Birthday Weekend: Primal Pantry, Brisbane

By the time we hopped off the plane on Friday (6th of March) and made our way to the hire car it was safe to say we were starving. I'd done a little bit of research before leaving about interesting places to eat, thankfully Primal Pantry was not far away.

Primal Pantry is a 100% Gluten Free and Paleo restaurant situated in three locations around Brisbane. We visited the Teneriffe Village location on the corner of Florence and Macquarie Street.
I personally am not on a Paleo diet, I just couldn't go past the 100% Gluten free sign on their menu.
I was inundated with options when I viewed the menu and despite having 'studied' it before I left Melbourne it was still hard to decide on one dish. I finally settled on the Mexican Beef Cheeks with crispy tortilla and cucumber salsa, for $20.50AUD. Brody ordered the Primal Grill for $27.50AUD.

Mexican Beef Cheeks

The Mexican Beef Cheeks were nicely flavoured, however they massively overdid the garnish. Though tougher than other chunks of beef it was still delicious and the combination of the cucumber salsa and herbed sauce was beautiful. The tortillas weren't what I would usually call 'crispy' but they were firm enough to fold up with the meat and salsa filling still inside. The flavour of the tortillas was of coconut and nut. Delicious as an after taste even though I'm usually not massive on coconut flavour. Once I removed the garnish the flavours worked well together.

Although I was not disappointed with the food, Brody was. His meal didn't fill him up and I couldn't expect it to with the portion size, fine for me but not for his appetite. The pork ribs were more bone than rib although delicious and the meat just fell off the bone. The steak looked a little tough from what I saw, it may have just been dense, the sausages were lovely in the tomato relish they provided. It is definitely a lovely place to eat but only once or twice a year perhaps and for those with a larger appetite it's probably not the best option.
For me it was wonderful to see lots of variety that you don't often see in restaurants and although I probably wouldn't go back for those on a Paleo diet it is a beautiful place.

Birthday Weekend: Villa and Hut Kafe at the Airport

This past weekend (for those here in Melbourne the labour day long weekend) my partner and I decided to celebrate my 23rd birthday (10th of March) by travelling up to the wonderful Gold Coast and spending the long weekend. This was our first holiday in four years, it mirrored our first ever trip together when we drove up to the Gold Coast December 2010, two months after we got together.

This time we decided to take the easier way out and fly up. Now that we are both off of our P-Plates we were able to hire a car so there was no need to take our own.

While we were waiting for boarding, I noticed that one of the little café stands "Villa & Hut Kafe" had gluten free muffins on display. Each flavour was displayed under separate glass domes; there were two flavours, one sweet a raspberry and apple muffin and one savoury ricotta and pistachio.

I chose the Raspberry and Apple muffin. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos in the terminal so I don't have any photos to share at this point in time. However there is a store at the Essendon DFO outlet, which I intend to go back to, if that location has gluten free options I will most definitely try them.
The muffin was soft and moist, there was raspberry jam in the centre. The dehydrated apple was crunchy but not so crunchy that it was a deterrent. Personally this muffin was smoother and more tasty than any of the Gluten free muffins I've had before. It was around 4.90 I think but at the size and quality it was definitely worth it.

We flew via Tiger Airways, which is currently not connected to the main Melbourne Airport terminal, however according to the website they are also located in the International arrivals lounge and the Qantas terminal.
I am not sure whether or not the flavours are always the same or if they change week to week.
I am also currently unaware if any of their other locations provide gluten free options. If you have had any experience with the chain please let me know in the comments.

Over the weekend, I ate at several venues; I will blog about some of them so don't forget to check back.