I was feeling rather adventurous so I decided to pay a visit to Happy High Herbs while passing…read morethrough West End. The interior is pretty much as one would expect: a combination of new-age funk and downtown grunge. The employees seemed accustomed to groups such as my own coming in to gawk and admire the stores unconventional nature. With a name like Happy High Herbs I couldn't help but look at every object with a feeling of excitement and suspicion. "What will do the job", I thought to myself as I inspected the packets of mysterious herbal powders that hung from the walls. I inspected a bowl of lollipops for a long period of time wondering if they were more then just your standard lollipop. Slowly I began to understand how this store works. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the "popular" products were selling out or there were simply none left to be had. One such example is the powdered wormwood used to create absinthe. I chuckled to myself imagining hundreds of Brisbanites bootlegging absinthe from their bathtubs at home. I'll admit, I was a little too shy to ask directly "which products will make me happy and high" and I also wasn't sure if I was actually interested in buying anything. With this in mind, for those of you who mean business shopping at Happy High Herbs I urge to either ask for assistance from the shopkeepers or to ask some friends what you should be looking for. Don't assume you'll jut know.

You can't help but notice that this unusual shop is here, mostly because when you see the words…read more'Happy Herb Shop' along with noticeably colourful decor your curiosity as to what's inside is involuntarily piqued. The combination of these characteristics also makes me feel like I should be sneaking in to the store unseen, but luckily there's nothing to be frowned upon (or to make you frown) in this place. In case you haven't figured from the name, these guys are the herb specialists, offering herbal solutions to pretty much any problem you may have. Their herbs come in a variety of forms; teas, skin care and I assume some are smokable. It's a small shop but the space is used well and it's full of hundreds of little bags featuring different mixtures of things grown in the earth designed to help you achieve a desired effect; detox, better sleep, laughter. It's certainly interesting and worth a visit.

Fruity Capers is great for fresh fruit and vegetables. They always have a wide selection avaiable…read moreand great prices on in season produce. Their fruit and veg is always fresh and tasety. I particularly enjoy their Asian veg section, as well as just the countless piles of delicious fruit. Fruity Capers also has a Deli attached with some of the nicest marinated olives around and a good range of cheeses. Definitely worth checking out. Fruity Capers is situated in Toowong Shopping Village on the ground floor near the Coles supermarket.

unfortunately they over charge for fruit and veg. and I don't just mean they charge more than the…read moresame item in a supermarket but that they charge more than the advertised price and make a big fuss if you ask them to refund you the money they over charged. not sure if this was a genuine mistake or a bit of a scam hoping people wouldn't notice.

Everyone needs that little convenience store on the corner to run to in the mornings when there's…read moreno milk or bread in the house. The only difference with the St Lucia Supermarket is that it's not little and I run to it when I run out of fruit, vegetables, meat and spices. You could easily do a week's worth of grocery shopping here, however the small shopping baskets sort of prevent that from happening (unless you are the Incredible Hulk/can survive off lettuce for every meal). This place houses everything from heavy duty household cleaning products, to cat food, personal hygiene goods, juices, baking goodies and a variety of frozen Asian food products. They often have specials on particular products (there's often cheap pumpkins advertised out the front) and have an assortment of banana bread, muffins and slices at the counter, which sometimes act as a necessary source of comfort food. So if you're in the area and are running low on literally anything/everything in your house; you can be sure to replenish your depleted stocks here.

I never really even paid attention to the name of St Lucia Supermarket until I had to write this…read morereview. Up until now, I always referred to it as the little Asian Supermarket on Fred Schonell. I have a warm spot in my heart for this grocery store. It was my local one for so long and I felt as if I visited it on almost a daily basis to pick up my milk and bread. It was flooded out earlier in the year but luckily has made a full comeback. This is not your average supermarket. They sell slices of homemade banana bread or cakes on the front counter, and you always see the same staff who are kind and friendly. They have a great fresh food section. While it does not have a huge selection of vegetables you will find whatever they do stock is often of great quality and in season. They also stock a lot of Asian vegetables and packaged foods here that aren't easily available elsewhere. If you wonder down the very tight aisles to the back you will find a tower of two minute noodles, bread, bags of rice and a wall full of spices. They have freezers full of pork buns and dim sums. They also stock all your other basic foods and needs like toilet paper, pencils, batteries etc. While not good for a big shop (you couldn't fit a trolley down those aisles if you tried), it is the perfect spot to pick up those few missing ingredients for your next meal.

For our almost-regular Tuesday lunches, we decided to head to Mrs. Luu's to grab a sandwich, and…read moreended up giving in to our desires for an iced hot chocolate! Oh, the calories! I've been wanting to try Bunker for the longest time, and today was the day. I love the vine covered hub, which reminds me of a burrow, and of a cafe that I used to visit back in L.A. Instead of getting my usual latte, I went for the bottled ice dark chocolate (5). I'm not the biggest fan of hot chocolate, as it's usually too sweet and heavy for me to finish (I know, strange, because I can finish a whole Chipotle burrito), but I decided that the unusually warm weather called for an iced chocolate. We were greeted by a really friendly barista who helped us right away - and well - the iced dark chocolate and dark chocolate mocha were pre-bottled, so there wasn't much work. The iced dark chocolate, made with organic milk (I think?) and fair trade chocolate, was quickly consumed! It wasn't too sweet, and I would definitely go for it again. The iced dark mocha was also really good, and not at all grainy, which often happens in a lot of mochas. My only complaint was that the bottles were a bit harder to open (I prefer Bean's bottles), and the straws were too short and kept falling in! The drinks were so delicious it didin't matter though....

Bunker eptiomsises why I have faith Brisbane will sustain its growing 'cool' factor. Taking a…read moredisused war-time bunker on Milton Road, Bunker Coffee has turned a small space into a urban retreat. Sitting against the cool brick wall sipping an ice coffee, flat white or hot chocolate you feel a million miles away from the city despite the fact Milton train station is above you. In the same way Blackstar Coffee paved the way for coffee appreciation in Brisbane many years ago, Bunker continues the tradition introducing and encouraging a new set of palettes to appreciate and respect good coffee. They also offer take-home coffee beans which they will grind for you depending on what device you'll be using them in.

Flavours of Thailand The food at this cute little restaurant…read morejust outside West End's dining and shopping precinct is amazing. We were able to tailor the food to suit our taste - Thai hot with less sugar. We loved that the dishes we ordered were served with a generous wedge of lime. The flavours were authentic with lots of chilli, galangal, finger ginger and green peppercorns. The service was excellent - the staff are super friendly and eager to please. We'll be back to try more dishes!

From the owner: Gala Thai is newly open Thai Asian, and vegetarian Restaurant in West End, Brisbaneread more

In search of a quick lunch, I found this local West End joint offers a $10 lunch special. It was…read morequite satisfactory. A range of stir-fry and noodle options were available with tofu, and they do advertise their willingness to respond to dietary concerns. The interior is quite nice, with some low-sitting benches in addition to the more conventional tables. What I got was my standard basil-chilli tofu. They cautioned me that the medium spice level was hot, and having tried it, I found that quite sufficient to clear the old sinuses. It does make me think that the maximum spice level must be for real. The portion size was not large, but for a cheap lunch special in this town it was certainly par for the course. I would (and probably will) go back.

It was a rainy day in Brisbane and my partner and I ended up at a laundromat down the street from…read moreSoi 9 Thai, West End. The dryer started tumbling as much as our belly's and we wandered down the street in search of an inviting joint, for a sit down lunch. I followed my gut, in more ways than one, and we ended up perusing the menu here and taking a seat. The metal cups the water came out in was awesome and different. The iced teas we sipped after arrival were tasty AF. The satay chicken skewers were delicious, all this got me happy enough to get excited about the main meal. My time tasting Thai food over the years has served me well enough to appreciate, and be grateful!.... for what happened next. BUT first please know, I've never taken the time to ever write a review, with any restaurant, about anything. Soi 9 Thai has the best Tom Yum soup I've ever had, and I've had a lot. I had hot! But not for the faint hearted. And it was very hot but somehow manageable... because it was so delicious I couldn't stop. If there's a word that means more than delicious... I'd use it. I think it was the texture I loved the most, thicker than any other Tom Yum I've tried. But the lime and tomato flavours combined with what ever else is in it, had made me an instant fan. Anyone reading this needs to taste it. I can't stop thinking about it. I crave it at home on any given day, and am dismayed they don't Uber eats or deliver Menulog online to Bardon. My partner had the Pad Thai Main, and I drove my fork in. Tastiest and most authentic Pad Thai on my list. I'm super excited for my next journey to Soi 9 Thai in West End. Please reward yourself for all your hard work, sit down at this place and at least have the Tom Yum appetiser to your liking, to start... Then spread the word. Your welcome. Xx

After driving by this place many times on our way to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, and…read morenoticing how crowded it was, we decided to check out the menu and see why it's so popular. It's an odd coupling, a place that calls itself a "coffee house," and it does an admirable array of coffee in all forms, but its food offering is Thai. Go figure. So with a partner who loves a Green Papaya Salad we set off for a lunch date to try theirs. And it was, drum roll please, very pedestrian. Our tastebuds didn't orgasm in ecstasy, and the ingredients, while fresh and tasty, certainly didn't mimic the street food vibe this place is promoting. At $15 it seemed like great value but we also opted for the prawns, at $7 more, but they didn't really make much of a difference to the overall blandness of the dish and were somewhat tasteless as well. regardless of how spicy with heat the salad was. Now, the menu is quite extensive with a variety of Thai dishes and perhaps we chose the wrong one on the chef's bad day. But we'll leave the remainder to those in "the cool kids club" and who don't mind spending to be seen, rather than to be sated.

This place is right at the major intersection of West End. By the name, one might guess it serves…read morecoffee and breakfast fare, which is true. And indeed, I had some nice fruit and nut toast there. However, it also serves northern Thai cuisine, some for breakfast, and some for lunch. Note: lunch doesn't start until noon, after breakfast ends, and they don't serve dinner. Importantly for a southeast Asian place, they clearly identify where the fish sauce is. And they do offer a taste-awakening tofu laab that I was happy to eat, among other things. There's limited seating, and the price/portion ratio wasn't great. But it offers a nice suite of fresh breakfast and lunch options.

It's a rare thing to find a retail shop, let alone a health food store open late during the week…read more Go Vita in West End is open until 6:30pm weekdays and 8pm on Thursday! They are open until 5pm on Saturday too, but are closed on Sundays. They have an in-store naturopath, Leanne, who is available for consultations (by appointment only) on Tuesday and Friday. Initial consultation fees are $95 and run for 1-1.5 hours. Follow up visits are $55 for 30 mins or $75 for extended visits. They also have a staff member who specialises in Homeopathy. Go Vita has a membership program. You can sign up for free in store and your membership card gets you lots of discounts and offers. Go Vita West End is the stockist for many specialised health products including Essenzza ear candles, Carolina Skin Care (which relieves and treats eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis), La Mav organic skin care products and Coconut Magic Coconut Oil.

Here's a story. I burnt my arm badly (BADLY) and despite many visits to chemists to apply all…read moresorts of creams and potions it wouldn't heal and just festered away (sorry for the oversharing!) Finally I went into the lovely ladies at Go Vita and the young naturopath suggested Calendula cream and to take Turmeric capsules. My burn made a miraculous recovery. No mainstream "potion" could have had this result. Great advice! Recently I've returned about Qs about sugar free living and recovering from a virus. Again, good sound sensible advice. Make sure you sign up to be a member of the store to get 10% off some products. Go Vita has a huge range of products (although I think their prices are a little steep) but I go for the advice and the accompanying products that go with this advice.

Upon discovering Charlie & Liz's, I've decided I would happily catch the bus from New Farm to West…read moreEnd every week to buy fruit and veg in order to stick the finger to the corporate grocery giants. You might ask why I would go this effort? Well, I'll tell you. At this "Self Serve Fruit Mart" the produce is fresher, the prices are lower and service is friendlier than any Coles/Woolworths experience I've had. Not only that, but the produce is all seasonal and chances are the farmer who grew it is benefitting much more from the stock sold. I am a HUGE believer in supporting local business, so if you're in, around or even ever in West End, I would highly recommend you pick up your weeks groceries from somewhere like Charlie & Liz's Self Serve Fruit Mart. Not only will you save money, but what you spend will be feeding the local economy and helping more locals out.

I often walk past this fruit and veg shop and whether I need anything or not, my eyes linger on the…read morebeautiful displays of fruit stacked up on the footpath. My legs keep going but my head and neck kind of lag behind, the voice in my head saying, "Maybe I NEED some of those mangoes or perhaps a pineapple." Whilst this is a nice little fruit and veg shop with temptingly displayed produce, I'd never do all my fruit and veg shopping here as it's too small and too expensive. I try to do a bulk shop on the weekend at either The Gabba Fruit Market or the Davies Park Markets, where you really get value for money, but if I forget something, I'd much rather pop into Charlie & Liz's than go to Coles. It's a handy little store, in the middle of Boundary Street, the produce is good and supporting small businesses is always good.