Established well in Auchenflower, Deer Duck Bistro shows itself as a fairly unique establishment within the entirety of Brisbane proper. One of its best cards possibly comes from the location, and in terms of the location it is definitely a far cry from everything else that is around the neighbourhood. Relatively low-key and quiet is Auchenflower as a foodie hub that there was no difficulty or problem getting such a high quality, well-received restaurant to be welcomed with open arms within the area. And ever since the introduction of this place, it has been getting all the awards, and all of the recognition.
This is more or less the place many wish they could go to, and will possibly look for the occasion in which they are able to. I may have thought of it a few time, or noticed how nice it is, but knew for a long while that it was way out of my price range (and come to think of it, the degustation menus are still relatively affordable in comparison to what they could be ...) . So it looked more or less like this would be a place I would have to pass by. Bring in the trump card ...
For my 28th birthday, my big sister booked in a Groupon for 2 at this place. She knew well that I hadn't been here, and it was also on a good deal at the time. All that had to be done was to book it in at some point, and show up at the allotted time. In knowing how fancy this place was going to be, it was time to get a good shave in, and suit up for the occasion. One thing that is definite about it is that it is out of the norm that I go for with food. And on an objective level, this is certainly worthy of the attention and accolades that it has received. So from a relatively unbiased perspective, here is the general idea - it was pretty good throughout the entire visit.
Everything about this place is made to be as professionally presented as possible. That goes for the service, it goes for how the dining area is presented, plus the ways that the courses are brought out. It is definitely to some sort of rhythm; there is a structure and timing to how it is all delivered, and an obvious lot of heavy training has take place to ensure that clients get a high-quality experience.
This goes about that in many ways, the first one being that it is wise to book here for a good seat. From when I was here with my dining buddy, on an early Friday afternoon, it was more or less empty when we got here and save for another table or two that was more or less it. It is about here where the service can be discussed. Walk in from the street, whether by booking or a walk-in appointment, and you go up and request a table or tell of a booking made under your name then you are told to wait until the waiter takes you to your table. Rumour has it that while you wait, you are able to order from the bar.
From then, he will lead you to one of the several rooms that are in the restaurant, and take you to a table in which everything is already set out for you. You know that you are in a fancy place when the tables are all set up and ready to be used. Furthermore, the restaurant operates on a small amount of time each day that it is open. Through this, they have managed to get the right timing between all the meals to bring them out at the right increments and give the clients ample time to enjoy each one. Because the printed menu for the food was not there, and it was a set menu as is, upon bringing each meal out the waiter will then describe each one of them in detail with the ingredients on the plate. Aside from that, he more or less works in the background, and showed professionalism and politeness which more or less added to the atmosphere of the location. Also perhaps a little coy as well, there is nothing really that he did wrong and showed signs of doing very well like he had a grasp on the concepts; in time, he will probably be really confident and lively.
The attention to detail with the decor is definitely to be commended. It possibly is different, and varies in tone and theme depending on the room you are in. For the sake of this experience, only this room will be talked about. Everything is in place from the beginning - there are several pairs of knives and forks lined up neatly, a bread place right in the middle complete with a small knife. But it does not stop there; the whole room is worth having a look around. A few different adjectives come to mind, not all of them implying the same idea. What is definitely apparent is it has a more timeless and old-fashioned look to it, but also it is quirk with the combination of ideas, and might look like your aunt's living room.
There are paintings all-around the place, done in the old Renaissance style of photo-realism. All of the furniture is antique, it has many lamps to illuminate the room during the dinner rush and all kinds of vases and statues adorn the place. It was at lunch time, and if this were the old-style kind of housing, from what I can know it would be referred to as the sun room. There was no need for any kind of lighting in here, as it was all from the afternoon sun. Even the entrance area has a nice look about it, and it is from looking here that you know what you are in for.
To sum it up briefly, the type of food here is a conglomerate of European influences - particularly from around the central and Baltic area. Meat does feature a fair bit as a main event, but it is not overwhelming as the option. During the working week there is a small a la carte menu that showcases a sample of what in offered on the degustation menus. It is kept short and sweet, with a few salad-like entrees to start, the usual selection - for lack of a more apt term - of the main meals to get something unique to each meat along with one or two vegetarian options, some desserts (plus cheeses) and the sides to spruce the meals up even more.
When it comes to the drinks, the major part of it is a massive wine list. And I mean massive, one section here might cover the range across all the choices (i.e. red, rose, white) from another restaurant. These are a range of imported and local, with some getting a bit more attention than others. If wine is not your thing, they also have beers, ciders, gin, vodka, bourbon, rum, whiskey and liqueur alongside juices, sodas, and coffee.
After discussing the a la carte menu, the real stars of the show are the degustation menus. There are around four of them, with the number of courses ranging from five to nine, including a vegetarian one which has the latter number. These are specially designed and will cater to dietary requirements if enough time is allocated upon booking; otherwise, it is you get what you are given. The voucher was for a truncated version of the "short course", which generally has the whole nine courses, with this special whittling it down to seven. Each one is optionally matched up with a matching wine if so chosen. Not here I am afraid.
The first post of business was to get the water, either mineral or sparkling. The choice that was made was sparkling. Well, not much to say here. It is cold, and it is fizzy. At one point there was a need to get a replacement, and I guess that you can say it is a palate cleanser between the different courses.
Starting off as well with the drinks, neither one of us here being much of drinkers any more, the choice of beverage was coffee as per usual. And as per usual, that coffee was a doppio. Whatever you say about the hatted restaurants, even if they are among your favourite places, one of the areas in which there is a definite downfall is when it comes to the coffee. This was the case here, and for me if a coffee factors into the meal at some point, it is quite pivotal and can be seen as the final touch to the whole presentation. It was far from being the worst coffee that I have drunk out, and it wasn't really bad or anything. I can't say what type of coffee it was, the blend, brand or anything because I don't think I saw a label anywhere. Regardless, not much to really say with the coffee - it was adequate, but not something that really needs to be ordered.
After that, it was time for the first course. They start you off with an amuse-bouche. This is unspecified on the menu, so it is likely that it will change from time to time with what is available. During this visit, the course here was eight crackers served with four different sorts of dip - one for each cracker for each person. There was a pureed cauliflower dip, a pile of caramlised onions, something which represented butter, and a soft ricotta cheese. Each of these were pretty good, the ricotta as per usual somewhat bland but having a nice texture, the butter being a solid and good quality one (assuming it was butter), the cauliflower was nice, and having caramalised onions as a dip is definitely something a bit different. The onions were sweet and ha a jam-like consistency.
To really critique this is not got that much point, since how much is there to talk about a plate of crackers? In defense of it, this is well thought out since you can think about it as going over to someone's house where the first thing that they have on offer (after the drinks of course) is some sort of nibbles. A good and common one is cheese and crackers, so they definitely have that idea right. Don't want to fill the guests up to soon, but start to satiate the appetites early enough before segueing into the main part of the meal. And here we go.
Right from there it was the first course of the day. We were served a venison carpaccio, with came with a side of pickled radish, and was drizzled with lemon oil and sprinkled with garlic. This was not too bad. The thin slices of venison were certainly from a good quality cut of the meat, and from the size of it the distinct and characteristic flavour was only so noticeable. The radish added a vinegar-like bite to the meal, and an addition of garlic is rarely not welcome. Therefore, it was not such a bad start to the meal.
Following on was a salad. It was made from quinoa, roasted pumpkin and beetroot, with sprinklings of pistachio and a goat's cheese custard on the side. To be fair to it, it did look good on the plate, all bright and colourful. The pumpkin and beetroot were both fresh and well cooked, the pistachio made a good nutty finish to it all, and the custard had a distinct flavour, and creamy texture which was pretty good. I have to admit this though, I am not the best one here to really critique the meal. Salad is not really my sort of thing.
It was around here that I knew it was definitely good, and prepared with all of the care. However, I was a little out of my element at the start. From there, it was fresh, and the different ingredients were certainly distinct and did not get mixed in with others. Following up next was a big step up, and the food got even better from there.
The first one was still a salad of sorts, but the key difference was that it had some meat with it. On top of some lentils and a white bean puree was several bits of baby octopus. While the base of it might have been good, all I really remember about it was how good the octopus was. It had just the right texture to be chewy and edible, and there were about half a dozen bite-sized pieces resting there. Now if this were the beginning course, then it would definitely have started with a bang.
With the next two, they were definitely the two best ones within the selection; whichever one was the better one, I am not sure since it would be by a fine margin at the widest, but what I definitely knew was that I sincerely enjoyed them the most. The major aspect about them was how much they appealed to the carnivore that I am.
The first one was a sous vide duck. It was served with a big bit of Roman gnocchi, some confit tomatoes and a side of plum jus. The duck was tender, delicious and really well good. It had the dark and distinct flavour that makes duck such an appealing option, along with a good amount of fat. That fat was rendered well, and was buttery so it went down a treat quite easily. On the side of that, the gnocchi - really a big potato cake here - was soft and moreish, surrounding by a good coating. Both the plum jus and tomatoes were sweet, and balanced the meal out while giving a good complimentary note to the poultry. If ordered a la carte, this is certainly an option worth considering.
The second one was some pork collar. It was served on top of some potato au gratin, sprinklings of speck, a big carrot, and a finish of charred green onion. The pork was just as good, and had a decent crackling on it. The meat was tender, juicy and succulent - cooked at a medium rare consistency. The potato au gratin was delicious, with soft potatoes and a nice cheese finish, the carrot was steamed just to the right texture and the green onion was a subtle finish to it all. If you were not told that there was speck in the meal, it would be hard to point it out by sight but the flavour was certainly there. It had the distinct crispiness and saltiness that well-cooked bacon possesses. Heck, I definitely cannot find many faults here - this is my sort of meal again.
Finishing off the meal was the dessert, and what a treat this one was. We were given a chocolate torte, which had a side of smoked guava semifreddo on the side, and plenty of raspberry popping candy. It doesn't matter what the caliber of the place is, from the greasiest spoon to having all the hats and spoons next to their name, when the dessert is gotten right, it is all the same down to the visceral level. That is the case with this dessert, and the chocolate in the torte was delicious and a dark consistency. The guava semifreddo was certainly smoky in taste, and the texture was as soft as a cloud. Below it was biscuit crumbs - always a way to make a more rounded dessert, the crunch meets the smoothness nicely - and the cherry on top was really raspberries, in the form of popping candy. I don't care how old you are, this will go down a treat right to the most prestigious businessman.
And so that was the Deer Duck Bistro, a degustation menu complete with each dish being unique right next to the last, and all done with care. Kudos needs to go to the talented chef to pump out seven different kinds of courses at such a short notice, all with due care and quality ingredients, all in a short period of time. For a special occasion, it is definitely worth booking this place out. While many places that have Michelin stars or chef's hats next to their name definitely (by presumption) have a certain atmosphere and aesthetic about them, what I will bet is that they definitely won't have the other worldly vibe which is present in the walls of Deer Duck Bistro.
It might not necessarily be my scene exactly, however I am one who will definitely give the due and deserved credit where it is needed. Great attention to detail is given here, and it acts differently to how most restaurants are run. All of that is deliberate, and when effort such as this is gone into crafting a high-quality meal that is a special treat then that certainly must also be acknowledged and considered.
Would I go back here again? Probably not, but not for any gripes with it or anything. I just know what my scene is, and occasionally it is good to jump outside of that comfort zone and try a different style of food. There is definitely a good reason that people will like this one so much and that after so many years it is getting consistent attention and a decent turnaround. Without any doubt, the delivery of service and the food is absolutely perfectionist and it transports you away from the suburban streets of Brisbane into a timeless area in the middle of the European Alps. For that, it deserves extra credit points.
TL;DR: If you can afford, even just once, then Deer Duck Bistro should be on the list of places to try in Brisbane. It is way more sophisticated than most of the other places, and it has a distinct character about it being far away from the city center where all the businessman are located. While there is an a la carte menu that is distinctly European in influence, to get the best experience of the entire restaurant, the way to go is through one of their carefully crafted degustation menus. Great care is taken with it all, and the service and how it is performed is further proof of it.
This is apparent right from the moment you step in the door. With the old and otherworldly vibe that it has going for it, it is difficult to find many faults with Deer Duck Bistro on an objective level.
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes