Mo Charcoal Alley Asian Cuisine

Amazing food! We had duck and calamari and it was sooo good. Nice place too, clean and well laid out. Thanks guys we will be back again soon <br/

20 February 2018<br/ Returned to MO Charcoal with Dominic to try their Northern Chinese BBQ. The restaurant is jam-packed and fortunately I have reserved a table. Reba agrees the Wagyu Set A is sufficient for both of us. I ask for two bowls of rice and Chinese tea. <br/ <br/ Our red hot charcoal and two beautifully presented platters of Wagyu beef, chicken fillet, pork belly, prawns and squid arrive after 30 minutes. We start grilling the meats and seafood, dipping the cooked food in MO’s special dipping sauce. While everything on the platter is fresh, the Wagyu beef is outstanding. Well done MO Charcoal Alley! <br/ <br/ <br/ 12 February 2018<br/ Met up with Meatballs And Beef Cheeks and Ronnielui2003 last week at Carseldine Central as guests of MO Charcoal Alley. Our hostess Reba looks familiar and she informs me she was the Owner/Manager of Cafe De Luna at Sunnybank Plaza. <br/ <br/ We each select 1-2 dishes and Reba returns to the kitchen where her husband is the Head Chef. Trained as a Cantonese Chef he worked at a high end Hong Kong hotel restaurant before coming to Brisbane. <br/ <br/ Our shared entrees arrive hot from the steamer. The Xiao Long Baos are steamed too close together and the skins break as the dumplings are separated. A pity but I still find these dumplings tasty. The prawn dumplings are made by the chef and look appetising but the minced prawns could be fresher. These entrees rate 3.5!<br/ <br/ Our shared main dishes start arriving and MO’s Special Pork is a winner. Lightly battered pieces of pork loin is deep fried and drizzled with a black vinegar based sauce. Simply delicious and it rates 4.5-5.0!<br/ <br/ The Braised Beef Brisket is a Cantonese favourite. The beef is tender and the gravy has great depth after being slow cooked for many hours. I love this beef brisket served with soup noodles. This dish rates 4.5!<br/ <br/ The Braised Duck with Shitake mushrooms is beautifully presented. The duck is deboned but the seasoning in the gravy is lacking. I still like this dish but the rating is reduced a point to 3.5!<br/ <br/ The final dish is similar to a hot pot dish of Egg Plant and Chicken Mince. It is perfectly seasoned and delicious, rating a 4.5!<br/ <br/ The food is authentic Cantonese cuisine, servings are generous and prices are reasonable. Had MO’s been on the Southside, I would certainly be a regular patron. Thank you Reba for a wonderful night out.

Had a culinary trip with my foodie mates Meatballs And Beef Cheeks and Joe Khoo to explore this restaurant last night. Located at the end of the alley of food precinct in the Carseldine Central shopping centre. This restaurant is really a hidden gem. Lay out was contemporarily done with spacious indoor dining area as well as plenty of al fresco seatings. We were served by the passionate lady owner Reba, who introduced their signatures to us. Finally, we decided to go for XLB (soup dumpling) and Xia Gou (prawn dumpling) for the entrees; Guo Bao Rou (Mo 's Special Pork), Hong Shao Niu Nan (Braised beef tenderloin chunks), Duck fillet with shitake Mushroom and Yu Xiang Qie Zi (Eggplants with fish sauce). First to the table were the steamed dumplings. XLB came in five pieces in an order and prawn dumplings were three. The XLB was not bad but it was a shame that they were stuck together and we lost the yummy soup due to the burst of the pastry when we picked them up (3.5/5). Prawn dumpling was extra ordinary bigger than normal Yum Cha places but the pastry seemed slightly thick (3.5/5). After a short break, all the mains were on the tables and they looked spectacular. One thing we noticed that portions of most of the dishes were at least 25% bigger than usual. First thing I tried was the signature pork dish the Mo 's special pork, which I scored them (5/5), light batter tenderised pork chops with crispy coating and appropriate proportions of vinegar in the sauce highlighted the culinary skill of the owner chef. The eggplants in fish sauce was another good job with well presented light oil on top of each strips of eggplants, which was perfect to go with steamed rice (4.5/5). Hong Shao Niu Nan is usually not my favourite because beef brisket is very filling. However, the dish that I had at this place was another story. Choice of the beef portion with careful preparation presented us a dish of delicious beef brisket that melted in our mouth, well done (4/5). The last savoury dish of steamed duck was slightly let down. We appreciated the deboned duck meat but it was bland. The sauce was not thickened enough and lacked the depth of flavour (3/5). Overall, I was surprised to see a restaurant at north side of Brisbane demonstrating such high level of Cantonese food. Yes, they are serving Cantonese cuisine and don 't be misled by its name of 'Charcoal ' even though they do equipped and serve Korean BBQ meat. The Chinese Cantonese food was the hidden gem! <br/ <br/ There is a GOOD NEWS that foodies will enjoy 15% off the food bill up to the end of March as long as they mentioned about the reviews from me, Meatball and Joe K. Thanks to Reba 's generous offers! So, give it a go!

Flavour sensation. Love it. We got it two nights in a row. Try the Satay beef and chicken as both are amazing. The bf liked the lemon chicken and sweet sour chicken.

Good cuts of meat for the BBQ and they had melt-in-your-mouth braised pork belly which had just the right amount of fat in it. Good and fast service, not too noisy, BYO, good value and a hidden gem well preserved!