My old housemate, “Uncle” Darren, got me into Kamiil’s Kebabs several years ago, when he dragged me kicking and screaming at about 500m up Brunswick St at 1am, much to my protestations that we visit the more generic kebab store right near our apartment. “Kebabs are all the same grease, no matter where you go!” But as usual, Uncle Darren was right, and I was wrong, and Kamiil’s was in fact very good kebab.

Now I’m not going to be audacious enough to claim that a Kamiil’s Kebab will change your life.  All I’m saying is that as far as a bunch of meat, sauce and salads wrapped in pita goes, this stuff is good. Kamiil’s is just a whole lot fresher, and a lot less greasy, than your usual junky kebab shop.  Their wares are assembled with care, and you’re not left with kebab goo dripping out the bottom of the packaging, only to gum up your hands – not to mention the upholstery of your car.  

I had a chicken kebab, with yoghurt garlic sauce and tomato sauce (the favourite combo of the charming young man who served me), tabbouleh, salad and cheese (oh I love the cheese… please don’t judge me). The price range is fairly standard (coming in at around $8 each), but treat yourself to the extras: the Turkish Delight is amazingly soft and tender (I’m constantly surprised by how much tough, flavourless Turkish Delight there is in the world) with a container of 8 huge pieces only $5; and the baklava (handmade on premises) which is so sensationally crisp and sweet, is only a measley $3, and boy oh boy is it ever good. Like the “oh-I-was-watching-Glee-and-all-of-a-sudden-my-plate-was-clean” kinda good. I may or may not have lapped up the pistachio and honey dregs as well.  Just between you and me. 

So why the Fellowship of the Kebab? Because Kamiil’s is a bit of an institution to those in Brisbane who know of it. Each time I’m there, I’m always meeting people who’ve heard about it from someone, or go want to go that extra distance to get their fix.  At one of my more recent visits, I met a mother of 6 who uses it as her backup plan for her army of boys when she’s rushed for dinner, because it satisfies all her main criteria: healthy, tasty, filling and cheap. 

Kamiil’s: make the pilgrimage. 

Kamiil’s Kebabs
Shop 5, 660 Brunswick St
New Farm QLD 4005

Before visiting, I spotted Pintxo on several of my local walks around New Farm, and with each passing, I really just felt as though I ought to be in there. It has a very warm and inviting feel about it, with a modern decor comprising of rich timber finishes, and reds and yellows to get the (culinary) palette going. The restaurant itself is divided into two parts: the smaller side of the restaurant is a regular table service, and the other larger side features a long, large shared table with a sushi-train-style conveyer belt (done beautifully in stainless steel) and high stools scattered all around the table for guests to sit at.

We arrived with our Peroni and perched ourselves at one end of the table, which was already filled with a few groups. Food is either plucked straight from the conveyer (and the quality control seems good, so you’re not getting tepid snacks), or you can order anything else from the waitstaff. The menu is packed with delicious snacks organised by price (ranging from $3.50-7.00 each), and we ordered a variety of pintxo.

We kicked it off with Beef and Lamb Empanadas, crunchy crispy fried little parcels of pastry and meat (second image, bottom right). Not far behind were the Chorizo en Sidra and Scallops in Cava. The Chorizo (above) is cooked in a sweet cider with onions, and has a spicy kick to it — I enjoyed it thouroughly, but my dining compadre found it a little too hot to handle. The Scallops in Cava (top image on the right), however, was hands down the dish of the night. The scallops themselves were enjoyable, but the Cava (a light, creamy champagne sauce) they came served in was soooo creamy and delicious. It’s a shame it wasn’t accompanied by a spoon, because we spent the rest of our meal dipping the backs of our forks into the bowl and licking the sauce off them. Sure, not necessarily the most civilised behaviour, but see if you can resist once you’ve tasted that Cava for yourself!

Other tasty morsels included the Setas (mushrooms stuffed with Jamon Serrano [literally Mountain Ham, a dry-cured Spanish ham] manchego cheese and onion), Classic Croquettas (crispy bechamel and potato balls), and Banderillas (a skewer of potato, egg, tomato and olive). The only thing I would steer clear of are the Churros — they looked so tasty, but they were a little too thick, and the resulting ratio of dough to sweet dipping sauce was quite underwhelming. In spite of this, there were plenty of other dishes on the menu that I would happily go back to try. Pintxo was definitely a winner both on and off the menu. The shared atmosphere is very social and relaxed, and provides a great way to unwind at the end of the week. The BYO option, combined with the delicious “take what you want” menu selections means Pintxo can be a very economical night out with plenty of variety. Just ask for a spoon if you get the Scallops and Cava!

Pintxo Spanish Taperia
561 Brunswick Street (accross from the new Rivoli shopping plaza)
New Farm
Queensland, Australia

This was the dessert we created for our first iatebrisbane.com featured flavours cook-up. I found it a little too sweet, next time I make it I’ll probably halve the amount of sugar. None of the girls here at iatebrisbane had come across Pandan until this recipe. Pandan paste is made from the leaves of the Pandanus plant, which I’ve seen growing usually quite close to the coast line. I took this photo of the Pandanus fruit when I was on our honeymoon in the Whitsundays. The scent is almost nutty, like almonds, and very fragrant. It can be used in cake and pudding recipes too. You may have seen Poh on Masterchef use it a couple of times.

Ingredients

3 sheets (5g each) leaf gelatine

100ml Milk

500ml thin cream

100g caster sugar

1/4 tsp pandan paste

1can palm seeds, drained, syrup reserved

1 jar coconut gel, drained, to serve

fresh mint sprigs, to serve

Method

1. Soak the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes or until soft

2. Heat the milk in a saucepan over high heat until it almost comes to the boil

3. Drain the gelatine and squeeze out the excess water. Add to the hot milk and stir to dissolve.

4. Place the cream and sugar in a saucepan over high heat, stirring, until it comes to the boil.

5. Remove from the heat and stir in the pandan paste.

6. Pour in the milk mixture and stir well to combine.

7. Rinse out the 1/2 cup moulds with cold water, then drain them, (this prevents the mixture from sticking)

8. Divide the mixture between the moulds and refridgerate for at least 1.5 hours

9. Dip the base of each mould very briefly in warm water and turn out onto serving plates. Spoon over a few cubes of the coconut get, palm seeds and a little of the reserved palm seed syrup. Add a fresh mint sprig to each panna cotta and serve.

Enter Thai, and a world of delectable satays, fish cakes, stir fried noodles, a gamut of spices, relatively unknown sweets and desserts, and one big unknown: the wok.

And what better way to kick off our foray into Thai cooking than to head on down to Chinatown to gather the ingredients for a Thai feast!

So on Saturday we three iatebrisbane girls packed our baskets and green bags and made our way to Chinatown in Fortitude Valley. On the menu was Tung Tong (Money Bags), Pad Sieu (Sweet Soy Fried Noodles), and a Pandan Pannacotta.

I absolutely love exploring Chinatown. The massive variety of smells and flavours, combined with the delightful overload of colours and languages makes for a thoroughly exciting shopping trip. I also get a giddy thrill from the inevitable language barriers — that 3% doubt as to whether you’ve actually purchased the ingredient you’re meant to – and what the effect will be if you haven’t! – throws a delightful element of uncertainty into your cooking.

With shopping lists in hand, our first stop was A & J Trading, on Brunswick St.  I always start with A & J, as it’s generally great value for money, and has a pretty thorough range.  With very tight aisles, it can be a little intimidating on your first visit, but it’s well worth heading along – just make sure you’re not in a rush, as it’s easy to spend more than an hour exploring the wares.

A & J features a huge mix of pan-asian flavours: Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai (amongst others!). There are sauces, spices, pastes, noodles, fresh veg and seafood, and an array of cooking implements. We walked away with the majority of our ingredients, and I with my first wok (15″, carbon steel, for the great price of $14!).

The next stop was Burlington Supermarket, in Duncan St.  I’m not sure if it’s the wider ailes (which make for a much calmer shopping experience!), but Burlington always seems to have any odds and ends that you can’t find in A & J.  With similarly diverse offerings, it was Burlington that delivered the Pandan Essence for the pannacotta that had evaded us thus far.

Last on the list were our fresh meats and herbs.  There’s an absolutely sensational butcher’s in the McWhirters Building that does fresh meats for very reasonable prices, and an equally brilliant fruit & veg shop that sells massive bunches of fresh herbs for $2 a pop, along with other great specials.

Our baskets and bags heavily laden with fresh produce and an array of sauces and oils, and oodles of noodles (oh, yes!), we headed home to commence our Thai Feast.

We will continue to experiment with Thai flavours over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for updates on our very first theme of Thai Tastes.

We would love you to post your own ideas and recipes in the comments too! Feel free to cook along at home!

Thai Tastes – July / August 2009

• Tung Tong (Money Bags, including a near-death wok experience!)
• Pad Sieu (Sweet Soy Fried Noodles)
• Pandan Pannacotta