7/22 - Garuva (Brisbane)

Saturday, Jan, another EAPSI-ite studying in Sydney, came up to visit after living it up at the Gold Coast. We hit the New Farm farmers market and made a lunch out of free samples. At night, we met up my fellow EAPSI-Brisbanite Vanessa at this funky restaurant called Garuva in Fortitude Valley. The Asian-fusion Garuva is known for its atmosphere, which consists of hiding the entrance, making you sit on cushions on the floor, and pulling white curtains around each table. Garuva is so popular that we had to make reservations 5 days in advance. Apparently, people like sitting on the floor.

Vanessa and Jan sittin' on the floor in Garuva

The food was, by consensus, decent but a little disappointing given the incredible build-up caused by the popularity and the atmosphere. Jan had a tofu stir-fry, I had some good prawn and pumpkin fritters (probably the best out of the three), and Vanessa got bold with some Turkish octopus.

Vanessa with a Turkish octopus in her clutches

An interesting tidbit about Australian dining, particularly in Brisbane, is that basically it takes forever to have dinner because the waiters won't do anything unless you lasso them and reel them in by their underpants. Even then, it takes about 15 minutes to get your order taken, and we were waiting around for 45 minutes after eating before we finally got our check. It's just curious that, given the popularity of the restaurant, they probably could have served twice the people if the staff had the American attitude of turning tables to maximize profit. Not saying it's bad -- just curious.

After escaping the hidden tranquility of Garuva, we hurried to a gelato place before it closed. On the bus ride back to the city center, some yahoos threw rocks at our bus and shattered the back window (not typical in Brisbane). The first reaction of a couple thick-necked guys in the back was to yell, "Hey driver! You gotta stop the bus so we can mess some people up!" When the bus stopped, the guys ran off in search of their mess. Since this is the bureaucratic nightmare of Queensland, the bus couldn't keep going with a cracked window, and we had to run to catch another bus lest we miss out on gelato (we didn't).