Gordita

The staff were friendly and informative, but the food wasn’t worth the money we paid and the restaurant as a whole felt very pretentious.

Needing a venue for a celebratory work lunch and were actually intending on going to another place. So glad we couldn’t get in there and that the waiter recommended Gordita!
Everything about this place was faultless! Great service — our waiter knew his stuff, so we left the ordering up to him. He found out what we did and didn’t like and absolutely nailed it, both from the amount of food to the type of food. The food is incredible and flavoursome! I will be back.

Incredible Spanish influenced, tapas style restaurant in Fortitude Valley! If you are looking for something special for date night, a business meeting with someone you really need to impress or just simply love good food this is the place to come!
Gordita’s exudes intimate, stylish ambience thanks to its dark wood interior and low lighting, sitting at the booths is definitely the way to go!
The menu is extensive and all plates are designed to be shared, watch out for the $ 75 steak dish! 1kg of pure awesome (or so the waiter said) and well worth it!
Our table ordered the Croquettes with Pork, the Lamb cutlets, the Spatchcock and the Fish– all the dishes were quite small so I was still pretty hungry later on but this was made up for by how good everything tasted! My favourite was definitely a tie between the lamb and the Croquettes, the sauces both dishes came with were perfectly matched!
Definitely give this place a try but make sure to have a snack beforehand or bring a bunch of cash so you can eat more!

I had dinner and drinks here over a long weekend.
The staff were attentive and gave helpful menu suggestions.
We ordered the chiccaronnes (pork belly fried in honey and cumin), bone marrow, half chicken and had the olives as a starter.
Given I’m formerly vegetarian, the bone marrow was a stretch for me. My friend loved it and loved scraping along the bone; me, not so much. I thought the cooked marrow tasted like jellified lard, but my friend thought it was fabulous.
The chiccaronnes however were «oh dear god» amazing. Simultaneously crunchy and soft, the addition of honey & cumin to pork is perfect and something I’ll probably try myself in the near future.
The half chicken was delicious and really good with the pure de papa as a side. I’m not a fan of eating anything off a bone and it is served with some drummies, but also has breast meat.
The wine list is really good & well curated to match the food.
Overall a big yes!

Sometimes fate steps in when we are meant to experience joy. And so it was with Gordita. Not even aware of it whilst visiting the hub that is M&A precinct on McLachlan St Fortitude Valley. We’d intended to visit another venue which was closed. A passerby pointed out Gordita, a Spanish restaurant & bar.
We stepped in to a gorgeous space oozing class, with a sensual, yet brooding ambience brought on by the dim copper lighting, intimately curved leather booths, long wooden tables, quaint table lamps, exotic mural, & a u-​shaped bar with stools that beckon you to sit. Think Don Draper with Penelope Cruz in arm & you have Gordita. A spanish restaurant exhibiting flavours from southern spain with some influences from Morocco. It definitely reminded us of our time in Sevilla & Barcelona.
To our surprise, we were reunited with arguably, Brisbane’s friendliest waiter & our fave, Cosimo! He seated us by the window & explained Gordita is the sister restaurant of Peasant & Cabiria, & the name means bubbly girl who loves food. Gordita is a tapas style set-​up & he recommended ordering 1 from «small plates», «large plates», & «side dishes». The wine list is extensive, so gave it a miss. Started with Rabo de Toro ($ 18). An oxtail stew, so tender it melts in your mouth. Next up, a large Pinchito de Pollo ($ 31), chicken skewers with Moroccan cous-​cous. Again, so tender & with a hint of spice, full of flavour. Followed up with cauliflower salad ($ 12) on fried quinoa, spring onions, garlic & parsely. Simple but so tasty. Next, the flamenca style egg slow cooked (at 66 degrees — $ 15), with serrano, green peas & potato was comfort food all round. But it wasn’t our favourite out of the earlier dishes.
Finally dessert came in the form of warm chocolate coulant, almond orange blossom & vanilla ice cream. It just makes your heart sing. Fate brought us to Gordita & it is one of the best spots in Brisbane. Its a perfect place for a date, when wooing is the only option. Open lunch & dinner Tues to Sunday.

Gordita, I checked and translate said it meant chubby, anyway, midweek early dinner (6pm) with family, appear to be busy as we were asked to leave by 8, not a prob. I understand this is part of the Peasant stable and I can see the same little touches, board menu very low light requiring the use of the phone for my old eyes to be able to read it. Small and large plates for sharing. We started with prawns, yum; jamon on sourdough, again, yum and rice balls, slightly bland but ok. Large plates we had stuffed calamari with squid ink, not bad, squid ink can sometimes overpower a dish but this was fine, pork cutlets again a bit bland but acceptable and chicken skewers whi h was the star of the three. Desert wr sharing the almond cake, warm and not too sweet and chocolate cougant, could of been more oozy but still good.
Service was efficient and friendly, I did feel it got slower as the other tables filled. Wine by the glass was good.
A good meal, first at this complex but will try others there before I return.

Ok. This now gets an update based on actually eating there afford my first attempt to eat there was an immediate walk out.
Went for a mates birthday. There were 7 or 8 of us. I appreciated the waiter in the first instance, offered to order on our behalf — I was pretty stoked with this option.
The food was pretty good. We had some starters, then three lots of 800g t-​bones cooked rare, med rare and medium (he didn’t ask our cooking preference, but we were happy). Sides were great as well.
Unfortunately, a second time, the service lacked. To the point of frustration. It was a very very humid night, every shirt around the table was soaked. But we had to beg each time for some more water, then he would plonk a bottle on the table for the 7 of us — to which we would all fight for our two mouthfuls.
We would have happily drunk cocktails and beers all night in lieu of water. But waiting 20 mins for each beer, some of which had to be ordered twice because dockets were «lost». We just switched to wine.
I wouldn’t have mind because it was busy, but each time I looked over at him, he was either chatting to his waitress friend or on his mobile phone. And when we followed-​up for beers or cocktails that took forever, we got a sassy «it’s not my fault, it’s the bar’s fault».

I love my book club. We end up talking about our chosen book for approximately a nano second and then we return to what we love most. Talking about random everything and food. Luckily, we host book club at a restaurant of our choosing and get to try something new in the process. Friday night we dined (group of 4) at Gordita in the new M&A Lane precinct.
I had little expectations as I’d read the Unilocal reviews and really wasn’t sure to expect. Thankfully, that meant I was pleasantly surprised. We paid about $ 42 each including a drink and what we thought was a LOT of food. In total we ordered:
— Gallega Style Octopus (small plates)
— Quail Salad (small plates)
— Bomba Catalana (potato croquets, small plates)
— Rabo de Toro (oxtail with musical potato. Okay, we ordered this one from the small plates menu just to see what Musical Potatoes were)
— Stuffed Calamari with squid ink, garlic friend calasparra rice (from large plate menu)
— Cauliflower Salad (Side Dishes)
All of the food was fresh, flavoursome and perfectly portioned for each of our group of four to sample each dish. My favourite dishes, however, all came from the small plates menu. The rice with the stuffed calamari was risotto-​like in texture and just not what I was expecting. Still, it’s a mighty feed and one that did not disappoint our group.
Our waitress for the evening took the time to explain the menu in great detail at the beginning of our meal and was only too happy to advise on best ordering numbers. With every dish came the question, «Is there anything I can explain further to you about the dish.» For the uninitiated to the world of tapas or particular ingredients this is a fantastic opportunity to learn and hear about the background of each dish.
Gordita is a place I’d return for an intimate dinner for two or for a larger dining experience. Seated in the half circle, leather covered booths it’s a cosy experience and with dimmed lighting it’s moody in just the right way. As evidenced by our Friday night experience, it does get busy. I’d recommend reserving a table (they have 2 dinner sittings). It’s just another great restaurant adding another layer of excitement to this new dining precinct.

A group of us came here for a midweek dinner and were all impressed. Our waiter was great: friendly, helpful and a bit of a laugh. We got a plate of complimentary olives which were very yummy. The food is sharing style. We ordered a range if main plates and were all pleased with our choices, my favourite being the chicken skewers (flavoursome chicken with couscous) and the seasonal veges. The atmosphere was great and I loved the design of the place. Would recommend and will definitely be coming back.