mondo’s been here for quite a few years now. i think they first opened when i was living in hill end - i was an undergrad student doing multimedia at griffith uni, and was living in a little studio near the river. i used to like having coffee alone at mondo, but i didn’t really eat there. i can’t remember how things were price-wise, but at the moment their mains are pretty expensive compared to other restaurants, especially those in west end. we had these:

• wine: chrismont ‘lazona’ pinot grigio (2005)
• appz: antipasti of roast pepper harissa, baccala, almond verjuice pesto & ciabatta bread
• main: gnoccho fritti w sage pesto, roast vegetable & ricotta almond cannelloni, tomato passata // sicilian cinnamon spiced fried tofu, sweet potato panelle, mixed leaf salad,agro dolce dressing vegan
• dess: vanilla pannacotta, passionfruit gelo, caramelised apple, almond crostini,honey saffron syrup

i think red would’ve been a smarter choice for the food we had, but i’d been meaning to try the wine for a while so i was happy. mondo is the very first licensed organic restaurant in australia, so you can be assured that the actual ingredients are nice and healthy. our appetizer had cod in one of the dips (baccala) so it wasn’t a completely vegetarian dinner, but we had a fabulous culinary evening. i’m a semi-vegetarian (or a fake vegetarian as someone once insisted); i eat veges and eggs and sometimes seafood. i don’t eat meat unless i’m accidentally given. for example, if someone’s prepared a meaty meal for me without realising that i don’t eat meat, then i wouldn’t say anything and eat it. but on a few occasions, i have consumed meat. for example, i ate a whole steak with tears in my eys after a breakup last time. there’s something cathartic about crying and eating steak at the same time.

anyway, i absolutely loved the sicilian tofu - the smokey aroma gets quickly dispersed in your mouth with soft tofu texture, which is nicely contrasted with the crispiness of the fried tofu on the top and fresh salad on the bottom. amazing. it reminded me of the time i tried brazzo mercedes at sprout for the first time. that impressive dessert was so sexy i thought i was going to faint. the vanilla pannacotta we had at mondo was really nice as well, not as miraculous as brazzo mercedes, but very tasty. coffee was as excellent as i remembered. the girl who served us was very friendly and efficient, and extremely cute. my sister wanted to know where she’d got her hair done (my sister’s doing a hairdressing course at the moment), and she very kindly explained where and how to get there.mondo also runs a cooking school. one of my friends has done it once and highly recommended it, so i think i’ll definitely try this month.

the bill was pretty demanding as expected, but there are some other cheaper options available. i’d really like to try their soup (A$10), which is actually one of the entrees but it’s huge and there were quite a few people having it as their main. i’ve been in my soup mode for a while now, and been trying different soups at different places, so i’d really love to try mondo’s - i have no doubt it’d be really nice. highly recommended if you’re relatively flexible financially.

Mondo Organics
166 hardgrave road
west end
+ 61 7 3844 1132

it’s undoubtedly the best patisserie in brisbane.

i only discovered jocelyn’s about five years ago, but it’s been around for about ten years now. i used to have this weird aversion for carrot cake - i couldn’t comprehend the concept. what? carrot? cake? together?… sort of thing. plus, every carrot cake i had tried was bad without a single exception. this was instantly fixed by jocelyn.

/magic/

everything’s absolutely beautiful - apart from the muffins. i’m not a huge fan of soft-top muffins (edited: found out that now there’s only one type of muffin, which i haven’t tried yet, so i can’t make any judgements about muffins at this stage - looks good though. i’ll try it next time). my favourite used to be the fruit and nut loaf, which sadly is no longer available. but once again, everything - apart from those muffins, but they’re not bad or anything; i just personally don’t find them as good as the others, that’s all (edited: again for the same reason) - is great.

i highly recommend the almond croissant, savoury pies/tarts, as well as those beautiful looking and tasting cakes. and of course, the absolutely sensational mini strawberry tart, which is only available for a very limited time each year. in fact, so far i’ve only had it three times, and every time it was so unbelievable i almost cried for joy.

more than anything though, the thing i love the most is looking at the faces of my loved ones when they walk into jocelyn’s for the first time. and at their first bite, when their senses start to play inside… i love sharing that moment.

fantastic.

thanks to jocelyn_

Jocelyn’s Provisions
Cnr Dogget & James St
Fortitude Valley
+61 7 3852 3777

// ok. had the muffin today. very nice_ (20060526)