On our last night in Brisbane, for some bizarre reason, all of us (me and colleagues) wanted steak. Perhaps this was due to all the cold sandwiches and salads we were fed at the conference? One colleague went off to the Hilton to ask the concierge to recommend a place and Jade Buddha was a name that he brought back. So off we went!
First impressions of Jade Buddha were that it was loud and that it looked hip. My impressions were spot on – it’s the only place I’ve been to that has a coin-operated hair straightener in the ladies’ bathroom! Most of the women sported ironed hair and short skirts and they flicked their eyes up and down on you as you walked to your table. It definitely wasn’t my kind of place.
Almost all of us ordered the eye fillet with potato gratin, myself included. Hey, remember we wanted steak! Steaks were cooked exactly as we ordered them and the sauce it came with was quite nice – brown butter based, I think. It was all quite nice but nothing special; it was just well cooked. The steaks also came with a small side of broccolini and I ate that like it was going out of fashion (off a friend’s plate too…heh…maybe I needed my vegetables).
Desserts were very weak. We ordered a fried ice cream (ice cream in a coconut batter crust), a chocolate Buddha (gooey choc pudding) and a sticky date pudding to share and I found them all to be both overly rich and much too sweet. Looks like this restaurant is mainly a place to be seen – once again, not my kind of place.
Jade Buddha
1 Eagle Street
Eagle Street Pier
Brisbane
Tamarind and Thyme 
Wed, 21 Nov, 2007 at 15:02
I’m a bit wary of asking concierges, taxi drivers etc, where to eat, because so many of them are ‘on a commission’
Sounds like many a place I know … the food gives no actual cause for complaint, but I wouldn’t cross town to eat there!
(Unless there’s chocolate fudge cake, or sticky toffee pudding on offer, I usualy pass on desserts, and ask for an apple or some cheese instead)
Wed, 21 Nov, 2007 at 22:54
that chocolate buddha did look like a buddha 🙂
Fri, 23 Nov, 2007 at 10:49
coin-operated hair straighteners….wow!
Fri, 23 Nov, 2007 at 18:53
travelrat: Exactly. Food alright but not a destination restaurant!
Kat: Hey, it kinda does!
Eva: I know! Actually the idea of sharing hair implements with total strangers creeps me out…
Mon, 26 Nov, 2007 at 00:47
Su-Lin: I suppose we share hair implements at the hairdresser. I looked up some info on them and apparently they are so hot they become sterile, which I suppose makes sense. Amazing what people come up with!!