Sorry for the lack of posts - work’s been hectic and on top of that, mild jet-lag has been causing me to fall asleep relatively early each day. As one would expect when travelling, I ate at a lot of restaurants - you’ll probably see a lot of little reviews of the dishes that I managed to get through. Posts are also going to be in chronological order because I’m like that.

We arrived in Brisbane in the early morning and so our hotel room wasn’t ready for us. We dumped our bags and went wandering around to kill some time: registering for our conference, went up and down the river on a ferry, and eating! My first full meal in Australia (after a much needed coffee) was at a little Vietnamese cafe on the South Bank. Viet De Lites is a modern looking place but with very traditional Vietnamese meals on the menu. The lunch specials consisted of a one course meal (something on noodles or rice) and a drink.

Grilled Lemongrass Beef on Rice Vermicelli

I chose this grilled lemongrass beef on rice vermicelli and I think I had lemonade to drink. This has to be the fanciest presentation I’ve ever had with this dish! Cold rice vermicelli sits at the bottom and warm grilled lemongrass marinated beef and beansprouts, lettuce, cucumber, chopped peanuts and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon are strewn on top. This all sounds quite dry, no? What enlivens this entire salady bowl is that little bowlful of nuoc cham, the Vietnamese dipping sauce. There’s fish sauce, chili, and sugar in there and it’s probably diluted with a little water too. I pour this over the top, mix mix mix, and chow down. Very refreshing for a hot and sunny day.

Viet De Lites
Shop A4, Little Stanley Street
South Bank, Brisbane