The Defiant Duck - Review

All right, you know I love rabbity stuff so it won't surprise you to know I like ducky stuff too.  Yep, stuffed (as in toy) or pink and juicy on my plate.  So it was a no-brainer that I wanted to head to this place when I saw the name.

I don't know what I thought it would be like - kind of trendy and a bit quirky maybe. Sadly I was wrong.  Turns out it is just one big, blokey sports bar.  My fault I guess that I didn't check out their website properly.  Not that there's anything wrong with being a blokey sports bar of course!

the front of the food and drink pavilion    

Yes folks, that's what they call themselves - a food and drink pavilion.  What was I thinking?  Could I not see the writing on the wall metaphorically speaking?  And to add insult to injury, the website tells you they are located in the Gasworks precinct.  So Mr P. and I spent 10 minutes hunting for it where it was not.  Finally we saw it away in the distance across the wee park with the imposing and beautiful Gasometer still standing.

thru the looking glass i.e. Gasometer on a glorious blue sky day in Brisbane

Mr P. and I sat down and grabbed a menu.  (We know by now that table service is a thing of the past.)  The food is as you would expect for a sports bar - hearty, snacky and fried.  I chose Maryland crab cakes with fennel, cilantro (sic) and chipotle mayo.

Maryland crab cakes $12

These deep fried morsels had a lovely crunchy exterior and you could actually taste crab on the inside.  The mayo went well with it, and the pickled fennel gave it a nice tangy hit.  

a side of shoestring fries $6  

The fries came with chicken salt and aioli. (chicken salt? Not very noticeable).  As an add-on to a burger, they are just $3.00.  We were charged $3 each although we had only asked for one serve.  And sadly they were luke-warm verging on cold.  We had ordered sweet potato fries, but these came instead. The waitress was happy to change them, but we stuck with the fries in the hand etc. You know that old saying.

'The Duck' hotdog $12    

As you can see the hotdog was quite large with lots of American mustard.  Frankly waaay too much mustard.  I finally found the grilled onion shoved up one end; I wish it had been spread over the whole dog.  The actual Chicago dog itself was chewy and hard to bite into.  Not my fave dish so I left a fair whack on the plate.  

beef and bacon burger $15  

inside the burger  

This burger gets a bit of a mixed review.  Mr P. said it was juicy due to the BBQ sauce, but the meat pattie itself was so oversalted and so tough that I was very glad I wasn't eating it.  It had the weirdest texture and flavour; I can't imagine what they did to it to get it like that.  Mr P. really loved the bacon.  I tried it and yes it was smoky and delicious.  

coffee $5

It is a very large and noisy space, and when we went on a Wednesday lunchtime it was full of blokes.  I may have been the only female there.  I am perhaps sounding over-critical but the food was adequate and filling.  It is just not the place for a quiet meal for couples.  If you're interested in sports, it's a goer.  Or if you are after a quick feed and a beer, you're set.

They do lunch and dinner 7 days a week.  It is of course licensed. And BTW, they have a Josper oven which is a great thing apparently.  Oh, and an express coffee window.

looking up at the Gasworks 

3/84 Longland Street,

Newstead  QLD

Ph: 07 3252 1581