Approaching the dining experiences in Brisbane from many familiar angles, the brainchild behind Junk understands the appeal of Asian street food, but also the social aspect of going out to eat. What we have on our hands is possibly another winner who will be here for the long term. Is the finger on the pulse too soon? That is being said because after so many great additions to this stretch of road on South Bank, can there be room for another top notch eatery that not only gives out a certain great cuisine, but chooses to transport the willing diners to another part of the world? If you ask me, there is never not enough room.
It was during the week and with organsing a place to go with my dining buddy/house mate on the weekend, that fell upon the Saturday just before I was bound to go to church. After a small while I came to the realisation that there was a good friend of mine in which I had not seen in quite a while, so that was the opportunity to message him about meeting on the Sunday - usual arrangements of lunch and a movie - and there was that. Also because of it being a while since last time I was in South Bank, there was a chance of some new stuff being here - and lol and behold, the Junk Bar had been touted and from the brainchild behind a few success stories in this town. He was wanting somewhere good, and I am the foodie here, it was more or less a beeline here. As long as it is good, he is all ears.
Service is organised well, and is relaxed. You have the standard sort of mode with most cafes nowadays, where you go up to the bar, order then pay. Afterwards, you are given a table number (these are made of whirling drums - I wonder if you play them to get the waitstaff's attention ... just a thought). Afterwards, the food arrives pretty quickly and efficiently. The whole demenaour and aesthetic of the place is made to make you feel at home, and energised to be social. They are definitely working hard here, and you can see it right from your table with all the cooks in the kitchen.
Inside is really funky. It has a downtown ghetto sort of look, with a wall done with great street art. Or maybe this is meant to represent a Chinatown somewhere else in the world - this city's Chinatown ain't so great. This is rough around the edges, but done in a way in which it is meant to look rough around the edges. As Dolly Parton might have quipped "it costs a lot of money to look this cheap", using a similar approach it would take a lot of planning to make it look this thrown together. Each table has the condiments ready, plus the chopsticks and serviettes, and all are brightly coloured. What I particularly liked was, looking up, the lamp-like structures made from the steam baskets among the light bulbs. I swear this is asking to be a movie set some day.
To describe the menu, as an in jest quip it would be "Australian" much the same way someone would say British or English food is Indian; more or less it is nowadays, and much of the food is so right here. That being said, with a bit of an Australian twist to the grub on offer you get a bit of something from many of the land's favourite cuisines - Thai, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese - it takes those, and can either present them as is or give it a bit of livelihood that would be welcomed into Chinatown, and be the funky new kid next to the old traditional toffs. These come in a mixture of nibbles to begin the meal, and then a small range of signature meals. All tastes are catered for here, whether by the kind of meat, the type of meal wanted, spicy or otherwise, they all have it. Some more inventive ones are in there, and everyone should be happy.
Well, they don't have any coffee here from what I saw, so the next best thing was on the way - and especially because it was Asian. That is bubble tea, in which the selection is hand picked and only a couple. There were two on the menu, but just one available - that was a mango-passionfruit tea with pommegranate popping boba, which is what sounded the better option anyway. Think of it like an iced tea, and it has three of the best fruit flavours mixed together - mango, passionfruit and pommegranate - and the pommegranate boba exploded right in the mouth when they entered. Not that the imagery is a big deal to me, but I observed it looked like the tropical sunset punch. Adding the additional gin or vodka would have effectively made it a good cocktail.
It is a characteristic of me, but I do like to spruce up the meal out a bit. Getting a couple of things on the side... I am just an accommodating guy. We have our meals planned, the drinks are being ordered, and I just would like all bases covered - plus a little something more to beef up a review. So after knowing which main meal we were going to get, he went and selected the duck spring roll as a starter. These were very good, and way better than the standard spring roll from the local takeaway. They were large and thick, pipping hot from the fryer, and the duck meat inside was very tender; even for this lowly little snack, they pay good attention so that it is good as it can be.
As I said, here was a happy accident. Right out of nowhere, one member of the waitstaff had put down some of their calamari on the table. It was not the salt-and-pepper variety, but for sake of association it was much like it. This came with a coconut-caramel dipping sauce. And the streak is still on a roll, as this form of squid has yet to be screwed up. The amount on there was generous, and the meat was tender with the coating being piping hot. Also, the combination of caramel and coconut in the dipping sauce melded together really well. So there is a bonus right there.
For the main meal, what I had was a beef massaum curry. Just to get it out of the way early, this spin on the curry was so good that I swear I have been to Thai restaurants which have not served up as good a curry as this. It was the classic coconut-based beef and potato curry, completed with the peanuts, and a pineapple sambal. The serving size was generous, again, and all the ingredients were as good as they should be. There was tender chunks of beef, the potato was soft and well cooked along with absorbing the thick, moderately spicy sauce, and it is all finished with the toasty nut flavour of the peanuts. The sambal added a bit of sweetness to it I often not associate with Thai curries, and that created a balanced and well-rounded meal.
And like with getting most curries now, when there is a choice of roti on the menu I go and get it. All to be said here is that it was hot and flakey, complete with a buttery layer and it was fantastic for both scooping up leftover sauce and picking up bits of meat to eat. As long as it can be ripped with the hands, and is hot and spongy, then the roti will always be rated in my mind.
Giving it the 4.0 score, this is mainly because so far I am impressed with this place and envision returning here quite a few more times. From the food that I had, it was good quality and sometimes even inventive. This was as if somewhere was incorporating the yum cha style fare into more of a tapas for of affair and that just beggars getting a whole lot of people around and ordering a whole lot of items. Because I have faith that it could be really good, but want to test the waters first it gets stuck with the 4.0-score until I try the other items and can attest that they are just as good as what I had here.
Also, maybe it is out of their specialty and beyond their ken, but also the addition of some sweets and that to the end of the menu would certainly bring about a nice and sweet finish to what should be an exciting affair. Other than that, while it is still pretty green to the street, we have ourselves one solid addition.
Aside from the good food, this is another worthy addition to the burgeoning scene in South Bank's celebrated food district. There is a funky energy to this place, and I especially applaud the aesthetics to make it look like it is downtown (to which any non-Brisbane readers here should know, doesn't really exist in this town). It has an energy that is just asking to be returned to at any time of day, especially when the sun is down, and the casual walk-in nature, along with heaps of seating being around the dining area, and what is here is somewhere that should be seeing a lot of business and social hangouts in the months and years to come.
TL;DR: Junk offers Asian-fusion fare done via an astute approach, getting the best aspects of each one mentioned and presenting it all with flair. With such a funky and rustic decor, and an efficient lot of service, "Junk" might be one of the most ironic names yet as this is pretty much gold.
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