Tim Scott never thought he’d open his own venue. Throughout his formative years as a chef working at celebrated restaurants such as Tartufo and Gerard’s Bistro in Brisbane, and Sepia and Automata in Sydney, his only purpose was to learn new skills. Yet here he is, in the Brisbane CBD, launching Exhibition, one of the most anticipated restaurants of the year.

“I was just always pushing to get to the next step,” Scott says. “Gerard’s was regarded as the best restaurant in Queensland, so I wanted to go to Gerard’s. And then I wanted to go to the Australian restaurant of the year, which [in 2015, as voted by restaurateurs for the Australian Financial Review] was Sepia. I was getting better and the jobs were getting harder. I wasn’t [getting paid much] but that didn’t bother me. I was learning – it was like being paid to go to university.”

Exhibition isn’t actually Scott’s first venue as owner. That was Joy, which he opened with Sarah Baldwin to much acclaim in 2019. And when Scott left Joy in mid-2020, he wondered whether he was done with cooking altogether.

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“I was ready to work out what I was going to do next,” he says. “But I went on holiday and thought, ‘I’ve been doing this for other people for eight-and-a-half years, and I’m just gonna leave [the industry]? I’ve been a part of making all these other businesses successful. I had to give it a crack on my own. I can’t just give up and not try.”

It’s fun to ask Scott what he’d do if he wasn’t a chef. A builder, he says. Or a cabinet-maker – but an old-school cabinet-maker. Or an architect, if computers hadn’t come along. He thinks like an artist, and will describe dishes to you not just in terms of taste and ingredients, but with concepts such as “concentric circles” and “compound colours”.

That kind of thinking is in the DNA of Exhibition. In a moody underground tenancy at the old Metro Arts building on Edward Street, it’s a space dedicated not only to food and beverage, but to art, artisans, makers and producers. 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. A couple of hours at Exhibition is a couple of hours spent getting lost inside Scott’s various passions.

The restaurant itself is split into two spaces. The main dining room seats just 24 people, either at tables or the kitchen counter. A second area with a lower ceiling is a 10-person bar and cellar that stocks Exhibition’s tight collection of small-producer wines, sakes and spirits. Materials throughout are a mix of heritage and modern textures, with original exposed bricks and enormous 900-millimetre thick timber beams the standout features. Both the kitchen and bar counters sit lower than normal, breaking down the barrier between front- and back-of-house and allowing the chefs to commune with the dining room.

“I can instruct front-of-house or see when a table is almost finished and tell the team to start on the next course,” Scott says. “I can orchestrate everything.”

There’s no à la carte here. Instead, two set menus will continually evolve depending on what’s in season and available from farms such as Neighbourhood Farms, Loop Growers or specialist suppliers such as Thai Hoa Grocer. You could eat fewer than 15 or more than 20 plates, depending on the night. Early dishes have included a scampi sashimi churro; roasted duck breast with beetroot and a balsamic sauce; Western Australian scallop served with shellfish oil, crispy chilli dressing, fermented apple, pepper elder and quinoa; and Wagyu cap grilled over coals and served with sweet-and-sour sherry, mustard and pickled spring bulbs. Scott’s homemade hibachi grill (which is nicknamed “Ghostface Grillah”, “Happy Grillmore” or “Adam Grillchrist”, depending on who’s using it) takes pride of place in the kitchen, but the food here is just as much about raw dishes and ferments.

“I want to give as many expressions of good produce I can,” Scott says. “So that’s smaller sized plates, trying to source unique products … as well as couple of luxury options if people are willing to go for it.

“A lot of things that are available in such finite amounts that you won’t see them in restaurants, we actually have access to … We’re not fighting anyone else for it. It stops us from having limitations.”

A curated drinks list ranges a little more widely for its hits. Funky Italian winemaker Icaro Vino’s malvasia di candia-trebbiano blend shares the cellar with a La Violetta pinot meunier from Western Australia and a Blank Canvas gruner veltliner from Marlborough. The backbar features drops such as Ailsa Bay single-malt whisky and Dark Matter spiced rum from Scotland, and 17-year-old Christian Drouin calvados from France. They help power a cocktail list that taps the same fresh produce as the kitchen.

“I want people to be so distracted by the experience that nothing else matters,” Scott says. “There’s too much food, there’s too much art, there’s too much going on. Especially in the city, a lot of people are so busy they can’t get work out of the brain – and a nice dining experience can do that for you.”

Exhibition
109 Edward Street, Brisbane

No phone

Hours:
Tue to Sat 5pm–late

exhibitionrestaurant.com