2 weeks Ago By Matt Shea
It might have been a slow start for food and beverage at Queen’s Wharf after the much-anticipated precinct was unveiled to the public in early August, but three months on, the openings are coming thick and fast. The precinct includes casual eateries and bars, such as Babblers and Cicada Blu, both on the Sky Deck, while old favourites, such as Luke Nguyen’s Fat Noodle, have made the two-block move over from The Treasury. But there’s also a stack of fresh (or refreshed) concepts and high-quality restaurants from new (to The Star, anyway) operators.
Here are five to check out. Sokyo Sokyo Brisbane presents as a different beast to its dark, moody and celebrated sister venue in Sydney. Design firm Hassell has given the 160-seat restaurant a lighter and brighter treatment that makes the most of its floor-to-ceiling windows looking across the expressway to the river and South Bank.
It’s all light-timber screens and detailing, the two signature elements – a swank circular private dining room and a lengthy sushi bar backed by black tiling. In the kitchen is gun sushi chef Alex Yu, who spent eight years at the Sydney restaurant before going on to Yugen in Melbourne, which he helped earn two chef’s hats. The Star has a new contender for Brisbane’s best Japanese restaurant Yu’s menu is split into starters, tempura and items cooked on the robata grill on the one hand, and traditional sushi items on the other, including nigiri, sashimi, and signature nigiri and sushi rolls.
There’s also a Sokyo signature tasting menu, a banquet set menu, and a vegetarian set menu. For drinks, there’s a signature cocktail list, and a sake menu that includes sparkling sake. The wine list runs to about 110 bottles and favours local producers, but includes a lengthy selection of champagne.
Black Hide Steak & Seafood by Gambaro The new Black Hide flips its Treasury predecessor’s date-night vibes for something lighter and brighter. Lisa Henderson of S.SHYNE oversaw a fitout that features plenty of timber, cream curtains and lengthy aquamarine banquettes designed to reflect the new restaurant’s prime position overlooking the river.
It suits a menu that now taps a wider variety of seafood. Gambaro’s Black Hide returns at Queen’s Wharf, but not as you know it For entrees, you can order tuna tartare served on a rice cracker with umeboshi dressing; grilled scallops with garlic, parsley butter and pangrattato; and tuna tataki with wakame and shiitake mushrooms. For mains there’s a lobster linguini with tomato, parsley and lemon zest; grilled Mooloolaba prawns with parsley and garlic butter, and lemon; or lobster from the tank grilled or poached with a lemon herb and garlic butter.
There’s also a cold seafood platter. Steaks are refreshingly straightforward, split into a selection of Angus three-score cuts and Wagyu five-score cuts, with the menu topping out with a 1200 gram Angus tomahawk priced at $240 (designed to feed up to three people). Azteca From Potentia Solutions Leisure (Lina, Soko Rooftop et al) comes Azteca.
It’s the group’s best-realised venue to date. The 126-seat design (40 of which are outside overlooking the river) by Blackbox Design Co’s Ann Huntington, with its breeze blocks, mosaic tiles, heavy timber features and live hanging greenery, feels like an evolution on the Peruvian-inspired Soko. But this is a restaurant first, bar second, and it draws inspiration from various parts of North, Central and South America.
On the menu, there are starters such as yellowfin tuna tacos with kimchi carrot and Yarra Valley salmon roe; bone marrow with braised kangaroo tail, yuca hash browns and a shiso chimichurri; and coral trout ceviche. Take a peek at Queen’s Wharf’s latest – a striking Latin American eatery Larger plates include Elgin Valley free-range half-chicken served with a dark chocolate mole sauce, and line-caught coral trout with baby corn, spring onion, pickled onion and huitlacoche. The drinks menu uses cachaca (a Brazilian spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice) as its cornerstone; it fuels a caipirinha menu that ranges from a classic with sugar syrup and lime, to pomegranate and hibiscus, and watermelon and jalapeno numbers.
Elsewhere, there are signature cocktails and a tight 60-bottle wine list that dedicates plenty of space to drops from Argentina and Chile, plus Coravin by-the glass selections. Aloria The Star has been talking up Aloria as the sky-high jewel in the Queen’s Wharf crown. Twenty-three floors up, it looks the part with its glass brick, cabinets full of wine, blush-pink furniture, and eye-popping views of the river and the city.
Chef Shayne Mansfield’s menu, though, isn’t about anything flash. First look: Queen’s Wharf unveils its sky-high crown jewel Instead, it focuses on local produce presented at its best, whether that’s via pickling, ferments, ageing, or the simple application of wood fire and smoke. Aloria’s menu features dishes such as wood-roasted oysters with a white soy emulsion; tiger prawn with fermented chilli butter; miso-roasted cauliflower with burnt leek, toasted yeast cream, The Falls Farm radishes and chive oil; and a 90-day dry-aged bone-in sirloin served with confit garlic and bone marrow sauce.
There’s also a 270-bottle wine list compiled by sommelier Damian Danaher that ranges from approachable local producers to some rare European bottles, including a 1982 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild bordeaux that clocks in at $20,599. Luc Lac Luc Lac is the latest venue from Ghanem Group (Donna Chang, Blackbird, Byblos et al). The cuisine? Elevated Vietnamese and Thai.
Regular Ghanem collaborators Space Cubed Design have given the restaurant an immaculately detailed, lengthy timber bar, tiled walls, rattan furniture and richly patterned fabrics and wallpaper. It’s a treatment as colourful as group chef Jake Nicolson and head chef Dann Rowell’s food. Refined Vietnamese and Thai arrives at Queen’s Wharf with Luc Lac There’s grilled beef la lot (beef wrapped in betel leaf) with nuoc cham, toasted rice, charred lime and watercress; hand-caught Port Fairy periwinkle escargot with ginger and garlic; kampot peppered wagyu beef bo luc lac (the traditional “shaking beef” dish that lends the restaurant its name), cherry tomatoes and capsicum; tiger prawns with hot and sour dressing, and fried shallots; pan-roasted spiced John Dory with son-in-law egg, cucumber and sawtooth coriander; and lemongrass braised pork belly with baby tiger abalone, kohlrabi and apple.
Drinks are cocktail forward, with a focused list of signatures, as well as twisted classics, such as a variation on a Tommy’s that mixes in green chilli nam jim, and a Sidecar that features tamarind and toasted red rice. The wine list is a relatively concise 140 bottles favouring floral drops that can converse with the spice and flavour of the food..
