Cocotte

If I hadn’t heard out about Cocotte from a friend, then I would’ve never found this hidden gem in Robina. Cocotte is nicely tucked in Robina Quays Shopping Center, with a heartwarming outdoor space for dining. I find that Cocotte’s are mostly European with a Japanese influence to it. The Japanese chef and his team at Cocotte uses the freshest seasonal ingredients to create the best culinary experience for each customer. For those who are a bit more curious, like myself, can see the artistry of the team working in an open kitchen.

As my friends and I walked into the restaurant, nice and polite staff members greeted us and showed us to a table in their little backyard. However, what caught my attention was the amount of detail they put into the decorations at this restaurant. I’m a big fan of the Japanese culture and the decorations they used were really cute and creative, which reminded me of some cafes I had been to in Japan.

Cocotte’s menu consists of a range of tapas that can be shared with friends, larger mains, a number of daily specials and a diverse range of homemade European desserts with an Asian twist!

My friends and I ordered a couple of tapas, a main and some desserts to share:

Spanner crab croquets with yuzu mayo

The outside was deep-fried just right and had a very creamy texture on the inside. The mayo had a hint of yuzu which wasn't too strong and complimented the croquet.

Bauhaus balls – Spanish mackerel fish balls deep friend and served with mayo.

Though a friend of mine thought that this was too fishy, I thought it was lovely! Being a big seafood fan, I liked the taste of this and the texture wasn’t very creamy like the croquets.

Tempura prawns with wasabi mayo

The prawns were extremely fresh and it was nicely battered. I always give a restaurant extra likes if they use good quality, fresh prawns. It makes so much difference to the texture of the overall dish and I wouldn’t pay for tempuras that use not-so-fresh prawns.

5-hour braised OX tail and beef cheek in red wine and black miso.

This was definitely the stand-out winner for me! The just-right texture of the beef cheeks and ox tail…mmm! Because it was cooked in red wine and miso for so long, the flavor really went into each bit of the meat!

I always look forward to desserts and Cocotte didn’t disappoint at all!

Chocolate soufflé

Must say this is rich chocolate dessert has probably been the best I’ve had so far! The vanilla ice cream complements the soufflé well! However, I’d recommend this dessert to share, as there is a lotttttt of chocolate (unless you’re a mega chocolate fan)!

Vanilla crème brulee

The creamy vanilla taste underneath a layer of crystallised sugar was just …. Irresistible!

Lemon myrtle green tea panna cotta with azuki shortbread, strawberry soup

To be honest, I was most looking forward to trying this dessert just because I’d never had green tea panna cotta before! I’m a huge fan of green tea and there’s just not enough of green tea-related food products on the Gold Coast! And of course, the winner of desserts goes to the Green Tea panna cotta! The panna cotta wasn’t too sweet to cover the aroma of the green tea and the accompanying strawberries and mint helped refresh my taste buds! Each time I bit into the azuki shortbread, I just had images of a tea ceremony taking place… the bitterness of green tea accompanying the sweetness of a small dessert on the side, the atmosphere of the whole room, the serenity, the zen, the rooming looking out to a traditional Japanese garden, with bonsai and trickling water…

And then I’m back to reality. Even though the atmosphere is very different at Cocotte, it gives you a sense of pleasure. There’s something so heartwarming about this place that no other restaurant on the Gold Coast has!

If it weren’t for the slightly higher price in the selection of food they have here, I’d definitely come here a lot more often! Unfortunately, being a uni student means that this will be a place for very special occasions only but I’ll be saying to people I know: “Do you know I place called Cocotte in Robina? You must try it out!”


Cocotte's Website: http://www.cocotte.com.au/index.html

Passione Gelateria

I’ve wanting to come here for a while now, but just haven’t really found the right group of people to come with and when to come actually. Luckily though, my friend had a birthday gathering and I recommended this place!

And alas, I have ticked off another to-go places in Brisbane!

We ordered two savoury tapas and two desserts to share.

Corn and zucchini fritters with haloumi.

 

The fritters were average but the haloumi and tomato salsa were quite appetising so it made the fritters taste not amazing, but better than average!

Beef bolognaise with potato gnocchi.

 

I haven’t had good gnocchi in a while and the last time I had it, I didn’t have a good experience. Therefore, I’ve been a bit reluctant to try gnocchi at new places unless I know it’s good. However, Passione didn’t disappoint me with their gnocchi!

Dessert wise, we got tiramisu and strawberry and chocolate waffles.

The tiramisu came with a scoop of coffee ice cream, vanilla ice cream, biscotti, wafer and fresh cream.

 

The tiramisu was nice, but for me, I’d just get the coffee ice cream by itself next time.

The strawberry and chocolate waffles were nice, but not necessarily the best ones I’ve had. Usually I worry about waffles being too soggy but this one was actually a tad too crispy for my liking!

 

Overall, Passione is a nice place to go to if you feel like some special desserts!

No Name Lane

 No Name Lane is a nice little café tucked in Broadbeach, which has one of Gold Coast’s best coffees!

Their latte was very aromatic and smooth, with a hint of chocolate.

They mainly sell coffee with some sides of sandwiches and light meals.

The atmosphere is simply, relaxing and this place is perfect for a nice afternoon catch up with a friend.  

Definitely pop by if you want some good coffee!!!

Melbourne 9 – LuxBite

If you’re sick of desserts that are just bland and sugary, then LuxBite is for you!

LuxBite’s chefs create the most interesting and mouth-watering combinations of Asian and European fusion style desserts! Their dessert creations are unique and definitely one of my favourite desserts places that I’ve been to!

Although it took us almost an hour to find this place in stormy weather, we eventually found this cute café near Chapel St.

We ordered the Tea Set for 2 which included 2 savoury dishes, 2 large desserts and 4 macarons with tea for 2.

One of the large desserts we chose was Endless Love with lychee ganache, rose cream, lychee, fresh raspberry in macaron shells.

How could you say no to this?

The other large dessert was Meringue Monster which had green tea sponge, pistachio, watermelon yoghurt, sour strawberry mousse and meringue.

Sounds like an interesting combination, right?

I don’t know how the chef came up with these combinations… but it just tasted so right! Perfect combination of the sweetness of meringue, sourness of strawberry mousse, tanginess of the watermelon yoghurt and just enough pistachio to blend with the green tea sponge at the bottom!

I could have this any day!

Even though I couldn’t take away these large desserts for my family, I bought some macarons for them and they were a.m.a.z.i.n.g! Definitely one of my favourite places for macarons!! Interesting flavours to note: oreo!, peanut butter and jelly, kaya, coconut, ribena, pandan!

Definitely pay this place a visit if you come to Melbourne! 

Melbourne 8 - Chin Chin

On our first visit to Chin Chin, the waiting time was 2 hours!!!

We decided to come back the next day for a super early dinner before our flight back to Brisbane. We arrived at 4:00pm and the restaurant was already half full!

This funky restaurant has a super vibrant atmosphere and it’s definitely worth a visit if you want to try Thai food with a modern twist!

I’ve realised that lots of Melbourne restaurants have adopted the “sharing” way of eating – ordering as many dishes as you want and sharing them with your table. That way, everyone gets a bit of everything and there’s more variety! It’s fantastic that Chin Chin has also adopted this modern way of dining out with friends and it makes the whole dining experience a lot more fun as well!

We got kingfish sashimi, pad thai, BBQ pork with mint and coriander salad and some cocktails and beer to finish off our night in Melbourne!

 

Dessert was burnt caramel sundae! Bits of the sundae was good but the burnt caramel was over-burnt for my liking.

If you’re dining at Chin Chin’s I’d suggest having dessert somewhere else. Otherwise, the food is quite interesting and appetising!