Going to Cooking With JJ class was my birthday present for my partner. I purchased a voucher for two and left making a booking up to him. He said he had a bit difficulties with it...as the voucher stated, he had to contact them via email. So he did but did not receive any email of phone call back. He followed up on the booking confirmation a couple of days later. No response. Then he decided to give them a call. Apparently JJ confirmed the booking verbally. On the day my partner and I had a chat about rescheduling it because the day he picked was not great for me. Apparently he tried to call JJ again but had difficulties to understand him for his strong indian accent. Finally, JJ suggested my partner to look at his website and email him. We decided it would be better to keep the original booking as rescheduling it seemed to be quite challenging (should not be).

When we turned up for the class on Sunday morning, JJ did not have us written down we were coming. Bizarre. However, he let us to stay.
We were always shown what we would be doing and how. Then he let us to cook and supervised us or his assistant. It was a great fun. The only difficulties we had was understanding his accent time to time. Not a big deal though.

I personally did not like JJ used swear words to be found "funny". It was acceptable on couple of occasions but not always. I also struggled with the way how he treated his assistant. The young fellow passed on him what JJ needed, did as he was asked and was very helpful. He hardly was thanked or said 'please'. I guess it may be a cultural thing...how knows.

When we finished cooking JJ asked who wanted to have lunch. The lunch was not part of the deal as a result we had to pay cash on spot. I would think of just a symbolic cost of food as we cooked ourselves anyway. As it turns out it was a funny amount of $31.70 for two of us! It was not right. My opinion is what they discounted on voucher, made back on lunch they charged.

JJ offered his Master Class for $79 per person. We did not purchase it as it would more likely be without lunch too. No, thank you. I rather pay for a cooking lesson with meal I cook included in price.

A Big No-No!!!

I was invited for my girlfriend's birthday dinner that was celebrated on Saturday evening. As it was meant to be a surprise for her, everyone was meant to arrive at 7pm. A couple of us arrived 10 minutes to 7pm when our table was not ready just yet. So we were seated close to the bar and ordered a glass of champagne each. The restaurant was already busy at that time. All looked promising and made me believe it would've been a great dinning experience.

As soon as our table was prepared, we were seated. While I was passing the lady who seated us, she did not even have the courtesy to greet me but asked me out of blue how tall I was (What The Hell?!) I found it very offensive and so not professional!
When our birthday girl arrived, I could not stop looking at her how excited she was to see us all. She was seated right next to me. While she was seated - waiter pulled out her chair, I was amazed how the waiter placed a cloth napkin on her lap. She did not even sit properly yet when he flicked the napkin between her busy hands and lap...and then he pushed (literally pushed) her chair even closer to the table. It did not look good at all. She did not say a word but I think it was mainly because she was having a little happy cry. From that point the waiter did not turn up to be any good...but even worse.
I did not know what to order right to the last minute. Even though I had menu list opened, I involved myself more into conversations...as you do. When waiter was taking orders, I was able to ask for a garlic bread because I had not had a proper look what else. "Is that all?" he asked. "No, it is not but I need a bit more time to decide what else" In meantime, he took orders from others and came back to me. As I was reading through the menu, he started talking to me unexpectedly from behind. So I ordered an entree Avocado Seafood. "Is that all?" he asked again. "Yes, please"

During the night the waiter upset me to no end. I talked to a friend sitting right next to me quite often. I sat close to her and sometimes had to even lean over the table a bit to hear her when she talked to others. When the waiter brought me a glass of water or needed to fill up my glass, he pushed his hand between us. It was very wrong...so I could not help myself and raised my voice "EXCUSE ME?!" He did not even apologise...no word came out of his mouth. Later on he was giving us dessert menu. So obvious how much he was order & money driven. I do not know if they had to make a budget per table but this didn't look right. When he approached me, he slid the menu between my and my friend's head while I was listening to and looking at her. I so wanted to smack him with the menu.

The entire experience with waiting service made me refuse to order anything more than I have - a glass of Moet, an appetiser and garlic bread. I refused to support their business anymore.

Considering the prices, the food did not correspond to them at all. Seafood that ended up on my plate was hardly fresh. Prawn tasted like a boiled prawn tale bought from deli in Coles. Meat was a bit tough and colour very orange. I had an outstanding entree Garlic King Prawn in Southport which cost about the same...yet, incomparable quality. It was purely a piece of octopus, scallop, king prawn and a tiny bit of barramundi on avocado. No rich in taste...no dressing...for $22 I felt like I could still have something. Yet, I refused. Luckily I did because I did not have much cash on hand.

At the end, I was meant to pay $6.5 garlic bread, $22 avocado seafood and $19 a glass of Moet ($47.50 in total). A friend who organised the get-together asked us to contribute extra $10 booking fee per person. A booking fee?! I have never heard of it. So I gave $60 into the pool of money...and we were still over fifty dollars short for the table. So I gave them another five bucks. So not happy with it all...but tried to forget for the sake of my friend's birthday celebration.
Five of us decided not to give any tip to our waiter. So the total cash was only 30 cents more than bill. Ha, suck up, waiter!!!

When I shared my disappointment over our waiter, one of us who is Even Coordinator for restaurant in Caxton Street mentioned she must have seen the guy before. She thought he might have been a waiter from agency she used for casual waiting staff when she was short of people. If he was or was not, that is a question. It definitely does not excuse George's to hire such hopeless staff.
The only highlight of the entire experience was bar staff. A friend of mine took me to a bar where we asked for tasting of greek wine. There were three young guys who were very helpful. Although they did not give me the tasting right away, they did not forget to bring it to our table...even though it took about 15 minutes easy :-/

While we were leaving a waiters standing close to the exit greeted and thanked us. I was smiling at them but thinking "I am so never coming back here ever again"

Approximate cost: $35

18" pizza for slightly over $10...not kidding.

Five of us shared two 18" Porto Peri and Pepporoni pizzas on Friday evening. I have never noticed the place as it is a bit hidden - located further from Brunswick Street - behind Montezuma's restaurant. The set up a bit small but we were able to find an available table without booking on Friday about -10pm.
Unless you ask for a set of cutlery, you eat pizza with hands. Size of the pizza is large. It can feed up to 3 people. It has got a thin base and rich topping. Ingredients on top are not dry or burnt. A pizza would be given to you in a pizza box so you can decide whether you take it home or dine in. It is an absolutely great valued pizza. I personally enjoyed it more than Gourmet Capers Pizza - the best a takeaway pizza in Brisbane that I have ever tasted.

Approximate cost: $8-17

I have visited a store in Greenslopes a couple of times and was always happy with their service. One day I purchased protein powder that I disliked its taste very much. I called their call centre to see what they could do for me as I was not going to have it any longer. They recommended me to take it back to store. So I did. A lady behind counter exchanged the purchased product without hesitation and let me to choose what I wished to replace it for.

Recently I received a voucher with discount of 15% as a returning customer. For my order, I used their direct delivery service this time. I submitted the order at the weekend and received goods on Tuesday morning. I am a happy customer who is planning to keep purchasing in future.

I didn't notice Thai Mata until came across a voucher "Three course meal with glass of wine for two" that I purchased.

Having dinner in Thai Mata was an adventure from being seated. Waitresses do not speak great English which made redemption of voucher slightly difficult. Yet, waitress serving our table got understood at the end :) We shared entree (chicken satay) and soup that was alright. Nothing spectacular but nice. We were entitled to curry dishes only that was a bit disappointment. I had curry dish without coconut cream which I regretted later on. I received a dish of asian vegetable (fine cut carrot, parsley and baby corns) & pieces of chicken floating in watery curry. It looked more like a soup than main dish. My partner had coconut cream based curry with the same variety of vegetables and chicken. Sauce in his dish was also more liquid than Thai dishes usually are. We both know much better (and proper) curry dishes somewhere else. My partner mentioned to waitress he would not mind to taste some stir-fried dish...and she recommended Chicken Cashew and one that is listed as very last one on menu.
My opinion is I will hardly rush back there but if you feel like some thai in Fortitude Valley, Thai Mata is a classic option.

Approximate cost: $13-20

I happened to visit this restaurant with my partner for Three Course Meal accompanied with a glass of wine each. I had thought the place was a bit more fancy by looking at their website. Therefore, I dressed up a bit...so did my partner. What a disappointment when we found this place at Fortitude Valley Mall.
A lady, I made a booking with, had very strong Italian accent. She turned out to be the waitress (perhaps also owner). She was friendly and nice. Entree of King Prawns on Rice was nice, apart from the label to the dish...they must have been Banana Prawns because their size and taste was very different. We both ordered pizza dishes - supreme seafood and supreme pizzas. We liked them but found the crust under ingredients too hard to cut. The dough was also yeasty-tasting that was very obvious from edges. I always love edges but left them untouched this time :( I couldn't understand why prawns on my pizza had tips of their tail shell on. They backed used the same prawns from entree on my pizza...and didn't bother to cut the tail shell off. Desserts, on the other hand, were delightful.
House wine they serve is very strong and creeps in head very quickly. They serve it in bigger wine glasses too. I drank a half of my white wine and already felt light-headed.

In overall, I liked the service. Entree and pizza were average but slightly better than I found Pizza Capers Gourmet where you would leave about the same money. If we go there again? No, I don't think so.

Approximate cost: $17-20

I would've never thought of visiting this place due to the set up...a restaurant set up in a queenslander-looking-like-building. We were introduced to this placed due to a voucher for "All You Can Eat Meal" deal for two.
I didn't like the set up inside of restaurant - very low ceiling, not much space between tables and chairs. The set up also looked very temporary and cheap. Prices were about average though.
I loved their food right from the entree we had - Shared Plater. Then each of us chose different curry dishes - lamb and chicken. Meats in both dishes were tender and curry sauce very tasty. What was mild in hotness, was mild...the same applied to medium hot...not too hot but also not mild. Yummy. I only did not like papadums as they cover in oil more than necessary.
It is a BYO restaurant so definitely a worth of bring your own bottle of wine. Service was polite.

I can easily say these guys make Indian food very well...the best I have ever had so far.

Approximate cost: $15-20

My opinion on Edible Blooms is they set up their business on brilliant idea. I used their services once and was very happy with feedback I received for the gift I purchased. Unfortunately, I was not present to see whether delivered product looked as displayed on their website and contented the exact number of chocolates as described. Yet, the gift recipient was very happy, so was I.

I was thinking of purchasing another gift just recently. I only was unable to find something that would appeal to me. For that reason I completed an online form with a query if they could swap a type of Red Lindt chocolate balls for brown or blue ones on one of their Edible Blooms. Although the form got submitted, I haven't received any response. For that reason I thought why would I spend (not little) money somewhere they cannot reply at all. Perhaps it was just one time when they could not respond a query...yet, I was a bit disappointed. They do not offer the option of swapping or tailoring you own gift pack which would be definitely great business opportunity.
I also think shipping charge is overpriced. I thought of getting them to organise delivery to CBD (from South Brisbane) which is only a few kilometres. They charge $10.90 regardless the distance.
I did use their service once, was happy with the outcome but considering the prices they charge...not sure if I go that road ever again.

Approximate cost: $40-150

I have had only haircut done in here. I must admit $28 for women's haircut caught my attention while I was passing this hair salon. I came in with intention to get my hair trimmed and styled. I presented a picture of hairstyle that I wanted because I was aware of possibility of language barrier. A girl who cut my hair was very well presented, dressed nicely and polite too. She spent with me about 30 minutes. I was happy with the result for money I paid.
I will more likely go back there. As they are starting their business, I was informed they do provide free haircut on 10th visit.

Apart from mentioned haircuts, they do provide whole range of hairdressing treatments.

I haven't come across takeaway pizza that would impress me. As I would not never ever buy Domino Pizza for its unattractive appearance and content that has nothing that would be considered healthy. Gourmet Pizza Capers is better but not great... Yet, by saying that, if you like Pizza Capers, I recommend to purchase it from here. Service is one of best, friendly and fast to their abilities.

Approximate cost: $10-20