There is nothing better on a Saturday morning than a delicious brunch and cocktails with a good friend. . . Except perhaps a delicious brunch, cocktails and two fierce queens playing bingo.
ZA ZA TA at Brisbane’s Ovolo hotel is well-known across the city for its Middle Eastern-inspired vegan and vegetarian focused lunches and dinners, perfect for a quiet romantic rendezvous. All of that was chucked out for MELT, as the fine-dining restaurant opened its doors for a morning of sequins, padded bums, and DJ sets.
Hosted by Thin Lizzi and her sidekick Karmin Dioxide, the drag brunch got going with a welcome drink and a bit of audience razzing. You have to have a thick skin to go head to head with Thin Lizzi, with bitchy comments about clothes, hair and sex life – the repartee was fabulous (because it wasn’t directed at me).
The two queens bounced off each other wonderfully, each performing a song between meal service. The songs and dances they chose complemented each other but showed off different skills and quite different taste in music, which kept the audience fully engaged. Not that we had a choice of course, and at any moment you could be rubbed, shimmied on, or given suggestive glances. The ladies kept their worshippers on their toes.
The meal itself was very tasty, starting off with a portion of cinnamon French toast with all the trappings. After a dance number, a Middle Eastern-inspired second course was presented: beef tagine, broccolini and smoked feta, with spice roasted cauliflower for the vegetarians. Dessert was – of course! – Turkish delight and Baklava, which rounded off the sweet-savoury-sweet progression of the meal. Bubbles were liberally poured, and some lucky tables upgraded to jugs of bespoke cocktails to get the party started.
The Drag Brunch was absolutely fabulous – it was super fun, with a little bit of a (playful) nasty edge that the audience completely lapped up – just as they did their bottomless sparkling. Grab some tickets immediately, and grab a group of friends with a great sense of humour. If you have your lucky charm with you, you might even scoop up a fantastic prize at bingo – what more could you ask for?
