New Brisbane

You know West End isn’t really that big. Okay, so it’s not that small either, but I always figured that, by now, I was rather familiar with the West End scene- in otherwords, I knew the ‘in’ places. This was a nice thought and it was well and true until I discovered Zomba Bar | Dining.

Zomba West End Brisbane
phone: 38440842
fax: 38448766

Mon 4pm-late / Tue closed / Wed 4pm-late/Thu+Fri 4pm-late
Sat-Sun 8.30am-late

Located across from the Noodle Box, and literally 200 metres down the road from The Lychee Lounge, Zomba has quite possibly the smallest street presence of any bar in West End. So small is the entrance that I have walked past it at least 100 times without even noticing it was there! Okay I’ll admit, we didn’t actually find the place by accident, we received an email from the manager of Zomba asking us if we had ever visited Zomba, and if not, we should come and check it out. How can you say no to that? We don’t generally get invited (nor do we expect it), mainly because our reviewing is based on solid personal experience as oppose to how much we got paid (that would be nice though), or how drunk we got on the ‘provided alcohol’. Nonetheless, this was a genuine invitation and given how much I love West End, there was no reason to even think twice about it.

Initially Our editor and I (I am not in that photo, so guys, please don’t email me asking for my number) went there on a Monday night just for coffee which turned into coffee, alcohol and dinner. Once we finally found the place, having walked past it at least twice, we made our way inside and sat on the seats facing the street. Although I am writing this review, Alice will probably add her take on Zomba to the end of this, so I will stick with my own opinion here. At first I thought, oh yeah, nice place, but it felt like it was half the size of The Lychee Lounge. After a little while, when the manager had arrived, he decided to show us around. Show us around? What does that mean, this is all there is? Right?

Wrong. Zomba is huge! As you walk past the bar, to your left is a hallway that leads to a whole new area. That was a surprise! Apparently, this is where West End caters for Brisbane’s celebrities, from Powderfinger to News Presenters and footy players, the list went on. But so what if Powderfinger eat there, does that mean you should? Yes! Not because Powderfinger ate there, but because the food is fantastic. We ordered 3 tappas and waited patiently as we admired the décor. Okay so it’s no Lychee Lounge, but then again you can actually sit down AND get up! You are not glued to your seat like at The Lychee Lounge.

Zomba has had a tainted reputation, the previous owners were involved in West End’s drug scene, but fortunately they left Zomba in the hands of it’s new German owner, who I am glad to say gives Zomba a great feel with an enthusiastic approach to management. While we discussed Zomba’s history, dinner arrived! Look at that! That’s what I thought. Damn! I was hoping it was going to taste as good as it looked. And my hopes came true! I had ordered something with Duck in it (yes I am not good with names), and it was fantastic. The other two tappas were great too, but I was quite impressed with the quickness, quality and presentation of the food.

I always tend to have breakfast in West End on Sundays, so I was more eager than ever to come back for Breakfast to Zomba, and thankfully, they are infact open on weekends for breakfast (from around 9am). So Zomba made it on the list of places to have breakfast in West End, given that the GunShop Cafe has decided that it no longer needs to be open on Weekends (apparently due to some chef problems), which is a big shame because they always had the most exciting breakfast menu.

Speaking of menus, Zomba seems to have about 3 of them, which made it a little confusing ordering things, not to mention that they didn’t have a coffee menu! (or at least one that I saw) That would be okay if zomba didn’t make any coffee, but as I found out some 30 minutes later, they made a fantastic mocha, again, check out the picture!

So maybe Powderfinger does come here, but as I asked before, would I recommend Zomba to all of our readers? I couldn’t say yes just by being there on a dead monday night. We had to come back on a busy night to see the place in action. So we did! We rocked up on Friday night in our quest to get a good feel of Zomba.

Friday night was different, Zomba had their DJ and the music was happening, plus there was a function out back which I wasn’t really sure about. Nevertheless, it wasn’t that busy, but thats not so fair on Zomba given that most places were quite that night. I was looking forward to hearing the music at Zomba and I have to say I was disappointed. The DJ was horrendous, he wasn’t mixing music, he was destroying it - beats weren’t matching, and he spent a more time SMSing his friends then actually mixing. Reminded me of the old GPO DJs back a few years ago. That aside, the bar they have in the back section was manned by competent staff that not only made fantastic cocktails but also actually smiled and even made jokes! Take note Uber.

All in all I have to say that Zomba was a great surprise. Out of no where, this little entrance leads you to an excellent venue. The best comparison I can make for Zomba, is Barsoma in the valley. Eventhough Barsoma is significantly larger, the staff are incredibly rude (to the point of throwing change back at you - yes, throwing).

But before I forget, I might as well list some of the things that annoyed me about Zomba, as I already mentioned the DJ spent the whole night destroying music. At one stage he played E Samba by JUNIOR JACK and as much I used to love this song, the DJ managed to somehow destroy the beat beyond all recognition. So lets put the poor DJ aside, maybe he was having a bad night, what else was annoying? Okay, so for some odd reasons they were playing an old James Bond movie on their projector screen. I am not sure if this was at the request of the group that had booked the back area or if it was just random. My suggestion? Bars don’t need movies projected onto walls. Furthermore, the sound system wasn’t the best, but thats not an issue cause the less you could hear the DJ the better. Apart from that (and I was just splitting hairs there) I loved the place!

My suggestion for West End lovers would be to check out Zomba next time you are there, I know its hard to leave the likes of Lychee Lounge, and god forbid, Uber, but Zomba is the perfect venue for a good night out with friends. You will most probably always find a seat and who knows you might even run into the likes of Powder Finger. The food was great too, I would highly recommend the place for a first date, make sure you sit out the back as the front area, although having the people watching benefit is noisy and homeless people do tend to stare at you as they walk past. So check it out and post your comments!

Alice’s Take:-

I must admit, we’re being pretty generous with our praise, seeing as we didn’t exactly take Zomba by surprise, nor storm for that matter. We also didn’t turn up on the busiest of nights- the kind where we were drawn down the street by the glitz, glamour and bright lights, ooohing and ahhhing at the scantily clad bodies wedged into the tiny front from like sardines in a tin; the kind where we entered with our mouths agape and eyes agog at the pure popularity of the ‘pumping’ party house. Instead we chose a Monday. The day when owners give their chefs the day off, and tend to do the same themselves. The day when most restaurants recline in darkened silence.

And so we decided to slouch on down to Zomba, check out the coffee, nibble on the tapas, and catch up on goss while wait-staff discreetly served us hand and foot. I must admit, we probably didn’t give Zomba the opportunity to shine as much as it has the potential to. I find restaurants usually prove their ’salt’ and ’sass’ when they are at their busiest (when the waiters become moving blurs and diners fill every chair in the room) but still provide seamless, smooth service and well-prepared meals.

Zomba was suffering the Monday night blues, in fact most of the West End drag was, and we turned up to give the place the critical eye. But we were pleasantly surprised. The manager was an affable kind of guy. And as Alborz noted, really enthusiastic about managing a bar/restaurant. Previously a chef (degustation was his specialty) in Germany, he’s owned Zomba since somewhere in 2005 and has “worked really hard” to move it away from its previous, ahhhh, reputation. He introduced himself and the restaurant, talked a little bit about the foodie/clubbing scene in Australian and Brisbane and then left us to our business.

I must admit, I was most impressed by this. He didn’t mollicoddle us, having encouraged us to visit, and didn’t try to sell us anything. We ordered drinks - a really raw House Red and probably Red Bull for Al (the default Alborz drink I use when I can’t remember what he was having). We sat in the window seats and watched West End in it’s early evening slumber, sipping (me quite tentatively) on my wine, chatting quietly, flinching as trucks occasionally zoomed by. A note on this point: it’s quite picturesque sitting in the cubby hole which is Zomba’s front room, but the noise from the street is sure to drown your conversation. The waiters, sensing this, sent us through to the back, down a narrow hall and then into a massive concreted backyard area which ballooned out from the building. It was like Zomba had suddenly turned into the Tardis! Ahhhhh, I thought to myself. Judging by 3 Monkeys and Jazzy Cat, I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Most restaurants and cafe’s in West End hide huge seating areas out back. I think that’s part of the their charm.
Anyway, we settled ourselves in the Zomba Tardis, almost alone but for the empty chairs marbled with candlelight. Nibbling on our zesty tapas, full of spicy flavours - more modern Australian than traditionally Spanish I think - withvlittle morsels of chicken, duck and this and that, I did have to agree with Al that the place would be perfect for a first date. Tasty food in a quiet setting with wait-staff all to yourself. Hidden away where you wouldn’t risk being discovered by acquaintances wandering by and striking up inconvenient conversation with you mid-meal - as does tend to happen in West End!

When it came to paying, I found the food to be a little pricey (around $10 and over for each dish)- especially for tapas- which also leads me to thinks it’s a little more Modern cuisine- rather than your good old oily potato croquets and stuffed olives for 5 Euro (ok, ok AU$7.50) a dish. They also had a desert menu and main meals which from where we were sitting looked pretty good on everyone else’s tables. But then again, most food does before you taste it!

Alborz and I returned to Zomba on a Friday night, in order to get a proper impression of the place with more clientele and maybe even some frenzied staff. However, we somehow managed to stumble into someone’s private function, where we were served plate after plate of dips and bread and skewered tidbits-most of which went untouched (everyone seemed to have their hands full with beers and cocktails). The function didn’t appear to be particularly well-attended. We ate to our heart’s content and snagged table’s with utmost ease. I don’t know whether it was the drinks i’d consumed across the road (venue unnamed!) and the atmosphere was cheerful and fancy-free. The house cocktail/s were also a vast improvement on the wine!

My say: Go, try it, take a date! When you finally get sick of those other West End venues, go to Zomba for a taste of something else. I’ll definitely go again. Apparently the breakfasts over the weekend are pretty booked, so that may be my next foray. Wonder if they serve those cocktails before lunch…