Let’s have a look at the Gauge then

On Saturday, after the work Christmas party, I journeyed into South Brisbane in search of food.

I’d eaten an ok lunch at the golf club that the party was at. Not the greatest, and not go back for more worthy, but it was good.

I originally wanted to go to Wandering Cooks, but when I got there it wasn’t quite ready. I went and got some gelati from Messina.

I should probably point out, while I prefer La Marcellaria for gelato, Messina isn’t too bad, and I do like the experimental flavours.

After this I wandered back to Wandering Cooks. It was about ten minutes before the kitchens started up and the place was filling up fast. Any table that wasn’t occupied was booked. I checked google maps and saw that Gauge was open in ten minutes too.

I have wanted to try Gauge for a while. Mainly for breakfast, but it is usually packed. Now I know why.

After waiting for 10 minutes, the door opened and I strolled in.

“Do you need a booking to eat here?” I asked. No. You do not.

I sat at the counter looking at the window, at the Museum across the road. Then the menu was placed in front of me.

If it hadn’t have been for the gelati from earlier, I may have ordered more food than I did. As it is, I only ordered five things.

They were all glorious. Now let’s see how good my memory is.

Let’s start with the Nori tart, almond, spanner crab and apple salad. This was my favourite of the dishes. Including the kangaroo tartare to come. The flavour was incredible and the umami from the nori and spanner crab, mixed beautifully with the tartness of the apple salad. It was tiny but full of flavour. Ok it was tart sized, I am not good with size when it comes to cakes and things like that. Tiny means it fits on a saucer, and now that I think about it, it was the same size as a lot of tarts I have eaten, but I usually have more than one.

Next was the Blood taco, with mushroom and bone marrow duxelles. I just had to quickly find out what duxelles were, they’re finally chopped mushrooms(or mushroom parts) sauteed in butter with a few herbs, and in this case bone marrow, and reduced to a paste. I like bone marrow and on its own, to me anyway, it has a really nice flavour. As I discovered, like the time I had bone marrow ice cream, all it takes is one slightly stronger flavour and you essentially just have meat cream (minds out of the gutter people). So while this was nice, blood and mushroom is a great combination, there wasn’t a lot of bone marrow flavour to it. However, like the ice cream, you could definitely feel it in the texture.

Lost any one yet?

No?

Cool.

Next was Kangaroo tartare. The ingredients on the menu online were different to the one I had, but the key part was the same. Add another thing to the list of stuff I have eaten in tartare form. This had mackerel XO, and roe. It was really nice, but the kangaroo was mild as far as kangaroo goes. I think you would only realise this if you have eaten kangaroo before. I love kangaroo, especially the gamy quality. This was not as gamy as most, and would probably be a good introduction to kangaroo, and tartare.

Ok, after this I had a two cheese platter that had a Charltons Blue (buffalo milk) and a Tintenbar Brie (cow milk). This had brined onions and candied hibiscus with it, and some sort of sesame cracker that I think they made there. Brie is milder than blue, as almost everyone is away. But this one was really mild, and buttery. It was really pleasant, but I prerferred the blue. The blue mixed with the candied hibiscuc was beautiful. My mouth sang, and I think it kicked the nori tart flavour out.

The final thing I ate was garlic bread with brown butter and burnt vanilla. The garlic bread was black (intentionally, not burnt) and had a mild garlic flavour that gently carried the brown butter and burnt vanilla flavours. This dish was far more delicate than I was expecting. It was a really lovely way to finish off the meal. At first I thought it was going to be a lot more bready than it was, it was more like a cake but not quite. But after a couple of bites I was hooked.

Speaking of hooked, I have written myself hungry. Off to find a snack.

 

Eat well all.