French Martini, Little Stanley St, Southbank, Brisbane CBD

French cuisine is known for its complex and rich flavours, its unique way of both presentation and taste as well as their carefully thought out dishes and paying attention to the small details of each. It has since then always been known to be an art. If you have not tried French cuisine before then maybe you may want to think again. By taking yourself to French Martini, you find yourself in a petite restaurant offering various French dishes with an all-French wine menu from Rose to Cidre and more. If you are wandering at night, you may notice this restaurant by its Pink sign and accessories out front of house..

'Escargot' (AUD$14) was a classic dish that is usually eaten as a starter before mains. Consisting of a dozen Escargot in garlic butter served with fresh bread, although it may be quite a simple dish but usually it allows you to settle in nicely while having a chat with your family or friends or even your date. The word Escargot literally means 'edible snails' which may not sound so interesting nor make you want to eat it however do note that not all snails are edible.

My experiences with eating Escargot has allowed me to enjoy eating it when it is actually served in their shells and not out of them. So finding a few French restaurants that serves their Escargot out of their shell and instead put them into a small round bowl and drenched in garlic butter instead. Although not as pretty as if they were in its shells, the taste wasn't too bad however I did find it extremely quite oily. Yes, I do realise that it is garlic butter and that it is the primary flavour however I did feel that the snails itself wasn't juicy as I thought it would be and much chewier than usual. Regarding its taste, it is quite similar to let's say clams or oysters but just not as fishy in terms of taste and smell. Dip the bread into the garlic butter or take a spoonful of a snail and garlic butter and place it on top of one side of the bread and take a bite. Overall, it was not bad, but I've had better.

'Cote de Porc Sauce Olives et Tomates' (AUD$30) was Crispy pork fillets with green olives and tomato sauce served with roasted potatoes and sauteed zucchini. At first instance, you can see that the portion of this dish nearly filled the whole square plate. The crispy pork fillet was quite big in size but I was quite dissapointed to see that it wasn't crispy skin but instead the crispy pork skin was given in a strip separately.

The green olives and tomato sauce was quite acidic as it should be from the tomatoes and had the right amount of green olives and it was really nice to be able to see the chunks of the green olives. If you're not a fan of olives, then do inform the waiter to see if they can do something about it as I do know some people isn't a fan of it. I myself however, do love Olives so it was fine for me.

The roasted potatoes were cut in the shape of your typical wedges and was crispy on the outside but was full of flavour from the seasoning and herbs. The sauteed zucchini were placed underneath the roasted potatoes and crispy pork fillet. The zucchini was sauteed well and didn't have extra seasoning that would clash with the seasoned roasted potatoes as well as the green olives and tomato sauce.

At first I thought that it would be Crispy skin pork fillet but instead, it was a pork fillet alright but the crispy pork skin was instead separated. The crispy pork skin was just a strip with half being easily bitten but half was very hard to bite that actually hurt our teeth abit. It was definitely a big portion dish but in terms of having to eat it again soon, maybe not. I didn't really feel too good after eating that much pork afterwards as well as the next day.

'Filet de Beouf et sa Sauce Au Bleu' (AUD$33) was the only Steak or Beef dish in the menu for Mains and so, he decided to order it. Eye Fillet with blue cheese sauce served with gratin dauphinois, courgette and petit salade. Expecting the blue cheese sauce to be more than what was dolloped on top of the Eye fillet, we weren't sure if there would be enough sauce to cover it all.

Gratin Dauphinois is a traditional French dish based on potatoes and creme fraiche. It is usually made with raw potatoes, thinly sliced and cooked in a buttered dish with garlic and cream. It was quite delicate as you can see with the thinly sliced potato layers however I could not really taste the creme fraiche.

The steak was a bit undercooked than what he had asked, from medium it became a bit medium rare. Although it may not have been a big problem for us, but it would have been better if the steak was cooked well and to our liking. The blue cheese sauce was unique and definitely something you don't get very often in other restaurants when ordering steak. The blue cheese sauce was creamy and light though I think that if there was a stronger punch on the blue cheese itself within the sauce were you can taste it more than just slightly, would be perfect.

Courgette is just another name for Zucchinis to be honest but it is just British English and has a French origin. The courgette were thinly sliced along with carrots which seemed to be baked in a dish and was a great accompaniment for a steak dish however, it was quite petite being very thinly sliced plus they were the only French vegetable dish other than the fresh green salads on the plate which had no sauce.

Cove Bar & Dining, River Quay, South Brisbane

Cove Bar and Dining lies among South Bank's river quay with the views of the Brisbane river right in front of you while you dine. Having a laid back dining in an elegant surrounding, this restaurant offers dishes from breakfast to having a romantic riverside dinner or even for gatherings or parties. What highlights the restaurant would have to be its view of the river.

A new app has launched in November offering members a bottle of award winning wine when dining at participating restaurants and this new app is called 'Free Wines'. The participating restaurants rangers from local restaurants to hatted restaurants which suits everyone who simply love to eat. Did I mention that this was available Australia wide? So whether you are in New South Wales or Queensland, South Australia or Victoria, there will be participating restaurants available. Last of all, the best thing about this app is that it is free.. Yes, I am not kidding. It costs nothing to download nor do you have to buy it to be able to experience it. Imagine dining at a restaurant whilst being able to be treated to a complimentary bottle of vino of red or white of your choice.

After having clicked on the restaurant, we would then choose our wine out of two choices, Clairault Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot or First Creek Chardonnay, in which we chose the red wine to have. It took a while for the waitress to bring the wine over to the table but it didn't really bother us as we were enjoying the view while sipping on water.

Clairault Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot, Margaret River, Western Australia (5 Star rated winery) consists of perfumes of cedar and blackcurrant with hints of clove and tobacco leaf lead to a savoury, dry, long palate with gentle tannins.

To start off our meal, 'Salt n Pepper Squid' ($19.5) consists of marinated baby squid, deep fried with saffron salt and pepper served with a passionfruit sweet chilli sauce. What intrigued us at first when it arrived was how bright yellow the batter or crumb was in which I thought that they may have tried something different by maybe using tumeric but in terms of the squid meat, it was very thick and chewy which was delicious and juicy. It is always quite upsetting when you buy Salt and Pepper squid and find that most of it would be the crumb or the batter but only thin meat in the middle. The passionfruit sweet chilli was quite interesting in a way but I didn't find it anything wow.

Another starter we decided to share is 'Tum Yum Mushrooms Arancini' ($15.5) which I thought was quite different combining tom yum and mushrooms together as an Arancini. Deep fried risotto balls with their 2014 chilli cook off award winning chilli paste, mushrooms and fresh herbs served with roasted garlic aioli.

The chilli paste allowed the Arancini balls to be slightly spicier than I thought but not too much, the risotto was cooked nicely and with the combination of the mushrooms, it made this starter to not feel as heavy as it should be with the usual arancini you would eat. Do be careful when you take a bite of it as it can get very hot in the middle. The mushrooms seemed to have been diced thinly allowing it to somehow get absorbed into the risotto not allowing its individual taste and chewiness to shine amongst the other elements.

However, one downside would be that there wasn't enough garlic aioli for all the arancini balls. Although it was placed underneath the balls, it might have been a better idea to put it in a small saucer on the side or just put more sauce. The micro herbs was very cute and gave the whole dish a nice elegant touch. As you can see from the photo below, you are able to see that it has been created nicely with a thin layer of crumb and the risotto and filling inside.

'Twice Cooked Crispy Pork Belly' ($34) was one of the mains that caught my eye as it said it was a Twice cooked crispy pork belly served with apple and parsnip puree, roasted root vegetables with house made jus. I've tried twice cooked crispy pork belly before and was one of the best and so far, no other restaurants have beaten that succulent, juicy taste. So, I wondered if this would blow me away..

The crispy skin was crackling but made it hard to cut through the meat along with the skin, resulting in having to cut the meat first then forcefully try to knife through the skin but if not, then it would resort to biting it. The pork belly meat was juicy and mixed in well with the jus. The various vegetables was a delight with a mixture of potato and sweet potato and so on.

What I enjoyed other than the roughly thick cut vegetables was the apple and parsnip puree which I thought was quite interesting as it did not have an overpowering sweetness from the apple as it was well balanced. Unfortunately, the twice cooked crispy pork belly was yum, but still did not blow me away to make it my no. 1 twice cooked pork belly.

'100 Day Grain Fed Rib Fillet' ($34) weighed 300g which was quite big in size served with rosemary roasted stew potatoes, honey carrot puree and garlic buttered kale with red wine jus. Presented beautifully, it was interesting how you are able to see the outlining of the jus and the puree and how they were able to not fully get mixed up together. The brightness of the carrot puree allowed the dish to have a hint of bright colour.

The rib fillet was cooked well however there were quite a bit of fats around it which we ended up leaving it aside but the steak was complemented with the stew potatoes and also the puree. I found that what made this dish quite unique was not the potatoes nor was it the kale, but the honey carrot puree.

Imagine having to dine at a restaurant and even by ordering only two mains let's say and a bottle of wine.. just imagine how much that would've cost in total. By having to be able to order a free wine to accompany your meal with your loved ones, it's not how much money you save that matters, but it shows how there are people out there who do care about the diners and their experiences, allowing them to not only enjoy but also being able to try and taste various wines which would allow us to buy one of our own next time. So, I do suggest you all download this superb app and try it while you can.

*mynameisFood. dined as a guest at Cove Bar and Dining to experience using the Free Wine App provided by Zenith Wine Agencies, however, all opinions and reviews are my own.

Chocolateria San Churro, South Brisbane, Brisbane

Chocolateria San Churro is the perfect place to go if you love chocolate, rich cakes, bite sized chocolates and yes, churros. Although their coffee may not be the greatest, it does seem to be inconsistent during every of my revisits. It was quite empty when we came in but it soon became quite busy as people started to walk by and stop, trying to find seats would seem more of a wait than usual. I think South Bank really need to open up more desserts and coffee places for people to dine at and have more choices in going where despite the wait and all, but at least, choices are always good.

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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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