New Brisbane

Back when I first moved to Brisbane, just over a year ago now, I was staying in a backpacker hostel while waiting for my apartment to be ready, which meant eating out almost every night of the week. A couple of times, I tried out The Elephant & Wheelbarrow, but was never really impressed - I seem to recall getting a burnt chicken parma one time. However, with their recent make-over, including a brand new bottleshop and what they’re claiming to be the Valley’s biggest beer garden, I decided it was time to give it another chance. And I’m glad I did, or I never would’ve found the $3 Curry…

The Elephant & Wheelbarrow
230 Wickham st
Fortitude Valley, QLD 4000
P: +61 (0)7 3252 4136
W: brisbane.elephantandwheelbarrow.com.au

My first visit to the new Elephant & Wheelbarrow was with a couple of my old uni mates whoere were visiting from Perth - we were looking for a place to catch up over some food and a few drinks and they were keen to see how it compared to The Elephant & Wheelbarrow in Perth. Walking in, we were pretty impressed by what we found. Once you go through the classic dingy pub, you come out on a bright, open, well lit beer garden (not too bright, not too dark!), with tons of seating, friendly bar staff and easy acccess to alcohol.

Ordering our meals and grabbing some drinks, we found ourselves a table (bench seating = awesome!) and started catching up while waiting for our meals. After chatting for a while about who’d married who, who’s having kids and who doesn’t talk to who anymore, we eventually started to wonder where our meals were and after another little wait, the buzzer on our table merrily informed us that it was time to collect them from the counter.

Armed with food-ladden plates and our very own cutlery, we dug into what were some pretty decent meals. My Chicken Parma was nothing like the burnt husk I remembered, instead it was juicy and smothered with cheese, including an extra bonus of ham. My friend’s meals were reported to be similarly delicious, although the “medium rare” steak was completely overdone. Quite happy with the meal, I made a note of coming again sometime.

My next trip to the new Elephant & Wheelbarrow was on the following Tuesday to check out their $3 Curry. Yes, that’s right, $3 Curry. You see, since moving to the Valley, my flatmate and I have a plethora of chinese restaurants to choose from, a smattering of upmarket pubs and the more elegant and interesting cuisine offered by James St and upper Brunswick St. But when I saw the $3 Curry on Tuesdays at the E&W, we put all that aside and took advantage of some cheap pub grub.

With your choice of beef, chicken or vegetable curry, each meal is accompanied with rice and a pappadum. Having come in with pretty low expectations for a $3 Curry, we were pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. It certainly wasn’t a 5 star meal, but you get a lot of value for what you pay. And, although the portions aren’t huge, they are quite reasonable (especially for $3) and if you wanted another one, it’s only another $3 anyway.

Since going the first time, we’ve been back two more Tuesdays in a row to enjoy the consistently delicious curry and it looks set to becoming our regular Tuesday thing, with more and more of our friends meeting us down there each week. And while overall numbers in the beergarden seem to be getting larger as weeks go on (and word of cheap curry spreads), we’re still getting served minutes after ordering - sometimes we haven’t even finished paying for our food and drinks when the buzzer goes off!

But no Valley bar or beergarden would be complete without checking out the night life and so we’ve hopped down there a few times on some Friday and Saturday nights. For the most part, we’ve found the nightlife in E&W’s new beer garden to be very laid back and relaxed, a nice change from the normal hustle and bustle of the Valley. An older crowd also seems to be the go, which is great if you’re the type that gets annoyed by 18 year old clubkids, provided you don’t mind the odd cougar shamelessly hitting on you.

All up, I have to say that I am very impressed with the changes that have gone on at The Elephant & Wheelbarrow and, since I now live in Fortitude Valley, I am quite sure that I will find myself back there again and again in the near future when I’m looking for a good pub meal and a chill environment. And the $3 curry is definitely one of Brisbane’s best value meals.

- Ross