Aria Brisbane

Jen and I recently went to Aria to try out their tasting menu.  Unfortunately it was a spur of the moment decision so I didn’t have a camera on me.  I took a few photos with my iPhone but they look pretty godawful.  So rather than posting the full seven courses in their grainy 2 megapixel dimly-lit glory, I’ll just post my favourite courses from the night.

Kingfish served with spanner crab, avocado, harissa and a smoked tea seasoning

Pork belly twice cooked Bangalow Sweet Pork belly with grilled cotechino and iceberg and apple salad

Banoffee banana brûlée with caramel, almond praline and toasted almond ice cream

What I can tell you about Aria Brisbane’s seasonal tasting menu is that the twice cooked pork belly is to die for.  That thing was cooked to perfection and I kinda wish I had captured an image of it that didn’t make it look like a small brown box.

As for the rest of the tasting menu, I really enjoyed it but it was definitely the most filling tasting menu I’ve ever had and I was struggling by the time I got to the banana brulee.  Don’t get me wrong, I can always find space for pudding but it was a real effort.  I guess thats what happens when you have so many courses with cooked meat and you end up eating some of your wife’s unfinished courses also.

On another note, I’ll be checking out an awesome looking Malaysian restaurant in the West End that Al put me on to.  He also introduced me to this excellent food and wine blog based in Brisbane.  It’s written by someone in the food industry and they actually compliment the posts about the restaurants with some high quality photos that actually do the food justice.  If you live around these parts (or don’t) I’d encourage you to check out the most excellent Green Been Food blog.