Gauge - Brisbane

It was Lady Meatball's turn to choose the destination for our Friday lunch, so while I may have hoped for Italian, Indian or Mexican, I knew it was likely to be a bit left of centre and challenge my palate. She chose Gauge, a unique restaurant with a casual vibe, that serves up exquisitely crafted dishes that have been perfected over many months by Executive Chef Cormac Bradfield and Head Chef Phil Marchant. The menu is constantly changing and evolving, utilizing local, fresh ingredients. Everything is made in house and they are constantly testing out new recipes, like a vegan-friendly eggless cavatelli pasta. Their signature dish, a Black Garlic Bread with Brown Butter and Burnt Vanilla is so popular that it can now be found on their breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. We were offered the choice of a two-course, three-course or a la carte menu - we chose the latter and ordered five dishes and a Sauvignon Blanc: •Smoked Mussel Cream, Rye, Caraway and... read more

Wow! We were in Brisbane for the weekend for the Ballet and Gauge nailed it! Food, service and atmosphere all amazing. And just a short walk to Qpac. Thanks for squeezing us in Jack.

My partner and I came here on a sunday morning, we were seated however it took quite a while before anyone came to our table to service us which was frustrating. We ordered the eggs & mushrooms, waffle & black garlic bread. Personally I was rather blown away by the black garlic bread, it came with a vanilla butter and the garlic bread itself had a cake like texture, it was like nothing I had tasted and I just wanted to keep going back to it. The waffles were not that amazing and I found it a bit to peculiar (it came with an olive oil sorbet and lemon meringue). The eggs and mushrooms were just ordinary, nothing special. If you are after a breakfast place which is out of the norm i would recommend coming here but to be honest I don't know if we would come back.

Had been meaning to go to try the dego for a long time! Finally found some time and definitely was not disappointed. The wine pairing was fantastic and the balance of dishes was great.

Urgh, a disappointing experience, unfortunately. From a vegetarian/vegetable standpoint, there was very little on offer here. I was so keen to try Gauge, and had heard some good things about it, but it really missed the mark for us today. Staff were quite nice and helpful, excepting the chef, who stood firm with a "that's all there is, no more veggies for you" approach to our table. Bread was fresh. Buckwheat spaetzler noodles (the solitary veggo main offering) looked great but were completely bland - great to see them trying something different, but what happened to the flavour???? Flat white coffee without the crema was extremely average - no option but this ("that's just the way we make it here"). We had pretty high expectations of Gauge, but unfortunately on multiple levels it was a real let down for us today.