Cruisers Cafe Bar and Grill, Portside Wharf, Hamilton, Brisbane

Cruisers Cafe, Bar and Grill is a family owned and run business committed to deliver great food with excellent value. Located in Portside Wharf, it surrounds itself with the bubbly environment as well as free parking is also available which is great. Though it does not have the waterfront view but this should not direct you away from the restaurant as it is a place where you can have a family dinner, dates or even catch ups at. I have been to Portside Wharf many times before but have not dined at Cruisers before hence when given the opportunity to try their food and dine there, I thought why not?

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Belvedere Bar n Grill, Portside Wharf, Hamilton, Brisbane

Wanting to dine at a Modern Australian restaurant with views of the river, head over to Portside Wharf and you could find yourself sitting here at Belvedere. An environment perfect for a date, a birthday party or just simply a gathering with a variety of dishes offered on their menu ranging from cold entrees to pasta or if you feel like mixed grill or even seafood or steak, Belvedere's menu will suit any tastebuds. What intrigued me about the restaurant would be first, the glass display in front of the restaurant showing dry aged beef. Although I have always been a regular at Portside dining here and there, I never gave myself the time to try it here and so since we wanted to try somewhere new, we figured that here would be a good choice for a date night.

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Hosokawa Japanese Restaurant, Racecourse Rd, Hamilton, Brisbane

A traditional Japanese restaurant located on Racecourse Rd in Ascot/Hamilton is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants to go to. The fact that it is also in Northside gives it another thumbs up for me since it is closer to where I am. Expect simple casual interior with a touch of Japanese flair here and there but remember to book in advance as it gets booked out at nights and nearly during lunch time. Another thing is that they are closed on Sundays. Price wise is quite straight to the point and not overly priced but you do get generous serving sizes and for its well priced dishes, it allows you to enjoy both Japanese cuisine in a traditional Izakaya setting.

'Sashimi Platter (Large)' ($39) consists of about 25 slices of chef's selection which is great to have when eating together being able to share and have a taste of this and that. Presented on a big white square plate, it had many of the various seafood you could think of to eat. Salmon, Tuna, White Fish, Squid, Octopus, Scallop and Mackerel plus of course, a few tower dollops of wasabi and also at the bottom would be their thinly sliced radish and seaweed to accompany it all as well as some caviar.

What I love here is the thick cuts of sashimi they give every single time you order Sashimi. As you can see from the photos below, you can see how thickly cut these fresh Salmon sashimi slices are which makes it juicier and make you drool before even picking it up with your chopsticks. Salmon is one of the healthiest and nutritionist seafood which is probably why I love it so much and wish I could get more of it than the rest of the others.

'Chicken Karaage' ($14.9) are deep fried marinated chicken thigh pieces served with a simple salad, a side plate of various radish, a bowl of rice and miso soup. The whole package if I may say and no, do not compare it to your fast food Japanese of course..

One thing that you may be wondering about is their batter.. It seemed to be less oily and also thinner than the other Karaage(s) you may have or have not tried but I am unsure of which is the original or real batter that should have been for these Chicken Karaage. I do prefer the batter-y version but as for the meat, they were quite an okay size but it wasn't as big or too small cut pieces. The salad was nice and fresh, a good addition to the dish as well as the various pickles allowing you to be able to try bits of this and that. The miso soup and the warm rice was definitely a must for this dish however one downside was the lack of sauce. There wasn't a sauce for this dish which was quite hard to be able to combine each of the elements together but I guess eating the chicken and warm rice together may just make you have a simple but yummy meal.

'Chicken Curry' ($13.9) is crumbed chicken served with a rice and miso soup. Although presentation wise is normal, there is always some kind of curry and chicken ratio that does not match. Oh, and rice as well. The rice is always an adequate amount, the sauce is usually quite alot but for some reason or another, the crumbed chicken would only be a few pieces. This would make you have lots of rice and sauce leftover while your chicken pieces are gone after a few spoonfuls and you end up mixing the sauce into the rice and eating just simply that.

It would have been nice if the sauce had some kind of vegetables in it even if it isn't roughly cut such as carrots or potatoes would have been great. The crumbed chicken was quite thin meat wise but they were crumbed well nevertheless. The only downside was that more chicken was needed for the dish.

'Una Don' ($19.90) is a simple dish but usually will take you to places you will never think of... What I mean was that the softness and the glorious smooth texture with the sauce as well as the grilled smoky flavour just simply melts in your mouth making you go mmmm...

Grilled eel served on top of rice served with miso soup is usually quite pricy when compared to the other dishes on offer during lunch. However, the size of the eel was not bad as it isn't the smallest I have seen but then, it is also not the biggest as I have eaten at another restaurant that serves big juicy grilled eel.. When you eat this dish, do try and remember that this dish may be very simple with only two elements in the whole dish but do try and picture and taste the flavour of the sauce, the eel and then when you take a bit of rice and place it together in your mouth, you can feel the sauce and eel blending in well with the warm soft fluffy rice.

'Chicken Teriyaki Set' ($15.9) is another simple dish that is best enjoyed just simply the main and warm rice is Chicken teriyaki served with warm rice. A simple yet refreshing salad is also placed on the same plate as the chicken whilst the rice is placed in a seperate bowl.

The teriyaki sauce was light but full of flavour. The chicken was a decent amount however there were some parts that were just fat so yes, you couldn't really eat that part or just avoid it in the end. However, the rest of the chicken seemed to be chicken thigh which allowed the chicken teriyaki to have a soft and smooth texture absorbing the teriyaki sauce.

Hosokawa Japanese Restaurant, Hamilton, Brisbane

Hosokawa Japanese restaurant in Hamilton, along Racecourse road does its justice for traditional Japanese food, however, it may be hard to find street parking or you even may miss the place when you drive past. Do book before you come because sometimes, they may easily be fully booked even if sometimes you do see empty tables around. The restaurant is not as big as I thought it would be, with both indoor and outdoor seatings available.

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The Burrito Bar, Portside Wharf, Hamilton, Brisbane

After deciding to go to Portside Wharf since we were near, we couldn't decide what to eat. Though we wanted something simple and easy but quick at the same time, we ended up in Burrito Bar.. It's been a while since I've been to Burrito Bar in which previously I tried the Nacho Fries in Southbank. I don't usually eat Mexican food, but when I do, sometimes they do dissapoint but they may not. 

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