Murasaki teppenyaki, Broadbeach

This place had gotten a number of good reviews so thought I'd check it out. They didn't take bookings and when we arrived the grill seats were full so we were seated at a standard table. We asked to move once some seats freed up - glad we did as the theatrics were worth watching :)

I ordered the steak and prawn special set which also came with zucchini and onion, dipping sauces, miso soup and a salad consisting of lettuce, tomatoes and some dressing. It came with steamed rice but I opted for the upgraded "chop chop" rice. Which was a fried rice with veggies, egg and chicken. Also got some edamame to share.

The food was heaps, was really full by the end. Our chef's special trick was to twirl his spatula and fork around, making one guy feel like his was going to be stabbed with it before he caught it at the last minute. Another guy made onion tower volcanos which looked awesome. They all did a long egg strip thing which they chopped up awesomely, flicking one bit of egg at a customer (me in this case but it wasn't close).

The other guy also did this thing where he wrote thankyou backwards in I think salt. Very impressive so had to get a photo of that.

They had a decent (long) drinks list and might have done desserts but we went around the corner for ice cream elsewhere.

Highly recommend but you want a grill seat to enjoy the "show“ :)

Moo moo wine bar & grill, broadbeach

So I was a little disappointed when I booked that I could either come at 5:30 or 8:30 but the lunchtime staff was confident I could turn up at 8 as people don't usually stay for 2.5 hours. So I arrived at 8:15 and the guy told me I was 20 mins early, so I came back after 20 minutes feeling a little over it but got a warm reception with the offer of sitting outside under a heater or waiting a few minutes and sitting inside. I wasn't fussed so got seated outside under a very toasty heater. Good choice as it was packed and noisy inside. I'm not sure why I didn't figure people from my conference wouldn't try coming here too!

The staff took my water order and left me with my 20 page drinks menu and food menu. My waitress came to take my drinks order and to explain the food menu after confirming that I hadn't been here before. She also brought me a chef's special starter of wagyu beef.

She picked me as a tenderloin eater, pointing out the two selections on the menu, with her personal recommendation of the Tasmanian 200g tenderloin. So I went with that with mushroom sauce. She suggested 1-2 sides so I picked the wagyu fat cooked potatoes with rosemary & thyme.  I also ordered a cab merlot cab franc from wa. I was a little nervous when she put the freshly opened bottle down on my table but thankfully she was just resting it there.  Though I did check!

My steak was perfect. I learnt to order it medium with no blood from rockpool and that seemed to do the trick tonight too. The steak came with a whole head of garlic and my mushroom sauce.  The potatoes were yummy too but too much for me to get through.

I also ordered the raspberry souffle for dessert, just to get the full experience! It came with a raspberry macaroon with chocolate filling, vanilla bean sauce, raspberry sorbet and a strawberry. OMG so good!

I also felt compelled to try the broadbeach bull fighter cocktail, which doesn't bode well for me getting up tomorrow morning for an early morning run. Tasty but I'm so full!

Great service and great food. Highly recommend!

Pj O'Brien's - tullamarine airport

So I might have over estimated how bad the traffic would be and am stupidly early for my domestic flight. After surveying the breakfast options (McDonald's, Hudson's coffee) settled on pj's. They have a small breakfast menu and as much as I love a cooked breakfast decided the all day big breakfast might be overkill.

So I ordered the pancakes with berries and cream. It had fruit, that's something right!! After at least 20 minutes a set of 3 cold pancakes came out, it was explained they had run out of berries so they'd given me maple syrup on the side. They had also dumped half a container of double cream on top. I'm thinking maybe it took as long as it did as they had to let the pancakes cool?!

I should probably have stuck with the cooked breakfast and a cider instead! :)