The Balfour Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Brisbane City

We booked lunch for my sisters birthday. Originally booking for high tea, then cancelling and booking standard lunch menu. This was because the high tea menu wasn’t suitable for our family especially my mum, being an asian mum did not understand/like the concept of high tea. When we got there, the waitress asked us if we wanted the bubbles, we thought this was weird as I was breastfeeding and my sister can only take a sip, my mum just finished chemo so she was avoiding alcohol. The waitress explained its included so might as well get it, so we said ok. They then proceeded to give us our high tea that we cancelled. I explained what had happened and showed her my ‘the fork’ booking which was standard menu. She left to ask her manager, then came back to ask us if we would like it for $50. Its usually $80 she said. We apologized and declined. The manager then came out and asked us what was the problem with the high tea? Didnt we hear the waitress ask us about the high tea? We told him what happened and my mum doesn’t eat high tea food and wants a meal, and we didnt hear the waitress say high tea thats why we were surprised about the bubbles. He seemed unhappy with our answer. We just said we were willing to keep the one that my mum touched, but not the others. He goes we are going to throw it away anyway, so you dont want it?. I said no. And he said sure, grabbed the two trays and walked of. There was no apology and he even seemed annoyed with us. They ended up charging us $79 anyway. I didn’t mind the waitress (forgot her name), the waiter Dom was really nice. However, I felt that the manager, Jack was really rude towards us. It wasn’t our fault that this happened, and we didn’t blame them. But the way this was handled was quite poor, and left a bad taste in our mouth for the rest of the time there. The food itself: We ordered kids food and 3 dishes. The kids food was terribly dry chicken meat and chips. The chips were good. The twice cooked beef was actually really good. I loved it. The gnocchi dish was a strange combination of flavors, it was not complimentary. The other dish was a prawn and noodle spicy dish, that was quite nice but a little spicy. Overall the best thing about today was the beef and the service was the...

Beautiful setting and attention to detail with food and service alike. Highly recommended for an intimate lunch or dinner.

We most recently visited this weekend for a breakfast date with friends and our son, and it was perfect. This was the first time we’d had breakfast here, but something I’d wanted to try for a while having been impressed with all previous visits at various times of the day.

My best friend opted for the eggs bene - and kindly let me try a bite for curiosity’s sake. I can confirm it was no less than perfect and the icing on the cake - or the hollandaise on the eggs, as it were - had to be the hollandaise sauce, made with champagne! It was the perfect combination and clearly demonstrates the creative genius that goes into all of Spicer’s culinary offerings.

My other companions went with the special for the FOMO, and were all very glad we did! Granulated chorizo with spinach on sourdough topped with perfectly poached eggs, asparagus, and dotted with a burnt garlic labneh made for a perfect combination and I’m not ashamed to admit that I finished not only mine but also my partners plate!

Our son was also stoked with his babycino and went back for seconds - it wasn’t any ordinary frothy milk, but served in a glass with a spoon (to his preference!) and topped with flakes of chocolate. Winner.

Having already sampled the lunch and dinner menus I can gladly recommend this spot for any and all hunger pangs throughout the day. Nothing has ever disappointed me here and sitting out on the verandah is such a good experience, like a little leafy sanctuary - I know we’ll be back again soon!

I also want to mention the magic in the evening, when the top deck comes to life with twinkly lights and an unusual and gorgeous vantage of the story bridge and city, a very romantic setting.

All thumbs up for the...

Have eaten at Balfour twice before and had good experiences but last night was disappointing. At these prices service is part of the deal and it was lacking. We got the premium taste it all with paired wines. The courses were brought out with little explanation so we had to revert to the online menu to work out what was in the ingredients. The paired wines were the same - "this is a shiraz" was about as detailed as anything got. When I asked about the first liqueur which was served on ice I just got a brand name and a blank look which told me nothing. There was a long gap (more than half an hour) between two of the courses which was at least apologised for. Because of this it was getting pretty late by the time the dessert dish came out and we weren't asked if we wanted a coffee to finish (surely a standard operating procedure). There was that thing when we went to pay when they hand you the docket on the fancy folder with an expectation you'll put a tip on top. Given the circumstances this was never going to happen and was quite awkward and unnecessary. The food was still mostly great although the smoked duck (which was the reason we picked the premium menu) was kinda just blandly meaty. The top deck was full but the courtyard area where we were only had two other diners for the entire time we were there so I don't see a 'busy night' as an excuse....