Status: Diamond
Property: Hilton Brisbane
Date: 18-1-2013 to 20-1-2013
Rate: $152/night (IIRC approx.)
Booked: King Hilton Guest
Received: King Hilton Suite
They got right: Genuinely? Pretty much everything.
They got wrong: No card from GM but hey, one word.........SUITE! Honestly, BNE Hilton is an oldy (renovated a few years back) but a goody! Staff are warm, efficient, fun. I find it hard to find fault with this Hilton.
Summary: Hilton BNE has provided us with an ongoing sense of "belonging". I feel very much at home here. Not too pretentious, very accommodating, very easy and comfortable. We've had the pleasure of the company of Markis 10 here previously and this time we were graced with the excellent company of anat0l, which makes us feel very privileged to to be AFF members and HH members.
Recommend: Yes, definitely. All aspects of this hotel meet our expectations. Not the most opulant hotel in the world, but far from the shabbiest. A livable hotel we find we can enjoy.
swanning_it,
Mrs swanning_it,
Miss swanning_it the youngest and I followed up canapes in the Executive Lounge with a meal at the Hilton Brisbane restaurant, Vintaged. Unlike the Atrium restaurant which preceded it, Vintaged is all a la carte rather than buffet. The focus of Vintaged is on meat, cooked to your liking with various accompaniments.
They got right: The food was prepared immaculately -
swanning_it and
Mrs swanning_it ordered a fish and steak respectively, and both said they were cooked correctly. I had a spatchcock, which was cooked perfectly - moist, even the confit legs. I was quite concerned that the spatchcock might be dry and wanted to get plenty of pesto with it, but because the bird was cooked fine, the large puddle of pesto was sufficient. Portion size and taste is pretty good value for price paid. Wait staff are
excellent - great service, wine kept topped up, attention to detail and knowledgeable about the menu items. Very large wine selection (mostly by bottle, of course).
They got wrong: This is just being nit picky, but the only points are:
- Service was a bit slow, even though the restaurant was barely half full. We were comped tea and coffee at the end as an apology for the slow delivery.
- Menu looks a bit unsophisticated when you read through it, though if you read carefully, there are a couple of gems to be found. Maybe complex food is not necessarily great, but you are paying a decent dollar - I suppose you would like to be surprised or try something novel sometimes. And of course, the simpler something is (for a certain price point), the more that you expect it should be cooked perfectly.
Recommend: If you're looking for elegant, complex food that you've never heard before, perhaps Vintaged is not quite for you. For more classic flavours, simple ingredients and cooked well, give Vintaged a try. At least you will be well looked after.
Mrs swanning_it also strongly recommends the (currently on the menu) salted caramel sauce that goes with the sundae
Some pictures of the food follow. I should probably add that edible flowers tend to be used quite a bit by Vintaged.
swanning_it's salmon, cooked simply.
Mrs swanning_it's choice of the plate of the day, which was sirloin with Salsa Verde.
My selection: organic spatchcock - roasted breasts, confit legs and served with with panzanella (with a twist, of course).
We had shared sides with our mains - kipfler potatoes, beans in anchovy butter and a salad of rocket, pear and parmesan.
Mrs swanning_it's plate of the day came with an included glass of wine; she selected a Merlot.
swanning_it and I shared a bottle of Running With Bulls Tempranillo (2010) from Wrattonbully (SA). We also sampled a Kalleske Clarry's SGM (2010) from Barossa Valley (SA), which was a bit strong for liking with a strong peppery finish.
The Vintaged sundae with raspberries, ice cream, honeycomb and salted caramel sauce. Enjoyed by
Miss swanning_it the youngest, and the remainder of the caramel sauce enjoyed very much by
Mrs swanning_it.
I don't normally get drawn to chocolate tarts on the menu, as usually they aren't anything too special, especially as one of my favourite desserts, panna cotta, was on the menu. However, against normal instinct, I decided to try the tart as it looked a bit different to usual. So here is the Valrhona chocolate tart with gold leaf, served with cherry ice cream and spiced crumbs. The tart had a wonderful orange flavour through it, and the dark chocolate ensured that it wasn't completely a one-dimensional sweet tart. The ice cream is a nice foil for the tart, too. I liked it.
Big thanks to
swanning_it for inviting me to join them for dinner.
