Freestyle Tout - 1000 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley (Emporium)

If your a Brisbane local chances are you've heard of or been to one of Freestyle Touts locations. I have lived in Brisbane for about 8 years now and this is actually my first visit. I do remember several years ago hearing a colleague at work rave about this place insisting I had to try it. So yes it's been a while and I've finally gotten around to going with my two older children.

Freestyle is open till 10:30pm so it gave me plenty of time to get there after my littlest was in bed at home with Wade. Being a Monday night I wasn't expecting it to be too over busy but never the less Emporium always seems to be busy and a pain to park at. I managed to find some off street parking just outside the emporium though with no problem. You may not be as lucky on a busier night than Monday though.

Busy is one of the things I have heard about this highly hyped restaurant. It was busy this night but at 7:30pm we walked straight in to be seated as there were a couple of 4 person tables free. The waitress was extremely lovely. She smiled a lot and was very friendly with my children which I think certainly made them feel welcome. Even though we were seated quickly it was apparent that this place was quite a hub and the staff all seemed to be very focused and working hard to make sure things were running on time and smoothly. The service, drinks and desserts all came very quickly and there wasn't too long a wait.

As for the food I think it was good. This place is a pretty talked about dessert hot spot. Made famous by their vast dessert menu I have always been told this place was a must go for that very reason. While I found the food great tasty and presented beautifully and creatively, it just didn't make me go wow. I don't know if it was the fact that this place is so hyped or that I've eaten at smaller boutique places but the dessert did not blow me away even though it tasted nice.

 I ordered the Passionfruit Curd Tart while the children shared a Deluxe Chocolate Sundae along with  their hot chocolates and a Mocha for myself. The coffee wasn't bad either but like I said nothing that made you jump out of your seat. I can only assume that being as busy as Freestyle is they have to keep to a certain production line type formula which is why I feel the food might have lacked some personality.

Atmosphere wise I wasn't a huge fan of the dark lighting or the decor. I felt with a lot of the up and coming cafes and bars in Brisbane atm this place did feel a little bit dated. It was very very noisy and I could barely speak over the noise. However I did see a high chair and I think that this would be a great spot to take your kids for a bit of a different dessert that would be accepting of their pressence. It's so busy and noisy I don't think anyone would really notice if your kids were being a little too loud or active.

We ended the night by taking home some of their house brand coconut icecream. There was quite a variety of favours but we ended up choosing Mexican Chocolate to take home to Wade. He told me at home it was hot like it had chilli in it and when I tasted it I wasn't a huge fan. Evidentially he did not finish the bowl. I'd like to give the other flavours a try though  because they did look like they had potential.

Overall I thought it was a vibrant kind of hub with good service that seemed to be accepting of children. Even though it wasn't the most amazing dessert i'd ever had i would likely return for the fact the service was so good and they were seemingly very accepting of children. I think it's definitely a special treat outing you could take the children to as mine thought the sundae was the best they'd had.