Monthly Archives: January 2017

Jan 22 2017

Banter Coffee House – Manly, Brisbane

Inviting surroundings set under an elevated roof, looked appealing.   Friendly staff were on hand to show you to a seat and distribute menus.   Now when I say friendly staff, they were.  And relaxed.  There was nothing forced with their customer interaction at all.   Certainly making for an inviting atmosphere.

Menus were also inviviting,, not only on the food  side, as the drinks menu had some interesting combinations as well.


Choose your order, then lodge it at he counter along with your payment.  After that, sit back, relax and the staff will bring your meals out as well as clear the table.


Cold Drip Coffee was one of the drinks choices.  Not being a coffee drinker, I can only go by what I was told, which was that it was a nice strong coffee.   There is maple provided if you would like to sweeten it a little.    I will say, the aromatherapy tea though was simply superb.   

Meals arrived with a nice selection at our table.   The above Banter breakfast was a big plate, full, including thick cut bacon and large sausage topped with spinach and hollandaise..  By all accounts a challenge to eat the entire plateful, but hard to stop as every morsel was so enjoyable.

My choice today was the Grilled Haloumi Salad.  Sounded intriguing, I wonder what if this will live up to the description?

Wow!   Not only was the presentation fantastic, the flavours within this salad mixed to an intriguing combination.   Combine those flavours with wonderfully fresh ingredients, and this dish was simply delicious.   For a salad, it was also surprisingly filling.

Kimchi Pancakes, another well enjoyed dish at our table.  Savoury pancakes filled with pork mince and a peanut salsa.  Again lovely presentation as well as a fresh interesting mix of ingredients.


In keeping with  a desire this year to test dishes different to the norm.   Hubby chose the potato and feta hash with a fennel and garlic sauerkraut.  Certainly no disappointment with this dish, he was suitably impressed.

Everyone in our group agreed, overall this venue had surprised with upmarket meals , service and surroundings.   Keep up the fantastic work here.  There is a lot of potential and as a fairly new player on the Brisbane scene, you cetainly made an impact!

Thank you!   We look forward to returning at some point to try more of the delights on offer.

Jan 13 2017

Garden Grille – The Glen Hotel

Time to kick off the new year with a visit to The Glen Hotel.   As Christmas and New Year have been family time, this breakfast was another catchup with family,  And to be fair, the buffet breakfast here proved to be, not only great value, good food, but an ideal location to catch up in a relaxed way.  No pressure, peruse the delights of the buffet as you feel like it, sit and chat in the interim, whilst enjoying the space and pleasant surroundings.

There’s plenty of room for groups and smaller numbers.   Dining settings allowed you enough area between yourselves and other patrons to ensure no-one felt like they were on top of each other, giving everyone room to move.

Buffet was split between two areas.   Cold buffet including cereals, fruit, tea coffee and juices, was in front of the bar.  Hot buffet had been set up in front of the kitchen area.  Here you could choose your toast, select hasbrowns, baked beans , eggs, and bacon to name a few.All food was nice and fresh.  We didn’t find anything dried or overcooked.  For the minimal cost of this buffet, $20 per adult, it was impressive.

To the delight of patrons, there was a corner near the hot buffet, dedicated to waffles, crepes, sweet delights and toppings including ice cream.  Dessert for breakfast, yum!

I would highly recommend a visit to this renovated hotel. With different areas throughout there is something for everyone, even a little bakery cafe outside.

Keep an eye out for the local visitors.  These little fellows were happily scuttling around the deck area outside. 

Definitely check this one out, well worth a visit.