Start With Oysters, Crudo and Tartare at These Brisbane Restaurants

Oh, the raw bar. These crisp and cool small plates are ideal for sharing before the bigger dishes roll in (especially alongside a glass of wine) or even as full meals if you order strategically. However you prefer them, Brisbane is truly blessed with some excellent raw dishes.

And there’s nothing stopping you from indulging in these delights. Broadsheet and NAB have teamed up for Booking With Benefits, a dining program that gives you $50 off the bill when you spend $250 or more and pay on your NAB credit or debit card at selected venues countrywide – including all of the restaurants below.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up a few of the best places to settle in with some raw starters around Brisbane.

The Brasserie

The Brasserie at Naldham House is a proper stab at European dining, thanks to head chefs Fabian Hafner and Paul Humbert, who are Swiss and French respectively. The produce, however, is very much locally focused. Before the big brasserie staples like steak frites or chicken ballotine, ease in with a few raw starters – like oysters with mignonette (plus an optional matched glass of champagne), beef tartare with Westholme Wagyu eye fillet and vinegar-dusted matchstick potatoes, or kingfish crudo with salmon roe, tarragon and lemon dressing.

Pompette

Pompette at The Star bills itself as a French-style champagne bar and restaurant, and that double act lends itself to raw seafood especially well. The two ideas collide easily in the restaurant’s oysters, which come dressed with champagne mignonette (or blood orange granita, if you prefer). Elsewhere on the raw menu is a pastry-packaged take on tartare: this raw beef tartelette is served with caviar and tangy sour cream.

Fosh

Hamilton’s Fosh blends Greek, French and Southeast Asian influences into the menu, but fresh seafood is the constant here. A rotation of seasonal oysters come served natural with simple dressings like lemon, verjuice mignonette or hot sauce; scallop crudo shows off those Asian flavours with funky nuoc cham; and chef Vikash Gurung dials up a classic raw kingfish starter by dry-ageing the fish for three days before serving with zesty ponzu.

Opa Bar and Mezze

With Opa, restaurateur Michael Tassis is leaning into his family history of northern Greek cuisine across a huge meze menu and more substantial large plates. Don’t skip the small starters, though, which include a full section of oysters (headlined by the Greek-style oysters angouri with pickled cucumber, fennel and tabasco) and a raw bar with Mykonian-style ocean trout with citrus, buttermilk and fennel. Throw in a glass or two of retsina to complete the package.

Yamas

There’s something about Greek cuisine and quality raw seafood. Like Opa, West End diner Yamas is a spot to pick through plenty of meze plates and share Greek wine, but preferably after a few picks from the raw menu. Here, that means oysters which come with the cool fruitiness of watermelon dressing, or raw Nagasaki kingfish served with capers, pickled fennel and citrus.

Longwang

Longwang head chef Jason Margaritas explores Chinese and Cantonese cuisine via his own East Timorese heritage, giving the restaurant a spectrum of vibrant flavours to sift through. That means raw options like oysters with Thailand’s signature nam jim dressing topped with crispy shallots, or tuna tartare with crispy rice terrine and the briny pop of masago (capelin) fish roe.

Massimo

With its expansive Brisbane River views, Massimo just makes sense as a spot to dine out on Italian-style seafood. The inventive oyster menu is a good place to start, with natural oysters dressed in prosecco mignonette or panzanella, an Italian bread salad with tomato, cucumber, capsicum and shallot. There’s the option for a mixed dozen, too, which should suit hungry mouths while the bigger menu decisions are made.

Pilloni

Sardinian-inspired dishes cooked over charcoal is the name of the game at Pilloni, but while co-owners Andrea Contin and Valentina Vigni are enamoured of traditional woodfired cookery, Pilloni’s menu leans towards the fresh and raw, too. There’s Hokkaido scallop sashimi with green gazpacho, a hay-smoked kangaroo tartare with zingy citrus dressing, and lightly charred kingfish collar with salmoriglio – a dressing of oregano, lemon and olive oil.

Rosmarino

The interior at Rosmarino is designed to feel like your nonna’s house – which should give you a heads up on the Italian comfort food to come. The substantial portion of the menu moves through dishes like hearty chestnut-filled ravioli and tri-tip Wagyu with red wine jus, but the raw openers are just as worthwhile. Grab yourself a raw tuna tartelette with coconut ceviche or a zesty plate of raw scallops with sesame ponzu, finger lime and truffle oil.

Layla

Shane Delia’s empire of Middle Eastern diners keeps expanding – not that we’re complaining. With his West End restaurant, Layla, the celebrity chef is rolling out the Middle Eastern-spiced hits, backed up by local Queensland produce. For those raw bar small plates to start, you’ll find fresh-shucked oysters with fermented habanero chilli, mango and Persian lime, and a tuna crudo dish with fragrant orange blossom, sweet honey and the acidic hit of white balsamic ponzu.

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, Select venues will also accept NAB debit card payments. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with NAB.