Brisbane Blog

Kuan Yin is one of my favourite restaurants in Brisbane. It’s completely vegetarian; they have some "meat" dishes that are actually mock meat.


The picture here is of simmered eggs and a cheese and "ham" pancake, total cost nine dollars. I think the main courses are quite boring, so the best thing to do is to order a few entrees. There’s also a range of bubble teas and other weird and wonderful drinks.

Kuan Yin is on Wickham Street in the Valley, directly across the road from the entrance to the Chinatown mall on Duncan Street. They are closed on Tuesdays, open at 11.30 am on other days, and stay open till 7.30 pm from Wednesday to Friday. Other days they shut at 5 except Sunday, when they shut at 3. Their phone number is 3252 4557.

Grill’d is a new, slightly upmarket burger bar in Brisbane. I just gave them a try and they’re not too bad.
 I tried the basic burger with cheese and bacon, and some chips, which came to about $14. The chips are herbed and you can really taste it, while the burger was certainly a cut above greasy fast food – they obviously used proper meat and not the cheap stuff. They also have 3 types of vegetarian burgers: vege patty, tofu and chick pea.
The decor is a bit tedious, as the bosses have gone for the "lets get a hip designer and buy ourselves an image" look, and the burgers have names so you can’t just ask for a burger, its a "Grill’d burger". But its worth dropping in for lunch or an early dinner if you are nearby. There are two Grill’d restaurants at the moment, one on Brunswick Street in the Valley, (ph 3252 5822) directly opposite the Judith Wright Centre, and the other on Oxford Street, Bulimba, (ph 3399 5522) near Woolworths. www.grilld.com.au