Brisbane’s restaurant scene is, undeniably, booming. New restaurants from first-time operators and established groups are popping up across the river city, including a glamorous ode to the world of Champagne, a Cantonese restaurant in a stately historic building, and a couple of new exciting places to eat in the Fish Lane precinct.
Whether you’re a local seeking your next booking for a special occasion, long lunch or date night, or a visitor exploring the dining scene of the Queensland capital, these are the best new restaurants and bars in Brisbane worth checking out right now.
Suum
Bringing experience from Disfrutar in Barcelona (The World’s Best Restaurant 2024) and Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, chef Andy Choi is serving a boundary-pushing interpretation of Korean cuisine driven by its depth, diversity and identity at Suum in the Brisbane CBD. On the omakase-style menu, Choi integrates elements of molecular gastronomy, traditional Korean fermentation (swapping a hard-to-source Korean starter culture for Champagne yeast and shio koji) and ineffable cultural concepts of harmony and rhythm. The seasonally updated tasting menu might present tofu kimchi samhap wrapped in tomato jelly; Three Bites of Fermented Jangs (doenjang, ganjang, and gochujang); and a truffle chestnut soup inspired by a Korean dish enjoyed in his childhood.
House-made makgeolli and traditional Korean liquors are offered as a pairing in addition to a wine list, and BYO wine is also invited. Raw, blackened steel, warm timber and high-contrast lighting create an atmosphere of reverence and performance for just 16 guests at a time, with place settings around the open kitchen illuminated by a soft spotlight. At $180 per head, it sits at the approachable end of Australia’s omakase offering.
suumrestaurant.com
Marlowe
Weaving through a 1930s apartment block, Marlowe is the sixth venue from the trend-leading Fanda Group (Rick Shores, Southside, Central). Head chef and co-owner Ollie Hansford sought to upgrade classics from vintage Australian cookbooks with an elegant approach, subbing beef for coral trout in a Wellington that gets doused in caviar butter sauce; turning prawn cocktail into a pretty tartlet; and layering rhubarb jelly and macadamia sponge in a trifle. “I’m lucky to have locked in five kilos of jumbo yabbies a week from a farm just outside of Gympie, and 20 whole heritage-breed chickens from Joyce’s Gold [in the Scenic Rim],” says Hansford, who highlights noteworthy local producers on a dedicated page of the menu.
Where silver trays, paper doilies and pressed metal ceilings speak to Marlowe’s nostalgic core, the all-Australian wine list (with the exception of Champagne) by Peter Marchant and cocktail selection heavily featuring native ingredients reinforce a modern understanding of local flavours. Nodding to the site’s Art Deco origins with pared-back, modern design choices from J.AR Office, Marlowe’s various spaces (dining rooms and nooks, a bar, and terrace) feature walnut timber, polished metal details and a breezy palette of blue, buttercream and crimson.
marlowebne.com.au
Bar Monte
The Longland Street bubble in Newstead has welcomed a sequel to, Bar Monte, the Light Years team’s Italian restaurant on the Gold Coast. “Brisbane is such a dynamic city for dining,” says co-owner Kim Stephen. “We see [this] as the grown-up sibling of our Miami venue – warm, social, and fun, but with a little more edge and sophistication.” The modern trattoria serves jazzed-up dishes such as mortadella buns with pickled green chilli and limoncello aïoli; yellowfin tuna with pineapple, green chilli, lemon and koji mayo; and dry-aged bistecca with porcini rub, onion and marrow butter, along with crowd-pleasing pastas and risotto. Australian, Italian and French wine producers form the drinks list alongside savoury-leaning cocktails, including a Celery Margarita. The breezy split-level venue calls on various eras of Italian interior design with spotted gum and concrete, high-gloss ceramics and statement wool pendants.
barmonte.com.au
Golden Avenue
Brisbane’s new Middle Eastern restaurant by the owners of Agnes and Biànca, Golden Avenue evokes a Levantine garden terrace at the Botanic Gardens end of Edward Street.
Wood ovens and charcoal grills make for a heady atmosphere in the spacious restaurant, with the broad culinary inspiration (described as spanning “from the Levant to the Maghreb”) applied by Anyday co-owner and culinary director Ben Williamson, group executive chef Adam Wolfers (Gerard’s Bistro, Etelek), and head chef Tim Yates. The menu offers kibbeh nayyeh with Urfa chilli and sheep curd; fried quail with chilli oil, carob molasses, verjuice and za’atar; Spring Bay mussels (cooked in a clay pot) served with fennel, roasted rice cream and lemon; and house-made breads (saj, pita and potato bread), cooked to order in the wood-fired oven. As well as the multi-level restaurant space (with textural concrete surfaces, mature trees and plants, soft green tiling, and pink granite surfaces), there’s a dedicated bar area with a menu of mezze snacks.
Golden Avenue is Anyday’s seventh venue, joining Agnes (Gourmet Traveller’s 2023 Restaurant of the Year), Same Same, Hôntô, Biànca, LOS bar and bakery/café Idle.
The interior of South Brisbane bistro Clarence.
Clarence
The popular bistro run by chefs Ben McShane and Matthew Kuhnemann has relocated to the lively Fish Lane precinct in South Brisbane. Swapping its origins in a historic Woolloongabba terrace for a bright new laneway location, Clarence 2.0 continues to offer a top-value approach to casual fine dining, creatively utilising produce from Brisbane’s surrounds.
Rare-breed pork and cream for butter come from Tommerup’s Dairy in the Scenic Rim, vegetables from Neighbourhood Farm in Brisbane’s inner south, and scallops from Hervey Bay, with a standout new seafood platter, the popular house-aged duck, and an apple tarte Tatin (a necessary pre-order) on the menu. The drinks list (with all-Australian wines by sommelier Zoe Mahoney) offers cocktails like a bergamot martini and rhubarb gin fizz. Reflecting its new always-on location, Clarence has a happy hour between 3pm and 5pm Friday–Sunday; a three-course, $75pp Sunday lunch; and a condensed late-night menu (with a cheeky new cheeseburger) from 9pm.
Evra
Over in Newstead, Evra is a new Brisbane restaurant and bar where provenance shines on the plate. Salad leaves and veg are plucked straight from the rooftop garden, while the breezy seasonal menu celebrates local farmers and fishmongers through stellar snacks of wild-caught smoked salmon crumpets and CopperTree Farms steak tartare right through to mains of grilled coral trout and lightly breaded Talgai lamb cutlets served with celeriac remoulade. The crowd-pleasing menu is complemented by the restaurant’s thoughtful interiors across the sleek dining room, the light-filled, lush indoor garden-like setting, and the more casual bar with high-top tables.
evra.au
Winnifred’s
A chic new bar, shop and restaurant has opened on Arthur Street (or rue d’Arthur, as the owners call it) in Fortitude Valley. Staking a claim for one of the longest and most diverse Champagne lists in Asia Pacific, Winnifred’s stocks more than 360 cuvées from 63 growers and Grande Marque houses, showing a preference for smaller producers. The 18-seat Champagne Bar and 16-seat Champagne Garden are focal points, ably aided by a concierge and marchand de vins (wine merchant) where bottles can be purchased to take home. Beyond that, there are two event spaces and a 60-seat restaurant – The French Bistro – looked after by Antoine Potier (Restaurant Dan Arnold and E’cco Bistro), which focuses on seasonal French-friendly ingredients that match well with bubbles. Think pissaladière with white onion, olives and sardines; beef tartare with grain crisps; half a quail with sauce foie gras, and Moreton Bay bugs with Champagne veil. Chic interiors by Tim Stewart Architects revolve around a show-stopping green granite bar offset with layered copper skirting.
Penelope
James Street’s late-night scene has a sultry new player, with the opening of Penelope. Making a slinky new addition to the Coats Group restaurant portfolio (Maya and Il Molo), the semi-subterranean bistro and supper club is shaping up as a 1920s speakeasy meets jazz club with a food focus. Helmed by head chef Evan White, the Euro-inspired menu delivers classics from steak frites au poivre to duck parfait with sour cherry and toast; and chicken thigh cotoletta with wild garlic and potato salad.
The Fifty Six
After opening to acclaim last year, Naldham House has welcomed the final puzzle piece to its multi-venue CBD hotspot. The Fifty Six brings dim sum, prawn toast and roast meat classics for a Cantonese extravaganza in stately quarters. Head chef Gerald Ong is gunning to evolve Brisbane’s perception of Cantonese cuisine, bringing his deft skills from working in restaurants across Hong Kong including The Chairman. Modern one-bite starters approach traditional flavour profiles with snacky finesse, like the drunken prawn tart; and Hervey Bay scallops with house-made XO. Dim sum chef Ka Wai Kwok is overseeing the handmade menu, which includes scallop siu mei layered with whole prawn and pork mince; alongside soupy xiao long bao and crisp pork spring rolls. Queensland seafood is naturally showcased, including baked blue swimmer crab with calamansi; and Bay bug pao fan – a nod to chef Ong’s Singaporean heritage – which is finished tableside with a rich broth. Bold interiors complement the elegant bones of the building, with arched windows, jewel tones, marble and brass finishes, booth seating and long tables.
Brisbane restaurants opening soon
Aunty
Over in the Valley, modern Asian restaurant Aunty will open in mid-November at the former City Winery site. “Fortitude Valley has an incredible energy and diversity that matches what we want to achieve with Aunty,” says Tassis Group founder Michael Tassis. “It’s the perfect location to create something truly special – a restaurant that honours traditional Asian cooking while pushing culinary boundaries.” The 12th venue from the group (which is behind venues including Stilts on the Kangaroo Point Bridge, Fatcow and Opa), Aunty will draw mostly from Cantonese cuisine with chef Salvatore de Ponte bringing contemporary flair from kitchens in Europe, Asia and Australia. His menu will span snacks, dim sum, live tank seafood and grilled proteins, with the likes of lobster rolls with XO mayonnaise, pork and sesame dan dan served on mafaldine, and a wagyu sirloin with Café de Hong Kong butter in development. On the edge of the James Street precinct, Aunty will feature intimate dining zones inspired by Cantonese tea houses, and an outdoor bar area on Wandoo Street.
auntydining.com.au
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