Buffalo Club

Jen and I finally had a chance to dine at Buffalo Club last night.  The venue has a bit of a reputation. Its head chef Ryan Squires was recently awarded Australia’s Best New Talent and his degustation had won a handful of local foodie awards so we were anxious to give it a try.  We had booked about a month in advance and the big night had finally arrived.  We went as a party of six.

Located in the heart of the Valley, the doormen were very welcoming and ushered us to the Sky Bar for cocktails before our meal.  The ambience and decor inside both Sky Bar and Buffalo Club was warm and inviting, and the service excellent.  Whats strange is that this top-notch restaurant and bar is located right next to the Valley’s redlight district and across the road from the cop shop.  A waitress remarked that the view gets ‘pretty interesting’ around 11 at night on a Friday.

We did the 10 course degustation with matching wines (there is also a 15 course option).

We had a pleasant surprise awaiting us:  we were booked at the Chef’s table.  This gave us the best seats in the house and an opportunity to see the meals being prepared right in front of us.  Ryan Squires was also nice enough to come over and have a bit of a chat about our meals too.

Cocktails @ Sky Bar – Dutch Spring Punch and Cuban Crush

Gin Campari and lemon grass

Deep fried manchego cheese in the style of a prawn cracker

Hickory smoked ice cream, wild rice, garlic, tomato, onion, shallots, basil and pollen

Smoked beef jerky, lime, chili, cilantro, onion, peppers, avocado

Opah, paw paw and soy

Spanner crab, olive, treviso, walnut, endives, beetroot, sunchoke, arugula

Ocean trout, nasturtium, smoked roe, fennel, kettle chips, onion and yoke

Duck, melon, candy cashews, aubergine, perilla leaf

Calotte of beef, black truffle, gnocci and artichoke

Foam sorbet with hubba bubba sauce

Buche d’Affinios, strawberries and cream

Buffalo yoghurt, date, citrus rind, banana, apricot, sour mayer, carrot, hazel and sesame

Coconut, chocolate, salted caramel and custard

Petit fours – 64% dark chocolate and campari sherbert

Buffalo soldiers – Jill, Rich, myself, Jen, Cam and Rhea

We could see the staff prep the courses from our table. In the background is head chef Ryan Squires who has worked at French Laundry and El Bulli.

The degustation that night was exceptional.  The meals were inventive, imaginatively presented and tasted incredible.  Everyone had a different favourite course.  For me, it was probably the calotte of beef.  It was so succulent and tender, slightly crispy on the outside, juicy and full of flavour in the middle.  There wasn’t a dud course on the menu.  The waiters were very knowledgable about the courses and were happy to chat and answer any questions we had.

This was easily the best dining experience I’ve had in Brisbane.