Waves Buffet Restaurant

Overall score: 77/100

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Please NOTE: The Chameleon is switching to a first person writing style from this review onwards (June, 2014)

Sometimes, just sometimes, the idea of visiting a buffet seems like a reasonable one. On this occasions, in the company of work colleagues who liked to indulge in a bit of glutinous feasting, I opted to join the group at Waves Buffet Restaurant. The $55 all-you-can-eat option for the night seemed feasible, especially since my day job provider would be picking up the bill. 

THE EXPERIENCE

The place looks clinical. As I approached the vast open entrance, I remember thinking "...geez, this feels a bit like an airport lounge eatery..." but nonetheless we were greeted by a smiling host and seated quite promptly within a manner of about one minute. On this evening the restaurant was rather quiet, at about 20% capacity, which made it all the better as a full buffet can be a very uncomforting experience, as witnessed by another recent "buffet" trip. My group was seated a small hike from the action, which wasn't such a terrible thing, as it allowed us to have a bit of privacy to part take in our various small talk sessions.  

The staff were wonderful overall, but no one really went out of their way to go the extra mile either. The tables were routinely cleaned slightly later then they should have been and the chef behind the requests counter was cheery enough but again, service that is typical these days in most decent restaurants. 

THE FOOD

As I mentioned, the place looked clinical, which was actually quite a positive for a buffet; cleanliness can never be overrated at such an establishment and it felt very much that at this place, there was no place for second rate food to hide.

Without going into extensive detail about all the food, which was of various consistency, I'll touch on a highlight and a lowlight. The highlight was obvious and jumped out at me with two hands; I happened to find tucked away in a corner, the most delicious pork belly! It was a large serving, thick and full of flavour, prepared just as pork belly should be. It was juicy, sticky, full-on flavour punches that kept on coming. The lowlight was definitely the prawns. Flavourless, textureless and very much a disappointing part of the evening for me. When a buffet which prides itself on it's seafood presents such disastrous prawns, the main staple, it is indeed a negative stain on what was an otherwise fine offering all round.   

OVERALL

Waves offered plenty to sing about in a clinical, no nonsense buffet. Overall the food was fantastic and well worth the $55 I paid. A slight blimp was the lack of atmosphere and the flavourless prawns. I think I would visit a few more of the Gold Coast's notable buffets before returning to Waves. 77/100

Firefly Cafe (Lunch)

Overall score: 83/100

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Urbanised, industrial, arty, hipster-y; everything a pretentious cafe should be and, in our capital cities at least, this is exactly what you get. But not in Toowoomba. No, in Toowoomba you get basic, utilitarian, uninspiring, dated; until you visit Firefly.
   Located smack bang in the middle of the CBD, Firefly hides under an unnasumming, simple facade, and really the front of the shop is small and one could quite easily miss it. As The Chameleon entered this ostensible, albeit almost miss-placed for Toowoomba, cafe, his memories took him back to a place not so long ago down in old Melbourne town, a cafe just like this; warm, with a kitch twist like a cafe should. 
   The decor here was well composed with French inspired chairs and wicked rustic tables. The walls adorned with what appeared like a nice batch of modern art and the colour scheme worked a treat. As The Chameleon approached the counter, a puzzling experience enveloped; there was no menu on the wall! Not even for the coffee! Intriguing start. Was this a part of the pretentiousness? Perhaps. 
   Anyway, he asked the lovely waitress whether they were doing lunch and she promptly handed him a very uninspiring menu. Now, keeping in mind that this was lunch, and that Toowoomba has many many offerings of sub $10 lunches (i.e. the outstanding Phat Burgers just up the road) the menu read very high brow, some interesting offerings. The Chameleon however wanted some meat; it's what he had been consuming for lunch for quite some time, however Firefly is not the place to go if you are after a large, filling, protein based meal. And rightly it shouldn't be, after all, it is a cafe, not Hogs Breath Cafe. So summing up his options, of which there weren't many by the way, he ended up pointing to the "Roast sweet potato w pork belly & sugarloaf slaw" and hoped for the best. He also of course ordered a cap. 
   The staff were very friendly. Urbanspoon reviewers, some of them anyway, have complained of the lacklustre service, the lack of smiles, making it sound all a bit Twilight. But this was not The Chameleon's experience; chirpy, friendly, warm staff, even asking how my meal was, and to top it all off, going to the extra effort of saying goodbye as he left, even though they were busy. 
   First the coffee. It was nice, quite tasty and very acceptable for a lunchtime pick-me-up. There was an added little touch that really impressed The Chameleon. Next to his cappuccino was a beautiful little heirloom teaspoon, all the way from France. Oh how this delighted him, to see just a little glimpse of style and international thought in this regional city. 
   The main was outstanding. Well, it was rather sweet and the jus was very sweet indeed, but geez that pork belly was cooked to perfection. And the sweet potato was great too, the whole meal worked together like an orchestra performing at it's peak. Great work  Firefly. 
   Firefly Cafe is perhaps the only 'real' cafe in Toowoomba. The air of elegance, of art and style, Firefly delivers an ultra-urban high-brow ambience which would see it fit into any of Australia's major cities, if not internationally. As The Chameleon gazed into busy Ruthven Street, shoppers impatiently running past from shop to shop, he could have been sitting anywhere from Rome, to London, to Copenhagen. A few Hiluxes and Navaras quickly bought him back to reality, but alas, Firefly created the desired mood. 
   The food was great, but a lack of options hindered. Should there be more options is perhaps a more pertinent question to ask, as this was a cafe after all. The menu presentation too needed some more thought, but perhaps the pretentiousness that one desires from a cafe has to surface somewhere. 
   The Chameleon thinks they might be going for the "have your coffee and leave" angle, but "if you are going to eat, then we will get that right". Not a bad effort Firefly. 83/100