Eats at Ortiga

www.ortiga.com.au 

446 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

07 3852 1155

Soon after Simon Hill closed the doors on Isis Brasserie in 2008 he began transforming the space into what is now Ortiga! Ortiga quickly become the new 'it' restaurant in Brisbane and it started off with a massive bang by taking out best new restaurant in the 2011 Gourmet Traveller awards.


While it took us a stupidly long time to get there and try it out, it was worth the wait! The Spanish inspired menu: beautiful, the wine list: thirst worthy, and the service and atmosphere: promising and present on arrival. Ortiga is every inch the new era of dining in Brisbane and it proved to me that, yes, we sooo can be as cool, as laid back and as brilliant as Melbourne! 


As you walk in off Brunswick St, you will find the  sexy, dimly lit, tapas & cocktail level of Ortiga. We started the night off with a couple aperitifs in the form of sherry tastings & Spanish beers before heading down stairs to the restaurant, which is little brighter, more lively and has a huge industrial open kitchen that is every bit impressive. 

The menu consisted mostly of small share plates and a couple of larger (for two) dishes.  The waiter suggested 6-8 of the share plates between 4 people, and one large dish to finish. 


We all placed bets on what the 'dish of the night' would be, but as we quickly found out, it was going to be very hard call! They were all as equally delish & brilliant. 


Having said that, the dishes i can see myself craving on any given night would be the beef cheeks braised in Pedro Ximenez with baby root vegetables, the slow cooked duck breast with chestnuts and ceps and the whole lamb shoulder with mash and lemon puree.


The lamb shoulder was absolutely huge, and was brought to the table whole & shredded and pulled off the bone at the table by the waiter. It very rustic, homely & a perfect end to a night of outstanding food. 


We ate: 

• Freshly shucked oysters with shallots and sherry vinegar
• free range eggs with wild and cultivated mushrooms
• Galician braised octopus with potato and pimentón
• Croquetas
• beef cheeks braised in Pedro Ximénez with seasonal baby root vegetables
• Slow cooked duck breast with chestnuts and ceps
• Whole slow cooked lamb shoulder with patatas a lo pobre and lemon puree (for two)

Between four of us, including plenty of beers & wine and with little to no attention to the prices of what we were ordering, the bill ended up being around $90 per head, which was absolutely awesome considering the quality, the service & atmosphere in my opinion. 

We would all go again in a heart beat and I am already secretly planning the next visit. 

(images from www.ortiga.com.au)