A weekend away in Brisbane

During the long weekend of Good Friday & Easter Monday 2019, we headed to Brisbane to seek warmer pastures and also because we found Calile Hotel so alluring. The soft pastel colours along with the minimalistic combination of wood & marble was enough to convince us this boutique hotel was worth the trip alone. To our surprise, the room rates were very reasonable for a 5 star hotel, especially comparatively to Melbourne.

We spend the weekend as all young parents should - lazing around in bed, going for a daily swim in an effort to tire the active toddler out, and visiting restaurants that fit our criteria of kid-friendliness & good food. On the last night, we reward ourselves with an upgrade to the suite - a luxurious, spacious room of pastel pink with a spectacular bath tub. We end up taking 3 baths in 24 hours, and enjoy every minute of it.

We leave Brisbane with a sense of anticipation - one that we will return sooner rather than later. Little did we know that this would be our last holiday for a long time. Shortly after we found out we were pregnant, then the coronavirus pandemic hit. If only we knew, we might have stayed at Calile for one more night. The next time we do travel to Brisbane again, no doubt it will be very different.

Quite a few restaurants were closed during the Good Friday weekend, so we didn’t manage to try everything on our shortlist but we still had a great time nonetheless. Here are our recommendations - all a stones throw away from Calilie Hotel.

Gerard’s Bistro - Innovative Middle Eastern food.
Bird's Nest Restaurant - Wonderful Yakitori. Wished they had a branch in Melbourne.
Happy Boy - Modern Chinese Fusion.
Bucci Restaurant & Bar - We can’t speak for the food as we only had dessert. But the Chocolate Nemesis Cake by River Cake was definitely worth the visit. No wonder it’s described as the best flourless chocolate cake in the world.