Located one street over from busy Brunswick Street Mall in the Valley is Chinatown. Chinatown is a…read morecultural hub and home to some of the best oriental restaurants in Brisbane. Duncan Street, where Chinatown is located, is a pedestrian street that doesn't seem like much during the day, but at night when the lanterns are lit and the businesses open to the public is when it's prime time to check out some of what Chinatown has to offer. Festivals throughout the year are held in the Chinatown mall, and it's pretty spectacular being there for Chinese New Year which I've been lucky enough to see a few times, because you can become witness to traditional Chinese celebrations, food and festivities. There is also a lot of commercial activity in Chinatown as well, with many small businesses such as doctors, dentists, realtors and stores specifically aimed at the Chinese community in Brisbane. The street is beautiful and clean (having had a bit of help over the last few years by Brisbane City Council) and has ample street seating. If you're a fan of asian cuisine (Chinatown plays host to some great Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Malaysian restaurants too) then I highly recommend that you head to Chinatown for some great food and atmosphere.

One line to explain but tons of explore!…read more 'Asian village of Brisbane' Check all the shops and restaurants: You might be surprised for what you are not even looking for!

What an intricate, eye-catching bridge. It's so mesmerizing any time of the day. Plus, when walking…read moreover it, you are amazed at the sights of the city and the height of the bridge. It's definitely similar to the London Bridge. At night time, it's visible from so many different areas and so picturesque. During the day, it's filled with noises of cars and little foot traffic. But the walking paths going both directions and on top and beneath the bridge, make it accessible to walk over it. Definitely a must when visiting Brisbane!

Opened in 1940 the Story Bridge is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. It connects…read moreFortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point (I've been fortunate to live in both for some time). Ironically, for many residents of Kangaroo Point the small ferries and CityCat boats are nowadays a more convenient ways to get to downtown than this bridge, which is part of a highway shuttling people from southern neighborhoods to the north. Best part of the Bridge, for me, is that it lights up every night, often in a specific color commemorating an event. For example, on 14/11/17 it was lit in rainbow colours in recognition of the Yes vote .

What a good day!…read more Tucked in Gerads Lane there were many things to see, taste and the stall holders were all lovely! I walked away with a sampler pack of fruit jellies from Playing with Fire, some Thyme and Ginger beer soda Syrup from Old Fashioned Co and managed to score a signed copy of The Huxtaburger Book and a burger as made by the author and chef Daniel Wilson who was in-store at Scrumptious Reads. All in all a great day and I'd love to see more of these happen as it was really good to see and meet the faces behind some local products!

Best pizza and amazing pasta. Come here for the only good panna cotta in town…read more Not a bad dish on their menu. Table service. It is a bit fancy and will need bookings on the weekend but dress up and enjoy the nice ambiance. Tartufo means mushroom so I guess their tartufo pasta is their signature dish. Great date night place.

This is a beautiful restaurant. Food was authentic Italian, delicious and well presented. Baccala…read morefritters tasted sensational as an appetiser. Veal carpaccio was excellent and the Vitello Tonnato was truly special. Risotto confit duck and broad beans was cooked to perfection. My Mafalde pasta with pork sausage, mushrooms and ricotta was truly spectacular. Desserts of semifreddo and sfogliatella were a lovely finish to the meal. Decor in the restaurant is a modern take on a traditional Italian restaurant (don't expect red checked table cloths - far too classy for that). Service was very Italian and we felt well looked after. Chef and maitre d' were friendly, helpful and available. We will go back. Recommendation: go there really hungry and go through every course, make sure you taste everybody's food in your party, give yourselves plenty of time to enjoy this little bit of Italy in Brisbane.

Our team is here for work and chose this just on the menu. It was raining and they took care to…read moremake sure our table was dry. They offered drinks while we waited. The staff is exceptionally friendly and expedient and the food was tasty. I had the calamari risotto and it was really good.

Although on the other side of town, Beccofino is much like its spin-off restaurant Julius. Both…read moreoccupy prominent corners and offer a fairly refined, adult atmosphere (though you can bring kids if you've got money to burn). Both offer thin crust pizzas, whose highlight I think is the sauce, and both offer a round of expensive sides and desserts to fill you up. Both are likely to please most diners (unless you've got gluten or dairy issues, in which case Italian is never going to be your friend). I ordered a margherita, and frankly, I liked it at least as much as the slightly more expensive pizza with buffalo mozzarella at Julius. In the interest of getting some decent nutrition, I ordered a sauteed beans and greens side, and was fairly pleased to discover that it was heavy on the beans. I wish Italian places did more with beans; there are some great ones available. All told, I wish their menu had a little bit more on the vegetarian side, but what they do is executed well, and for an occasional splurge, it's a nice place.

Good food & attentive service We visited this restaurant…read morewith a large group of friends for a function. Even though it was a busy Saturday night, the meals came out quickly and the service was efficient and friendly. The food was good and we were very happy with the wine that we ordered.

Good food, attractive decor, good service. Very close to our hotel. I liked the indoor/outdoor…read moreambiance.

This amazing restaurant serves authentic Italian food with engaged service as they love to chat…read more The decor looks fantastic and it inverses you into Italian culture with the paintings, seating and the entire restaurant overall. The food is traditional and amazing everytime.

Nice restaurant on a some what busy but quiet street. This place gets super busy so make sure you…read morehave a booking. We had the mussel napolentana, pizza, calzone and the fettuccine marinara. Food was delicious! We cleared the plates

Amongst the chaos of Fortitude Valley, it can be easy to pass by this classy little joint. Pop in,…read morethough, as Giardinetto have been serving up quality Italian fare since 1966 for a reason. I've eaten in several times, including for a birthday dinner a couple of years ago. The staff were very accommodating to our extremely large table and to the extras who continued to appear, magicking up extra chairs and taking new orders at a moment's notice. My personal favourite and my regular takeaway order is the beef lasagne, which is rich, tomatoey, and cheesy: everything you could want in a lasagne. I've never been dissatisfied with a dish, and prices are reasonable. Be prepared to need to be rolled out after a big meal!

This unassuming restaurant now has national treasure status. Even Vogue has name checked it as "one…read moreof Brisbane's great icons". And no matter how far I go, or how wide I roam...I still come to Giardinetto when I'm home...(sorry, Peter Allen, for ruining your lyrics a little). Even though Brisbane has changed enormously since I first left here for Old Blighty at the tender age of 21, I'm always relieved to see that this, my favourite Italian trattoria, is still exactly the same. (Well, OK, it's a bit more expensive but I can live with that). I've had birthday dinners here, leaving do's, hen parties, catch ups with friends - there's a lot of fun, food-filled, and fantastic memories I associate with this Valley stalwart. And long may it (continue to) reign supreme. And be BYO.

The Brisbane Riverwalk is one of the cities real gems. Not really a tourist destination, it's just…read morea great place to go for a jog with a few friends.

The Brisbane Riverwalk is now infamous for floating away during the 2011 Brisbane Floods and…read moresections of it having to be taken upstream by tugboats in order for it not to cause damage to the bridges downstream. So unless you can walk on water, the Brisbane Riverwalk just is not as functional as it used to be. Never fear however because there are still sections that are undamaged and there will be a brand new Riverwalk built in the near future. The Brisbane River really is the lifeblood of the city and having a walkway for cyclists and pedestrians was fantastic. You can check out the new design of the rebuild on the Brisbane City Council Website if you are curious as to what it will look like in the future. There is a $75 million dollar budget to rebuild the New Farm part of the Brisbane Riverwalk so hopefully they will come up with something good and flood proof for that amount.

I've been meaning to get to the Barre Brisbane studio since it opened, and now I know the Spring…read moreHill Baths studio is so close to the city I really have no excuse for not testing out their classes earlier... See, this is what I love about Elite events like this one, it's the extra push to make it somewhere I've had my eye on but not quite made it to (the lure of post-exercise bubbly always helps), and we got to try out a class in an intimate environment that made it easy to relax and enjoy. Well, 'relax' is probably generous, there was definitely some core, glute, and thigh shaking and burning that reminded me we were attempting to work out and not just limbering up for the good old back bar bicep curls. The experience was different, but definitely not scary different, so I would absolutely encourage the squad to check out Brisbane Barre (and bring togs to cool off in the baths after) and any similar Yelp and Elite events in the future!

Such an amazing class today. I have never done barre before, but loved that it was more of a…read morefitness class. The teacher was amazing and really pushed us. Defiantly will be back for classes and would love to make this a regular thing