Leaf Espresso Bar Tarragindi

We recently moved into the inner city and we have been enjoying the plethora of cafes our location has to offer.  Before we moved, however, our options were far more limited.

If only we'd known about Leaf Espresso Bar back then.  Leaf is a boutique cafe/espresso bar located in suburban Tarragindi and is the brainchild of Malcolm and Danielle Watts and rugby union player Scott Higginbotham.  As stated on their Facebook page "Leaf [combines] a fantastic position with high quality coffee/beverages, gourmet food, mouth watering deserts, inviting atmosphere [...] topped off by a friendly and professional team".

We were fortunate enough to be invited to come and check it out for ourselves.

Inviting atmosphere is right - look at those gorgeous lights!  Mal loves timber and the decorative branch actually comes from his backyard.

In addition to doing a roaring trade as an espresso bar, Leaf also offers themed live music nights fortnightly on a Thursday.  On our visit there were gourmet burgers ( by chef Craig Benton, formerly of Customs House) and live music from Kate Jacobson from local country/folk due, Texas Tea.  

We were lucky enough to meet a (very tired) Mal, who had popped in during preparation for their new venture now open in Woolloongabba, Moose and Gibson.  Mal said that it was important to them to provide good quality coffee.  Leaf uses Two Seasons coffee, a boutique single origin coffee line from the Piazza D'Oro group.  Consistency is key for good coffee - you need good beans, good baristas and a good machine.  The coffee machine at Leaf is serviced regularly and they take care to ensure all staff are well-trained.

This care has paid off for them.  According to Mal, when they opened Leaf, they were hoping do 12kg of coffee each week.  Thanks to lots of support from the locals, Leaf is now doing more than 60kg each week.

The live music nights are popular too, with Leaf aiming for more than 100 covers each night.  We were one of the first to arrive this particular Thursday but it did not take long for the small space to fill.

There were four burgers on offer on Gourmet Burger Night.  A Cajun chicken burger, a tempura whiting burger, a steak burger and a harissa lamb burger.  All four burgers were matched with boutique beers.

D had to try the steak burger with its recommended beer, Matilda Bay Minimum Chips Golden Lager.

The smell coming from the kitchen was mouthwatering.  The smell coming from the burger when it got to our table was even better.  The chips were well-cooked and crispy and the steak was delicious, albeit a little messy.  D said the burger had a real home made feel to it, it was honest and tasty.  He liked the beer too.

I went for the Cajun chicken burger, which was served with a side of sweet potato chips.

The sweet potato chips looked hand cut and were also beautifully cooked.  The chicken, however, was on another level.  The spices tasted amazing and paired perfectly with the pineapple.  D said that his burger was great but the chicken was something else.  D is reading over my shoulder as I type this post and he said "your burger was so good that day".  It was.  It really was.

We really enjoyed our visit to Leaf Espresso.  We really wanted to try the Two Seasons coffee, but as it was late when we finished our meals we thought we would leave it for another visit.  We can't wait to go back and try the cafe menu.

Note: The Empty Stomach team (well, D and I) dined as guests of Leaf Espresso Bar, but all opinions are our own.

Dietary issues disclaimer:  I ordered the burger, did not eat the bun and was prepared to suffer the consequences (if any).  I did not ask, nor do I know, if gluten/dairy/soy free options were available.

We went for a wander one morning...

I know I've been a little quiet over here lately.  There have been one or two sporadic posts every few months, but for the most part my heart hasn't been into blogging.  I think it's because my dietary requirements are so specific now that I didn't think that anyone would want to read about what I was cooking/eating.

Then I realised that I blog for me.  I love everyone who stops by and visits and I thank every one of you, but I blog to share what I love about food and that really hasn't changed even though my diet has.

So, you might be seeing a bit more of me around here.

We moved closer to the city at the beginning of the year and everywhere we go we see a new restaurant/cafe/bar that we want to try.  We are trying to keep a list so that we remember them, but that hasn't been quite as successful as we'd hoped.

D and I were lucky enough to have a leave day on the Friday after ANZAC Day.  We had the (brilliant) idea to walk from Fortitude Valley to West End in the morning and try things along the way.

We started at Sugar Jar Cafe in James Street.  D really enjoyed one of their coffees when he tried it for the first time during the recent James Street Up Late and he wanted to go back again.

I'm so artistic

I am not a big coffee drinker, or even a coffee drinker at all because decaf doesn't count, right?  You should probably take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I enjoyed it.  My (half strength) coffee was smooth and not bitter and I don't really look for much else in a cup of coffee.

Second stop was all the way down the George Street of Brisbane, The Frisky Goat Espresso.  Frisky Goat is my favourite coffee stop in all of Brisbane because they not only have almond milk (Almond Breeze) but also dairy free dark chocolate.  Plus, they do not laugh at my order of a medium dark chocolate decaf mocha on almond milk.  In fact, they even remember it.  They are awesome.  They also have the cutest mascot.

From Frisky Goat we continued our wanderings over the Victoria Bridge and down into West End.  We didn't have a specific destination in mind, so we poked our noses into every cafe we came across scoping out our breakfast options.

I'm quite picky about breakfast.  Technically, most cafes can cater for me by just giving me bacon and eggs, but I don't really like bacon and eggs.  Actually, I'm quite picky about a few other places too.  Technically, most eateries can make me a plain unseasoned steak with no sauces and an undressed green salad but most of the time I want something a little more interesting.

We walked up, down and up Boundary Street a few times until we settled on Atomica Eat Drink.  It was partially because I really wanted to try Calmer Sutra Chai and Atomica is one of only two places in Brisbane which stock it.  It was also because their breakfast menu looked awesome!

Atomica's Calmer Sutra chai is made on soy milk, so I did suffer a little afterwards but it was very nice.  I'm glad I tried it.  

Clearly I'm not quite back into my blogger stride because I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of D's breakfast.  He ordered the free range eggs and bacon on toasted sourdough with roasted tomato jam.  He assures me it was very tasty.

I think D's breakfast would have had to have been pretty darn tasty to top mine.  I had the vego breakfast, garlic roasted Swiss brown mushrooms, spinach, grilled tomato, bubble and squeak and toasted multi-seed gluten free bread (I think it was from Sol Breads).

Sorry, Weetbix, but this was the breakfast of champions.  Everything was cooked perfectly and the seasoning was spot on.  The spinach was incredible, I could have eaten that by the bucketful.  It was filling too, I had to roll myself back into the city. 

D must have enjoyed breakfast because he was mightily patient while I spent far too much money before making our way towards the Valley again.  We made a slight detour on the way home to track down The Bun Mobile.

D and I had our first Bun Mobile experience at James Street Up Late, along with our first Wandering Elephant experience.  D called the Bun Mobile's chicken bun "the best thing [he'd] ever eaten".  He then spent the next few weeks working out when we could track them down again.

We tried the day's special: grilled black angus beef, kewpie mayo, crunchy lettuce, wakame salad, teriyaki glaze and edamame beans.  Now, there is probably every single one of the things I can't eat in that bun but I had a bite or two anyway and I steeled myself for the consequences.  *small voice so my gastroenterologist doesn't hear* I'd do it again too!!  The beef was so tender it melted in your mouth.  D wasn't a fan of the wakame salad but I liked it.

We also had to get the phenomenal chicken bun.  Char grilled teriyaki chicken, slaw with julienne carrot and mint, Japanese mayo and hoisin sauce.  There is nothing wrong with the flavours in this bun.  They all work together in this amazing heaven of complementing textures and flavours.

A few days later when I was feeling well enough to contemplate food again, I decided I had to try to make my own version of the chicken bun so I could enjoy it without knocking myself out for a few days.  They turned out pretty well, so stay tuned for that story.

Burger Urge - Fortitude Valley

Hi everyone, I am Dave the Mega-Parm, Adrasteia's better half and a fellow blogger. I haven't been blogging for long, nor am I very good at it but I'm having a lot of fun. A couple of weeks ago Adrasteia was lucky enough to be asked by the lovely folks at Burger Urge if she wanted some gift vouchers to check out one of their stores. When I heard we could go for burgers I jumped at the chance, but the catch was that I had to blog about it.

So here it is.

Burger Urge is a small burger chain in Brisbane with five stores around the main city area. The store we visited is on Brunswick St in Fortitude Valley. We got there about 12:30pm on a beautiful Autumn Saturday, ordered our food inside and sat outside.

After about 15-20 minutes the food came out. I ordered the Red Hot Chilli Pepper, Adrasteia ordered the Cluckin' Awesome and Mother of Adrasteia went with the Primal Urge.

Red Hot Chilli Pepper

The Red Hot Chilli Pepper was awesome. The sauce was hot but not too hot. Enough to get the nose running but not enough to make the meal inedible. The salads that came with the burger were crisp and tasty and the bun was perfectly serviceable  I think what stood out to me the most was the beef pattie though. It was moist and succulent and a good size too. Reached the edges of the bun.

At the end the burger was a little messy but definitely not enough to detract from the meal.

I had my Red Hot Chilli Pepper with their regular chips but the others had sweet potato chips. The regular chips were pretty boring (compared to the burger) but the sweet potato chips were great. I'd definitely recommend going sweet potato with some garlic mayo.

I was also lucky enough to have a small taste of the Cluckin' Awesome and the Primal Urge. They were both pretty nice however the Cluckin' Awesome was a little bit pedestrian in its flavour, and the Primal Urge was very sweet (and very messy). I am happy with my choice.

Cluckin' Awesome.

Primal Urge.

Half a Primal Urge (being enjoyed).

Lastly, something very strange and cool I noticed. If you sit outside and look up, you'll see all these painted bicycles. Pretty random!

Thank you Burger Urge for the delicious meal. We all enjoyed our lunch and left very full. See you next time

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Note from Adrasteia: Burger Urge also offers wide range of vegetarian and gluten free options.  My Cluckin' Awesome was served on a pretty tasty gluten free bun.  Just beware, we have been indirectly informed that while their potato chips are gluten free, the kumara fries are not.

Simple and easy raw cheesecake

Now, if that's not a picture that makes you want to read a blog post, I just don't know what is.

I'm not going to apologise for not posting for the better part of this year, but I will apologise for the lackluster photography.  I received a digital SLR for my birthday and I'm still learning how to use it.

Although this blog probably isn't the best evidence, I've been doing a bit of cooking lately.  I'm still experimenting in both raw and cooked foods, because it's much easier to know what you can safely eat when you are the one making it.

I love raw cheesecakes.  The recipes are so flexible and they can be so tasty.  In fact, I often just skip the base, make the filling and eat it as pudding.  What can I say, I'm lazy.  What could be easier than throwing some stuff in the Vitamix and blending?

So, today I wanted a cashew based, clean flavoured filling.  It was 4pm on Sunday afternoon and I had little patience.  This is where the flexibility of raw recipes shine - I had pre-soaked 2 cups of cashews but other than that, I was winging it.

I put my cashews in the blender with 1/2 cup of water and a glug of vanilla extract (I go through vanilla extract like it's water, it's a very expensive habit).  My starting board recipe used maple syrup as a sweetener but I wasn't in the mood for a maple flavour so I used a couple spatulas of date paste (maybe 1/3 cup).  Then I blended until everything was creamy.

I added 1/4 cup liquefied coconut oil and blended some more.  I felt that this was too much coconut oil - I think the coconut oil taste can be overpowering in some coconut oils.  Lemon juice can cut through the coconut taste, so I added the juice of just under one very small lemon (to taste) and blended some more.  If you've got a high speed blender, don't do what I did and let it go so long it started heating the mix.  It discoloured the cashews a bit.

There you have it: creamy and tasty raw cheesecake filling, ready to stand up to modifications and overblending.  Love it.

I have a great idea for this filling, but I'm not sure it will work out, so I'm going to experiment before I share.

Random Eats

I would love to know more about how flavours work together and be able to have that "knack" to know what extra something a recipe needs to make it taste good.  I know that all it takes is practice, but the control freak in me has trouble being that spontaneous.

Tonight was a little different, I worked a little bit later than usual and when I got home I wanted something easy.  I'd been reading blogs on the bus on the way home and a blogger had made a sauce from miso, peanut flour and water.  I know I wanted something saucy and coconut flavoured, so I thought I could try making a miso peanut flour sauce with coconut milk.  Makes sense, right?

I don't know what made me decide to use prawns.  I had to smother my inner foodie while I bought some frozen, pre-cooked, pre-shelled prawn meat.  Sometimes I'm all about convenience and when I'm buying seafood from a supermarket I'm probably far better off buying frozen.

Originally, I was thinking of a bowl of rice noodles, prawns, kale and a creamy sauce.  When I got home, my desire to clean the fridge changed my mind and the base of my creamy sauce became some onion, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant and carrot.  The sauce was made of 1 teaspoon soy free chickpea miso from Blue Mountains Miso, 3 teaspoons peanut flour, 1 tsp coconut aminos and enough water to make a paste.  I mixed the paste with some coconut milk and a lovely creamy vegetable bowl was born.

After dinner I felt like some dessert, but I've been trying really hard to fight my sugar cravings which are starting to come back now that I've let my good habits I developed during my detox slip a little.  I couldn't fight the urge entirely, and made an embarrassingly satisfying dessert by melting together some chocolate coconut butter with unsweetened almond milk and adding a sprinkle of sea salt.  In other words, I had a spoonful of nut butter.  I don't know just how well it fitted into my sugar free aspirations, but it was very satisfying.

Paleo Cinnamon Rolls

Would you believe that I've never eaten a cinnamon roll? They've always been something I've admired on blogs but have never really piqued my interest enough to take the next step to try one.

For some reason, lately I've had quite a hankering for one. It may be something psychological, you know, how you always want something you can't have. As someone who can't eat gluten or most dairy and as someone who is trying to avoid refined sugars, cinnamon rolls (and my other hankering, monkey bread) is probably as close as something I "can't have" as can be.

Luckily for me, there are wonderful bloggers out there with answers to all life's problems, including what to do when all you want is an allergy-friendly, no refined sugar sweet treat. A quick google search for "paleo cinnamon rolls" brought up some incredible recipes.

In the end I went with a recipe that had the necessary balance between ease and convenience, i.e. I had all the ingredients. Cait from Paleo Perfectly created a beautiful paleo treat with minimal sugar.

I found that my almond meal dough was a little sticky. My almond meal wasn't very finely milled, perhaps it didn't soak up as much as other types? Anyway, a sticky dough did make it slightly difficult to roll, but in the end I used the baking paper as a guide and ended up with something that vaguely resembled a crescent roll.

I love the smell of baking cinnamon, it was almost disappointing to take the rolls out of the oven after 15 minutes.

The coconut sugar glaze was phenomenal. It was simply coconut sugar, arrowroot, your preferred milk substitute (I used rice milk) and vanilla. It mixed into a delicious caramel sauce. I didn't like that the coconut sugar stayed quite granulated, so I microwaved it for 30 seconds and was rewarded with a lovely silky texture.

I had pictured cinnamon rolls being pillowy soft dough and a sticky glaze. These rolls had a crisp outside and a wonderful soft interior. The cinnamon is the predominant flavour, which is great, my fear was that any roll I made would be too sugary. I love paleo recipes.

See this post on Paleo Perfectly for the recipe.

Pizza Perfection

Hello.  I used to blog here.

As a bit of a re-introduction, I love food.  I love cooking and eating and even though I might sometimes be lazy, I want what I eat to be great.

When you heard from me last, I had been diagnosed with my gluten and lactose intolerance.  Since then, we have also discovered I'm intolerant to soy.  It's been quite an interesting journey adapting my diet to get rid of the things that were causing so many issues.  I still suffer from IBS, so even with my new diet I do have to be careful with some of my IBS triggers.

Five months of relatively clean eating (I have had the odd "gluten"-ing or "dairy"-ing, not fun) has seen me feeling so much better.  I really feel like a completely different person.  I am not getting sick nearly as much as I used to, I have energy and motivation.  I'm enjoying going places and seeing people and I've discovered some fantastic new foods.  I also kicked off the new year with a 21 day detox which made me feel better still and I'm trying to maintain a lot of that by eating more paleo (although I love my quinoa and the occasional legume).

Feeling like a new person may not be entirely due to my dietary changes, because I have now lost 43kg since I started my weight loss journey in August 2010 (if you want, you can read about how it began here).  So, I'm less than 2/3 of the person I used to be, but now - at the risk of sounding massively corny - I'm much more than I was.

Lots has happened in my life since I last posted, apart from the lack of the will to write, but I'm starting to get the itch back again.  I have a lot of backlogged posts from when I wasn't eating properly and I'm tossing up whether or not to post them.  We'll see how I feel!

My revival recipe was dinner tonight.  D bought a ham and mushroom pizza from the Eagle Farm Markets and I countered with the creation you see above.  A socca pizza monster.  Please excuse the iPhone photo, every single one of the photos I took on the camera turned out blurry.  I may have been lazy with some of my food pictures, so you might see a couple of iPhone photos coming up.

I love socca but I haven't had it for a while.  I didn't want to make a complicated pizza base, I just wanted quick and easy.  My pizza had to have vegetables too, lots and lots of vegetables!

Socca Pizza
inspired by so many people to list

1 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs onion powder
1 tsp Italian herbs
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
2 tbs coconut oil

Your choice of toppings  (I used tomato pizza sauce, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum, kale, cashew cheese and a drizzle of balsamic before serving)

Mix together the chickpea flour, pepper, garlic and onion powder, Italian herbs and salt.  Slowly add the water while stirring to avoid lumps.  Let the mixture stand for 15-30 minutes.

While the mixture stands, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Line an 18cm cake tin with baking paper and add coconut oil.  Place the tin in the oven to heat the tin and oil, leave for about 10-15 minutes.

After the oil is hot, add the batter and return to the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Once the socca has cooked, remove it from the tin and place it on a lined baking tray.  Turn off the oven and switch to a hot grill.  Add toppings of your choice and place under the grill until lightly browned or cooked to your liking.