i had a delightful leisurely lunch here while on holiday from new zealand. the beef tartare to start with was generous and seasoned beautifully. the raw beef was cut into larger pieces than i'm used to, but it was perfect because it gave it a lovely chunky mouthfeel. i reckon anyone who's never tried beef tartare would find this texture less daunting than the more traditional finely-chopped version. the crispy home-made lavosh bread was really novel and delicious because i think it was deep fried rather than baked.
my main was the pan fried barramundi. i've never had barramundi before and this example of it was cooked perfectly. the skin was so crispy it was like a chip, but still attached to the moist, flakey flesh. i can see why is an aussie favourite. the dish was missing the candied fennel chips listed on the menu but i've only just realised that now that i'm referring to the menu as i write this. it would've been interesting to see what they added to the dish. despite their absence, i'm still giving 5 stars. i'm glad the apricot remoulade was served as separate blobs because i could control how much i added to each mouthful. i have a sour palate so i used the quite sweet (to me) remoulade very sparingly. the pearl barley and shaved fennel accompaniments made it a compete plate, with no need to order any side dishes.
despite not having much of a sweet tooth, i'm a bit of a sucker for french desserts. i knew a whole dessert would make my tummy explode so i opted for the petit fours. at $10 i thought it would be a couple of small morsels to go with my coffee. oh my god! those petit fours have to be the best bargain in brisbane. i'm still in a happy, happy sugar coma so i might have misremembered some of the flavours. there was a square of ginger and caramel fudge, a sesame(?) macaron, a piece of hokey pokey (honeycomb to you australians) and a square of lychee gel that was like a very light turkish delight. these were definitely not small morsels; each one took 3-4 bites to consume. the fudge is the best i've ever had. i'm used to fudge that is so sugary that the sweetness 'burns' your throat as you swallow it, which is why i'm not a big fan. this was not like that at all. it was also super creamy and not grainy at all. now i have a benchmark by which to measure excellent fudge! the macaron was very dense, but not unpleasant. maybe that's what brisbane macarons are like - might have to hunt when another macaron while i'm here in order to compare and contrast. i would've been more than satisfied with the petit fours on their own but aquitaine took them to a higher plane by serving them on a generous bed of white chocolate powder studded with pieces of fresh raspberry. the powder just melted the instant it touched your mouth and was like a separate dessert in itself.
the service was warm and solicitous but not obtrusive. aquitaine calls itself a brasserie, but i thought the food was far more elevated. the very good thing is that it charges brasserie prices!
i'd planned on what i was going to do with my day before i fly home tomorrow, but now i think i'm going to have to rearrange those plans to include another lunch at aquitaine!