Verve Cafe

We recently purchased an Entertainment Book after seeing DD's mother's version when we went down to Sydney. We haven't used it much (although we've already nearly recouped the purchase price), but we'd like to use it to explore places we wouldn't normally go and to make us go out more.

When my mother flew down to visit we decided to pull out the Entertainment Book and try somewhere. We chose Verve Cafe. I decided that I loved the place even before we went there just from looking at the meny, so I did go in with high hopes. I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.

We booked in for an early dinner on a Friday night. Verve is located on the basement level and it is a really different atmosphere. It's hard to explain, everything I want to say makes it sound really closed in and claustrophic when it was really anything but. It was almost cave-like, but it's an airy cave. The walls are lined with art, and there is so much to look at. It's quite dark, so my apologies for the poor quality of the photos.

We were seated and our drink orders were taken immediately. The service was fantastic, not overbearing or pushy, but there was always someone there whenever we needed something.

Herb bread ($4.90) and Pan bread with kalamata olives, sea salt, basil and bocconcini ($4.90)

We ordered two breads to start. The breads are freshly baked each day and are generously topped. Both breads were delicious, although DD and I loved the simplicity of the garlic and herbs in the herb bread. Mum loved the pan bread.

Sand crab and prawn risotto - diced Roma tomatoes, zest of lemon, fresh thyme, cream ($20.90)

My main was the sand crab and prawn risotto, I saw this on the menu before we came and I'd already decided that this was what I was going to order. It was amazing. It was sheer bliss eating it. The flavour was spectacular, it was creamy and perfectly cooked and I still have dreams about it. I couldn't have been happier with it.

Roast Pumpkin Pizza - pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, English spinach, pesto, caramelised onion, mozzarella ($15.90)

DD was really hungry on this particular night and he wasn't too pleased when I made him take a photo of his dinner before he got to eat it, so I think he took a blurry one on purpose. Although, he also took a photo of mum's dinner below and it was in focus, so maybe he was just a bit close in bad light.

In DD's words, the pizza was f***-ing awesome. He thought that it was going to be dry, but it wasn't. The pumpkin added a nice flavour, but it wasn't overpowering. DD isn't normally a big pumpkin eater, so it shows how good this pizza was.

Veal Scallopini - pan seared, parmesan mash, sauteed mushrooms and Marsala cream sauce ($28.90)

Mum's veal scallopini surprised us both (DD doesn't like veal, so he didn't try it) because it was creamy sweet. It was perfectly matched to the veal and mash though, and it worked really well. Mum really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, it's been nearly a month between our visit and this post, so my memory isn't the best. All I remember is that we had a wonderful night out with fantastic food and service. We left so blissfully complete. I can't wait to go back to Verve again.

Verve Cafe
Basement
109 Edward St
Brisbane
Ph: 3221 5691
www.vervecafe.com.au