reviews

If you missed wrapping your mouth around the roast wild boar with nashi puree and medium-rare camel loin with buttered parsnip and horseradish cream (two of the offerings on the September degustation dinner menu), fear not – there’s two degustation dinners coming up this month. On October 10, a five course dinner will feature wines from Neagles Rock of Clare Valley, South Australia and, on October 28, the seven-course dinner will showcase a variety of Queensland wines from the Granite Belt. Both will have winemakers in attendance.

Mario says the mission at LitsE is to offer diners something different – because “life is too short, so why not enjoy?” (that’s the phrase that inspired the acronym LitsE). The menu includes a great selection of delicious tapas complemented by varied mains, including Mooloolaba prawns and Queensland rib steak. There’s plenty to choose from on the carefully selected wine list which features some less common wines well-deserving of inclusion. However, you could just go with Mario’s favourite: the Heartland Viognier Pinot Gris 2006 – a beautiful drop. We settled down for dinner at a corner table with an ordinary chair and an oversize comfy armchair, and started with a steaming pot of mussels and clams in white wine with chorizo, tomato, parsley and lemon liquor. There was plenty of crusty baguette to mop up the delicious juices. My partner, a veteran of many Vietnamese dinners, tucked into Vietnamese-style steamed prawn dumplings with an oriental dipping sauce. It was a seafood night. The seafood bouillabaisse had plenty of calamari, mussels, fish, prawns, scallops and clams in a delicious soup. My Thai-style aromatic duck curry with jasmine rice and cucumber salad was equally enjoyable. Somehow, we still had room to share a serve of the steamed pudding with Armagnac prunes and vanilla. It was a delicious moment. If you are lucky enough to have LitsE Lounge as your local, take advantage of its fine food. If you have to drive the distance to get there – make the effort!

Style magazine October edition 2007 [ hide ]

On arrival, after momentary discussions about where to sit, owner Mario Chrisanthou directed us to a corner table with ordinary chairs and an oversize comfy armchair with a couple of large cushions. Later in the evening, I quizzed Mario about his background, which includes years in hospitality training. It shows in his polite and efficient staff. One of those who’d sung the praise of this eatery had, during his wife’s holiday overseas, worked his way through the tapas menu and we both could have happily just ordered five of six of these light bites. But in keeping with the job, we limited ourselves a charred chicken splendini ($10.50) - two sticks of delicious lemony chicken pieces served with Greek salad, warmed flat bread and house made hummus - and six crisp char-grilled asparagus stalks ($9.90) dressed with aged balsamic and shavings of reggiano.

Plates cleared, I sipped on my peach bellini ($8.50) while we admitted the cream, rich brown and plum interior and noted how the wine club members were better behaved than predicted. I ordered a glass of my favourite pinot gris from the T Gallant vineyard ($7), and the waitress said our mains would be with us soon. About 20 minutes later, Mario was back at our table apologising for the delay due to a mix-up with orders – which is why, I think, the wine was deleted from our bill. All was forgiven when our meals arrived with a friendly flourish. My partner’s rib-eye fillet ($26.50) was cooked as ordered and served atop herb-flecked mash surrounded by a pepper sauce of tomato, green beans and mushrooms. The Moroccan lamb shanks ($25.50) on my plate were at the fall-off-the-bone stage and complemented by a creative mix of roast sweet potato, lentils, fresh green beans and cherry tomatoes, with a finishing touch of minted yoghurt and fruit chutney on the side. A look through the desserts meant we both found room for something extra. I’m more than fond of a brulee, and the vanilla bean one with balsamic strawberries almost won my vote but the flavour combination in the affogato sundae ($8.90) was too good to resist. A scoop each of chocolate and vanilla ice-cream arrived with shot glasses of Kahlua and espresso, and the slice of biscotti proved ideal for dipping into heavenly liquid left at the bottom of the glass. My partner limited her sweet intake to a plate of biscotti ($2.50). Even then the three slices proved too much. The coffee is roasted on the premises, and her flat white ($3.30) was smooth and full of flavour, even though it was decaf.

LitsE is an acronym for “Life is too short. Enjoy!” Enjoy is what we did as, apart from the timing hiccup, this was one of the best evenings we’ve had out all year.

Food: 9
Wine: 8
Service: 7.5
Ambience: 8

Ratings: 10-Perfect, 9-Excellent, 8-Very Good, 7-Good, 6-Possible, 5-Dissappointing, 1-4-Woeful

Brisbane News Nov-Dec 2005 Issue 567 [ hide ]

Mario said he and Pauline were on an adventure in the Blue Mountains when they were halted by the fresh aroma of roasted coffee beans emanating from a small coffee shop. ‘‘We drifted in and deliberated over the purchase of a blueberry muffin to accompany our coffee,’’ he said. ‘‘After several minutes of procrastination our waiter proclaimed ‘go ahead, get the muffin, life is too short - enjoy’. ‘‘We are at a stage of our lives where positive experiences like this one are important to us. ‘‘We understand the importance of great service, great food and that welcome, comfortable feeling which people remember, just as we remember our waiter in the Blue Mountains.’’ Phone 3851 3388.

North-West News, Wednesday, June 15, 2005 [ hide ]