Coming Soon: Woolloongabba’s Clarence Restaurant Is Moving To Fish Lane

After three years in Woolloongabba, neighbourhood bistro Clarence will close in late July. But it won’t be gone for long.

Clarence will reopen just weeks later inside a new development on the corner of Fish Lane and Merivale Street. The turnaround will be tight, but co-owners Ben McShane and Matt Kuhnemann have been quietly preparing for months.

“Over the last six months – especially the last three – we’ve been working towards the move, slowly positioning what we’re doing [at Woolloongabba] with what we want to be doing [at Fish Lane],” McShane says.

While the character-filled, heritage-listed brick building in Woolloongabba will be missed, the move is driven by a desire to be part of a more vibrant dining precinct.
“It’s more about location than anything else,” Kuhnemann says.

“The way it is, your entire evening is within those four walls at Clarence,” McShane adds. “[In Fish Lane], you can head to QPAC afterwards or go to bars before and after dinner. There’s a lot of residential [properties] and people walking around. Clarence can be integrated into people’s lives in a more regular and meaningful way.”

It’s good timing. With other high-profile openings planned for the area – including the return of Detour , the Ghanem Group’s takeover of The Fox , and a new project from the Southside and Central crew – the western end of Fish Lane is only going to get busier.

Clarence’s Fish Lane space will channel a modern brassiere feel, anchored by an open kitchen with counter seating. The fit-out will feature green banquettes, dark timber and polished concrete.

The menu is also expanding by around 30 per cent, with the addition of more appetisers, a cold and raw seafood section, and a couple of larger-format plates. A working draft includes half a coral trout with meunière sauce, and a Westholme Wagyu rump cap with bordelaise sauce accompanied by duck fat potatoes and creamed cabbage.

Other new dishes include witlof salad with buffalo curd; potato gnocchi with oscietra caviar and dashi cream; and milk-fed pork with winter tomatoes and sorrel sauce. Fan favourites such as the Nashville-style fried bay lobster with pickles and white bread, and raw scallop with XO sauce on fried turnip cake, will remain.

Zoe O’Mahoney will continue to run front-of-house and curate the drinks list. She’s been steadily expanding Clarence’s all-Australian wine program, which will carry over to the new location. There will also be a few cocktails, including a rhubarb gin fizz, a Pickleback and a Paloma.

Clarence will close at Woolloongabba in late July and reopen at 51 Fish Lane in August.

@clarence.restaurant