Barolo

So we drove past Barolo today, on the way back from our very uplifting and luxurious couple of hours at The Dome Retreat. What are holidays for, after all? As we came past Felix St, Barolo caught my eye with its enormous creamy Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin awning, extending right out over the footpath and looking very attractive indeed. The joint used to be called Felix on Felix (lame, but also sort of cool, and why did they have to change it to something vanilla and half-arsed Italian that everyone will now forget?) but now goes by Barolo. The menu looks pretty good- maybe a little bit expensive, perhaps, but I get it. These are the city types and evening revellers they're catering for, not budgeting families in the suburbs. But, by the time you drove in there, parked the car (or even got public transport and walked), had a couple of glasses of wine, maybe dessert, maybe two of you, it could be quite hard on the wallet.
I guess I was drawn to the place by virtue of its exterior looks (if only that weren't true of most things in life) and its laid-back, "touch of Europe in downtown Brisbane" feel. Looks like you could spend a lovely couple of hours there, gently sunning yourself on a spring afternoon and alternating between a crisp white, or perhaps Campari and soda, and Perrier, watching the grey and black workers scuttle back to their cube farms, and enjoying scintillatingly elegant conversation with a paramour. Or maybe that's just what I am dreaming of.
Anyway, Barolo looks like it could be the goods. And as another plus, it's down the road from the Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels, another downtown spot I have yet to visit. Fun times ahead, then.