a dessert from this place, i had been drooling over the photos for days but because of the horrible experience we wanted to leave A-SAP and refused to give them an extra $25 for a dessert that would be small and possibly not worth it.

The Bill

Not only was this the biggest disappointment ever, it also cost and arm and maybe half a leg to experience it. It only adds to my theory that food needs to look as good as it tastes and taste even better than it looks! We ended up having dessert somewhere else and it saved our night.

Every ones experiences are different maybe they were having an off night? Who knows....

Score 4/10