The Thousands

Brisbane has a couple of decent Asian eateries to its name, but there’s only enough room in my heart for one Chinese restaurant. Bamboo Basket has been earning rivers of praise as long as the Yangtze ever since it opened. I tried to keep it secret, but word got out, and it became harder and harder to get a table here. Recently they bought up next door and expanded their capacity two-fold, so I figure there’s room for me to let everyone know about it now.

The food here is closer to ‘traditional’ northern Chinese cuisine than, say, honey chicken. Instead, you can try pan-fried duck flatbread, beef pancake, salt and pepper tofu, shallot cake, a whole gamut of spring roll and a huge variety of dumplings. They also offer a dim sum menu for all-day yum cha.

Everything here is delicious which means it’s literally impossible to order the wrong meal. The dumplings are juicy, the soups are piping hot and the stir-fries are heavy on the vegetables. You can see the chefs hand-pulling noodles right before your eyes for their signature dishes, so you know everything is fresh. They say the only way to show you’re enjoying your food in China is to eat really loudly… the sound of soup slurping never made me so happy.