GOMA's second floor gallery eluded us on the last visit, so today we went there before our lunch. The gallery was entitled Still Life and was a modern take on the still life genre. Lots of the works were not still at all like the one pictured above. This was a video made up of very odd cut outs of pictures rearranged into creatures that were then animated. For instance there was a creature that had the head of a fox that was clutching a chicken in its hands. It had six human breasts and it made out with an similarly odd creature with he head of a sparrow. In the end of the video the fox ate everything including itself. Oh my. There was a video of a man eating a mango or an orange, a very messy eater. Two trash cans with what appeared to be regular trash in them but it turned out that the trash was all carefully created and painted ceramics. Damien Hirst has a few skulls in the gallery. All in all it was nice to look through. We also saw a modern take on the traditional baskets woven by the First Nations peoples but this time they were oversized and made from metal. We then popped into the restaurant to see if they could seat us earlier than our 1:30 reservation. They were more than happy to do that. This meal was the best combination of food quality and elegant presentation we have experienced so far in Brisbane. Top notch and flavor packed dishes made our lunch a special time. It began with two big chunks of sourdough bread and a butter with cultured honey. A plate of Boquerones anchovies bathed in a caramelized apple vinegar was perfect for dipping the bread. Then we had a heirloom tomatoes with pickled garlic and a great dressing. We are not crouton fans but these big chunky sourdough croutons were fantastic. Our main dishes included a sake washed Hokkaido scallop beautifully presented and a Wagu beef short rib with bone marrow and caramelized onions. Delightful! We stopped by the store on our way back and bought a huge leg of lamb for only $17 AUD. What a deal and what a fine piece of meat. After dinner we took a stroll and walked by the Banc Brasserie (https://www.bancbrasserie.com.au/). We decided to stop in for a cocktail. Earlier in the week we stuck our heads in to peek at how elegant the location was and Juliet had told us about the bistro. I saw the list of available gins and was impressed by the total, 33 different gins. We started with Nosferatu Blood Orange Gin and a Seasons Seven Green Ant Gin. The ants were a tasty citrus flavor. We decided that if were to make any headway on this impressive collection of gins we should have another round. This time it was the Never Never Triple Juniper and the Lobo Djinn. Another delightful Brisbane day!
A piece of art on the floor
Chomp chomp
A messy eater video
Fly butterfly fly
A bird in motion is still in the photo
A collection of honey eater birds
A bee dusted with tiny flakes of gold and then put into an electron microscope
A skull reflected in the cup
"For the Love of God" sparkling skull
A collaboration between two artist, very natural at first glance
But look closer and you find a gecko, an easter island bunny, a dodo bird and anime characters
Not trash at all but intricate ceramics
Corrugated tin bag
Traditionally bags were woven from materials at hand, usually natural fibers
The material at hand for this artist was scrap metal, in this case springs from an old mattress
This one was huge, six feet tall
Time to eat
The sourdough is top center and the apple vinegar that the anchovies are in has a green color
Heirloom tomatoes
This asparagus was al dente and had a great anchovy sauce
Part of the decor
Time to dip
So artfully presented
Wagu goodness
It seems like some cosplay is afoot
A funny sign
The inscription says John Mills Himself, cira 1918. John Mills was a printer by trade and after splitting from a partnership, Mills and Green, he began doing biasness as John Mills Himself
Will is here to mix up the gins
Nosferatu the vampire likes the Blood Oranges
Seasons Seven makes seven different types of gin through out the year. This is the green ant gin
Better ants in my drink than ants in my pants
The green ants are orange with green abdomens. A new addition for my carnivore list
Never Never Triple Jasmine is a favorite of Will
Lobo Djinn has quince as an ingredient
Counting the 4 gins we had at the bar and the five that we have had previously there are only 24 more gins to try!
Banc Brasserie, we will be back. We saw some of the big steaks that they serve and it got us hungry to try one.
