Reviews & Awards
Reviews
Courier Mail - Margie Fraser 3/5/11
Brent's the Dining Experience. The name is such a mouthful it's almost an experience in itself but, nomenclature aside, this long-standing suburban favourite performs beautifully in the culinary stakes. The food is described as modern French, and your Larousse Gastronomique might come in handy to comprehend some of the ingredients and methodology, but the flavours remain highly accessible. So just what does modern French deliver these days? In the case of chef/owner Brent Farrell, there's all the know-how of classical technique, delivered with astonishingly fresh produce and conceived with huge elan and creativity. The blue swimmer crab layered with a sweetly tart green apple granita and topped with chive creme fraiche and baby herbs captures the essence of it all. Served in a lovely bulbous glass beaker to revel in its layering of white on white, the dish is fresh and light. And quintessentially contemporary. Excellent produce is the starting point, enhanced by keen inventiveness. Today’s dining public is produce-savvy, with ready access to great markets and quality provedores. Brent gets this. He knows his crowd and likes to push the envelope by producing dishes well beyond the home-cooking arena. The veal fillet with deepfried raspberry ice cream, bone marrow and baked milk skin is a neat example. Some of the combinations might sound bizarre, but they work together in sweet harmony. There's a careful crafting at play that attests to oodles of passion and much dedicated experimentation. The crispy-skin flathead entree is dished up in small cubes on a platter alongside sweet pea mousse, morsels of pink eye potatoes and a whipup of tartare and lemon. It's stylish stuff for fish and potato, and the balance between mash and crunch is a treat. With such attention to the layering of flavours and textures, it's food to be savoured and dwelt upon: an experience indeed. Less experiential is the physical setting. The place has seen better days and is due for a revamp. The building rambles up the hillside behind in a series of tacked-on private dining rooms: afterthoughts that take advantage of the garden prospect and serve to isolate noise. It's all a far cry from designer hip, but there's a welcome about it that feels comfortable. The menu offers a choice of five plates in each course, which seems substantial enough. For the truly hungry, an eight-course gourmand menu picks the eyes out of each.An amuse bouche is proffered before the show begins, and lemon pepper palate cleansers between acts are also welcome. Mains show the same skill in crafting of extraordinary combinations as seen in the entrees. The crispy confit duck comes with pumpkin, lemon curd and a licorice wafer, while the pork belly is coupled with quince, apple ice cream and cinnamon jus. My platter of mushrooms with blue cheese, compressed pear and toasted walnuts is looking suitably earthy on a plank of wood, with attention to the patterning of the different varieties of mushroom sprawled across it. The gourmands at the table head straight for the slowcooked eye fillet and beef cheek, all richly dunk-able in truffle mash and caramelised onion jam. The wine list is elegant to match. There's a carefully selected, largely patriotic bent, with an excursion to France where it counts in the red and sparkling departments. Desserts will often cause the most prosaic chefs to get fanciful. Here, two schools of thought are on display: the raspberry and rosewater with meringue and edible flowers caper, and the equally seductive and nostalgia-driven toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate by the campfire set. Both capture the place well -there's finesse here, but also an understanding of the basic appeal of wonderful tastes and fond memories.
How it rated
Food:17/20
Staff: 8/10
Drink: 4/5
X-factor: 2/5
Value: 8/10
QW - Courier Mail Des Houghton - October 2007
You find some great cooking in the oddest of places in Brisbane. Brents Restaurant sits in an unremarkable old shop at the bottom of an impossibly steep road in Toowong, in the city's inner west.
Outwardly the place seems the antithesis of everything ultra modern and ultra chic. Yet the food and presentation at Brents put many flashier establishments to shame.
| Food: | 16 | Service: | 16 |
| Wine: | 14 | Ambiance: | 15 |
Brisbane News - Natascha Mirosch - July 2005
Brent's has been left big shoes to fill but even at this early stage, it seems locals mourning Bruno Loubet's move to Noosa may be somewhat mollified by the restaurant's new incarnation.
| Food: | 7 | Service: | 7 |
| Wine: | 7 | Ambiance: | 7 |
Awards
Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine Guide 2011 - 2 Glasses
Queensland Good Food & Wine Guide 2011 - 1 Star
Queensland Good Food & Wine Guide 2010 - 1 Star
Queensland Good Food & Wine guide 2009 - 1 Star
Regional Winner Best Chef Owner Restaurant RCQ 2009
State Winner Best Chef Owner Restaurant RCQ 2008
Regional Winner Best Chef Owner Restaurant RCQ 2008
Regional Finalist Best Fine Dining Restaurant RCQ 2008
Regional Finalist Best Chef Owner Restaurant RCQ 2007
Winner Jimmy Sawyer Trophy 2006