Brisbane’s Best Restaurant Openings of 2022

Did the Brisbane restaurant scene finally slow down in 2022? Marginally, perhaps.

But any dialling down in the number of openings was offset by a greater variety of new venues in and around the city. They ranged from a sushi restaurant like no other at The Calile Hotel and a French-inspired eatery in an old Albion timber mill, to a slick modern pan-Asian destination way out in Sunnybank Hills.

The pandemic still echoes through these selections: some of the best openings last year were actually re-openings, or operators reimagining their restaurant concepts in new spaces. But the city also began to shift into a different gear. The Italian obsession levelled out (or at least migrated out into the suburbs and got pulled in interesting new directions) and a la carte dining proved it’s not quite dead yet.

If all that pasta in 2021 was a reaction to coronavirus comfort food, 2022 felt more like the first year of our post-pandemic (fingers crossed) future. Here’s what caught our eye.

Allonda , Newstead

Owners Sebastiaan de Kort, Kevin Docherty and Yanika Sittisuntorn have purposely designed this 92-seater to offer a menu and style of service similar to Nota, their enormously popular, Euro-inspired Paddington eatery. But just by being placed in a new development on Longland Street in Newstead, Allonda feels like a different proposition to its heritage-listed sister venue. Where Nota is dark and rustic and romantic, Allonda’s laneway fit-out is bright, slick and airy, defined by its eye-catching textured acoustic spray and wraparound mezzanine. What you order, though, is more evolution than revolution. As chefs, de Kort and Docherty – along with Allonda head chef Sam Todd – like to cook straight-ahead food that gets out of the way of the produce. It’s expressed here in dishes such as Margra lamb rump served with smoked yoghurt and salsa verde; slow-cooked beef short ribs served with charred greens and harissa; and lightly chargrilled Western Australian scampi served simply with roasted tomato butter. There’s also a house-made pasta menu and – like Nota – a considerable focus on snacks. It means Allonda is a place where Newstead locals can graze, matching the food with something from Sittisuntorn’s 90-odd-bottle wine list, which carries more approachable drink-now wines compared to the slightly older-world focused Nota.

Bacchus , South Brisbane

It was a welcome return in May for Bacchus, which had been closed to the public since March 2020 (it spent much of the time in between operating in-house only for Rydges South Bank as part of the government’s international inbound quarantine program). But this celebrated fine diner has undergone some changes. Executive chef Massimo Speroni has departed, replaced by former Stokehouse head chef Matthew Wood, and taking over as chef de cuisine is Isaia Dal Fiume, a long-time Speroni lieutenant who, like his former boss, began his career at the two Michelin-starred San Domenico in Italy. Dal Fiume’s Italian-inflected menu includes a quail, pumpkin and lime risotto; raw amaebi tagliatelle with capsicum and scampi caviar; and a grade 8-9 Wagyu Scotch fillet with carrots, white balsamic and North Queensland peppercorn jus. Bacchus’s extravagant desserts, degustation menus (one of which is vegan) and high teas are all present and correct, and wines are drawn from a 600-bottle list with a generous 47 drops by the glass. The dining room has evolved slightly too, with new furniture, fittings and a colour palette that features deep mahogany, tobacco and teal.

Biang Biang Fresh Noodle , Fortitude Valley

Biang Biang Fresh Noodle’s move to Fortitude Valley was forced upon owner Kieran Zou with the coming redevelopment of his original Toowong site into an apartment block. The new shop is a tiny, no-fuss space located on the corner of Brunswick and Martin streets, its red-and-black paint job and concrete floors a carryover from a previous tenant. There are just 35 seats inside and out, but that’s the way Zou likes it: these unbelievably thick, hand-pulled, chilli-soaked noodles (originally a high-protein, high-carbohydrate street food of the working class in Shaanxi, China) fold and twist over each other like great piles of mussed-up videotape, and are designed to be eaten as fresh as possible. On the menu is a straightforward list of 10 noodle dishes, backed by sides such as spring rolls, house-made pickled vegetables, pork wontons and roujiamo (a doughy bun filled with fatty pork mince that Zou calls a “traditional Chinese burger”). The big sellers? Traditional dry Shaanxi-style biang biang noodles (pork mince, potato, eggs, tomato, carrots, shallots and salad), Sichuan-style dandan noodles (pork mince, vegetables, salad, vinegar, soy sauce, pepper oil and chilli oil, served either dry or in a soup), and dry sizzling chilli oil noodles (garlic, salad, shallots, chilli flakes, soy sauce and chilli oil).

Casa Chow , Woolloongabba

A statement of intent for Woolloongabba’s ambitious South City Square precinct, Casa Chow owners Vince Lombino and Jared Thibault (who also own neighbouring Sasso Italiano) have rendered this brilliant open-air venue in pops of colour, light and music. The defining shades are pink and blue neon, the ceilings and entranceways curve ostentatiously, and there’s a DJ booth up behind the bar punching out Latin-American beats. A long bar sweeps across the central floor and signals Casa Chow’s intent as a drinks-led venue, the bartenders shaking a Pisco Sour menu and a bunch of signature cocktails. There’s also flaming Scorpion Bowls to share, a rice lager on tap courtesy of Aether Brewing, and an efficient wine list that includes bottles from Argentina and Chile. For food, Gabriele Di Landri has been charged with capturing traditional Chinese-Peruvian chifa cuisine, and in particular the recipes of Thibault’s former partner, Fiorella Aguila, who sadly passed away earlier this year. The result is a heartfelt collection of skewers, ceviche, dim sum, and larger wok and grill dishes. Think of this as the new place to kick off your Saturday nights.

Clarence , Woolloongabba

Ben McShane and Franklin Heaney opened the 35-seat Clarence in February in the heritage-listed former digs of Vespa Pizza near the corner of Stanley Street and Annerley Road. Between them, the pair has worked at hifalutin venues such as Nineteen at The Star (where they met), Stokehouse Q, Kiyomi, The Fish House, Momofuku New York, and Umu in London. Here, though, they’re applying that knowledge to something relatively unfussy and straightforward, with chef McShane giving his vegetables just as much shine as his protein. You might eat veal terrine with blood orange and daikon; white asparagus with sheep-milk cheese and noix de jambon; or wild-shot venison with beetroot, cumquat mustard. The lighter touch with food is complemented by Heaney’s Australian drinks list that focuses on smaller wine producers alongside boutique local spirits. The space itself is little changed from its Vespa days, with the timber banquette, raw brick walls and pendant lights all present and correct.

Etna , Fortitude Valley

Etna opened in October on the Marshall Street side of the heritage-listed, 1898-built Stewart & Hemmant building in Fortitude Valley. It’s a cosy space with seating for just 45 guests inside and in the old brick-lined back courtyard shared with Rosmarino, its sister venue. On the menu is a sophisticated selection of pizza, along with one main, one pasta, and a bunch of snacks, breads and entrees. Owners Lauren Smith and Andrea Gatti have eschewed woodfire for a Moretti Forni electric oven. It’s cooking bases handmade with wholemeal flour and executive chef Dario Manca’s seven-year-old sourdough starter. The result is a pizza that’s lighter and easier to digest than your typical Napoli number. Classic margherita, capricciosa and mortadella pizzas are accompanied by more modern creations such as the Biarnca (manchego, cherry tomatoes, rocket, Black Angus bresaola, parmesan, olive oil), the Prosciutto Galloni (prosciutto di Parma, stracciatella, secret sauce, basil, olive oil, oregano), and a pumpkin-based Mantovana (fior di latte, taleggio, sausage, rosemary, parmesan, amaretti dust). There’s also a “Speciali” section that includes the Anatrella (Riverine buffalo blue cheese, goat’s cheese, sliced duck leg, frutta mostarda, parmesan), and the zucchini-based Isola (fior di latte, Hokkaido scallops, guanciale, cherry tomatoes, chilli flakes). Gatti’s 120-bottle wine list (backed by Rosmarino’s 450-bottle cellar list) ranges across Italy, with a particular focus on the wines of Sicily and Mount Etna, but also includes drops from France, Australia and New Zealand.

Exhibition , CBD

Former Joy co-owner Tim Scott opened this ambitious 24-seat CBD restaurant (and 10-seat bar) in a moody underground tenancy beneath the old Metro Arts building on Edward Street. The fit-out is a mix of modern and heritage features, with enormous 900-millimetre-thick timber beams the signature detail. For food, two set menus continually evolve depending on what’s in season and available from local farmers and specialist suppliers. Dishes so far have included a scampi sashimi churro; roasted duck breast with beetroot and a balsamic sauce; and Wagyu cap grilled over coals and served with sweet-and-sour sherry, mustard and pickled spring bulbs. Otherwise, Exhibition is something of a love letter from Scott to Australian artisans and makers. The cutlery has been hand-forged by Kinnow Cutlery, and there are sake sets by Box & Ho Pottery and vases by Brighenti Design Studio. In the main dining room there’s a set of antique Japanese knives on display, and shelves of fancy recipe and restaurant books.

Herve’s Restaurant & Bar , Albion

Former Howard Smith Wharves food and beverage director Hervé Dudognon’s 80-seat French-inspired restaurant and bar opened in May, tucked away at the back end of Albion’s Craft’d Grounds food and beverage precinct. It’s a low-key stunner, taking the industrial bones of its 100-year-old timber mill premises and creating an inviting space of terrazzo countertops, textured walls, original wooden floors and banquette seating. The restaurant is defined by an open kitchen where the husband-and-wife team of Chris and Alex Norman, executive chef and executive pastry chef, respectively, work at a low-set counter, helping them engage with the dining room. The Normans’ menu is relatively tight, and its high-fidelity focus on local produce leads it towards Queensland’s coast. There’s a shellfish bouillabaisse with bay lobster, tiger prawns, scallops, mussels and clams; coal-fired kingfish with cauliflower, spring squash, buttermilk and chive oil; and away from the coast, a Tommerup’s Dairy Farm pork with peas, braised cos, pancetta and spring onion. For drinks, there’s a 200-bottle wine list that features smaller winemakers from all over the world, with a page dedicated to Corsican wines imported by Dudognon.

Juju Dining , Sunnybank Hills

Brisbane’s appetite for elevated middle-market dining has well and truly hit the burbs. Juju Dining is a revelation in a nondescript shopping centre located 25 minutes south of the city. The old Haoke Seafood Chinese Restaurant has been completely transformed into a slick 70-seat dining room and 25-seat bar defined by marble surfaces, polished concrete floors, sheer curtains and arrays of pendant lighting. Chef Andrew Birse (formerly The Long Apron, Arc Dining, Malt Dining) has created a menu that’s refined but approachable and includes egg salad with salmon caviar and shokupan soldiers; steamed market fish with a fragrant tomato sambal; and grade 7-9 Wagyu with kimchi and charred onion. The wine list keeps it tight but interesting, and ranges from a $49 Pewsey Vale riesling to a 2018-vintage $399 bottle of Kaesler “Old Bastard” shiraz.

Ramona Trattoria , Coorparoo

Ramona Trattoria occupies a light-filled, open-air tenancy in Coorparoo, next door to the popular Paella Y Pa’ Mi. The 48-person space of slate tiles, grey leather banquettes and bentwood chairs is dominated by an open kitchen where you can see chef-patron Ashley-Maree Kent and her team cook their painstakingly hand-shaped pasta, along with a short menu of starters that includes a fried mozzarella sandwich, and market fish, cucumber, apple and buttermilk crudo. At one end is a woodfired oven built in Melbourne by The Brick Chef, which punches out margherita, diavola, and mortadella (fior di latte, mortadella, pistachio, stracciatella) pizzas, among others; at the other is a bar serving a 20-bottle wine selection that leans towards small Australian producer drops, and a cocktail list that shakes and stirs variations on the classics. Still, it’s that pasta menu that’s the main event. It changes regularly but you might order dishes such as cacio e pepe or alla gricia made with tonnarelli, or a zucca pasta made with triangoli (triangular ravioli), or a wild boar ragu folded into pappardelle.

Sunshine , Fortitude Valley

STK Group (Simon Gloftis, Kelvin Andrews and Theo Kampolis, who also operate Hellenika, SK Steak & Oyster, and Sushi Room) opened Sunshine in April in the James Street premises formerly occupied by Chow House. Gloftis will cheerily tell you it’s his vegetarian takeaway spot, but this is much more than that: there’s the sea of bright yellow umbrellas that spreads its way down the pavement; an immaculate internal treatment of archways, timber, brass and rendered off-white walls; crazy-paver tiling; and seating for 90 people at fetching timber-top tables and a line of neat booths. Order at the counter and fill your plate with any combination of up to 35 Mediterranean-inspired dishes (many of them vegan), ranging from juicy stuffed tomatoes and bean salads to baked spinach rice, spanakopita and orzo pasta. Weigh it by the 100 grams, and then sit and enjoy something from the 30-strong list of local and vegan-leaning wines, or a spritz or beer. Easy.

Sushi Room , Fortitude Valley

Barely a couple of months after they opened Sunshine, Simon Gloftis, Kelvin Andrews and Theo Kampolis unveiled this Richards & Spence-designed sushi and sashimi restaurant that was arguably the buzziest opening of 2022. Downstairs, the 60-seater is fitted out with stone-top tables, grey upholstered booths and vertical blinds. Pride of place is a 9.3-metre solid hinoki timber counter imported from Japan, while a textured domed ceiling provides a peek into an upstairs private dining room, painted bright red. The restaurant sits behind a single nondescript door found between The Calile Hotel’s lobby and a stairwell down to the car park. On the menu is kingfish, grouper and vinegared-mackerel nigiri and sashimi; salmon-aburi and bug-tempura sushi rolls; tempura whole lobster; toothfish and Wagyu yakimono; and Oscietra Sturia caviar. The drinks list features a stack of sakes, shochus and umeshus, and 25 whiskies. An internationally roaming wine list tops out at a handy rather than hair-raising 160 bottles, but you can also go deep from the neighbouring Hellenika and SK Steak & Oyster cellar lists, if you please.

The Lodge Bar & Dining , Fortitude Valley

A Kiwi menswear label opens one of the year’s best restaurants? True story. James Street is where retail meets food and beverage, and The Lodge looks to bring it all under one roof, with the venue’s heritage-listed Lawless Grocery Store building connected to a new Rodd & Gunn boutique on the James Street side of the premises. Overseeing the kitchen, Kiwi executive chef Matt Lambert flexes his Michelin-star muscle (eight years running at The Musket Room in New York) via local produce and neat combinations of flavours and textures. The main menu features dishes such as a blue swimmer crab risotto with peas, confit fennel, lemon, and a 700-gram dry-aged New York strip steak grilled on the embers with mustard jus, but it’s the killer snacks that you’ll most often see in your Instagram feed: a caviar tart with egg yolk, yoghurt and chives, or a hand-picked mud-crab custard. Accompanying the food is a 250-bottle wine list compiled by Cameron Douglas, New Zealand’s only master sommelier. The venue itself plays it relatively straight, with pale American oak on the floors and ceilings, brass highlights, table linen and flagstone walls.

Tillerman , CBD

From seasoned Brisbane restaurateur Andrew Baturo (owner of Libertine and co-owner of Walter’s Steakhouse, Popolo and The Gresham), the 120-seat Tillerman occupies the Riparian Plaza tenancy previously home to Kingsleys Steakhouse. It has inherited that venue’s prized waterfront position but that’s where the similarities end. Just about everything here is decked out in spotted gum, the treatment broken up by tanned leather, botanic-print cushions and rattan furniture, plus illuminated arched features and globe pendant lights at night. It’s meant to wow without taking away from priceless views of the river and the Story Bridge outside. The food matches the location. Among the smaller dishes are Fremantle octopus carpaccio, Ora King salmon jerky, and hiramasa kingfish with crepes and citrus beurre blanc. Larger plates include fried Balmain bug wok-tossed with garlic and prickly ash, oven-roasted dusky flathead with burnt orange ghee and fried capers, and salt-baked Murray cod with salmoriglio dressing. Away from the seafood, there’s grade 9 Wagyu flank with suet vinegar and beef jus; and barbequed Brisbane Valley quail with bullhorn pepper, garlic and preserved lemon relish. For drinks, a 150-bottle wine list prioritises coastal vineyards to suit the seafood. Elsewhere, there’s a lengthy list of signature cocktails and a sophisticated sherry program.

Honourable mentions
Besitos – Bellissimo stays open late and turns the lights low for classy, Mediterranean-inspired eats.
Mina Italian – The Eterna crew returns in a bright, airy spot in Bulimba with a broader Italian-inspired menu.
Popolo – The South Bank Italian classic has reopened with a classy new fit-out and updated menu.
Fishbowl – The superstar Sydney salad-bar chain arrives in Newstead.

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