Bonsai Botanika is a new Asian edition to Elizabeth Street in the CBD. Offering Japanese-style food as well as organic coffees, loose leaf tea, hot chocolate and 'to-die-for' brownies Bonsai Botanika is a pretty unique place thanks to stylish design in the best traditions of the current trend of the eclectic mix of modernism, earthiness and retro - think wood, grass, organic produce and retro milk jars.
A successful combination of a restaurant and a coffee shop - all in one place keeps the place buzzing all day long till late in the evening even on a weeknight.
I have been to the place 3 times, first was during the pre-official launch. The service was incredibly slow and the staff had no idea what they were doing, but the food was yummy - being a newbie on the block I cut them slack and showed up again to test the waters in about a month after opening.
This time the place was packed with a very diverse crowd - students
gossiping and posting selfies on Instagram doing their assignments while overdosing on caffeine and sugar loaded frappuccinos, ladies sipping on their wine, groups of friends enjoying delicious japanese food and couples sharing desserts, feeding each other from cute tea spoons...
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Source:www,visitbrisbane.com.au |
We shared a bowl of soup, which was huge enough to feed My Man and myself and
if we had a cat we could have brought some for her too! The laksa soup was delicious, so was the flour-less chocolate brownie - in fact I have been craving the dessert since, however the service has still been slow and slightly disorganised, although the staff have been incredibly friendly and polite, which, combined with a heavenly dessert made me come back for more!
Last time I only had a tea and service was superb: friendly, efficient and no fuss. In fact I was one of those annoying
bitches customers who changes the order 3 times and nothing was a problem, my requests were accommodated with a smile and the Aussie 'no-worries-mate attitude', which means I will be back.... to
order 3 chocolate brownies.
Design: 9/10
Drinks: 8/10
Food: 8/10
Service: 6-7/10
The highlight: Design and brownies!
Disappointment: Service is not streamlined
Splurge: $$
xoxo
Foreigner