What To Order From Golden Avenue, Anyday Group’s Vibrant Middle Eastern Diner

Golden Avenue, the latest venue from the Anyday Group, opened in Brisbane’s CBD yesterday. Broadsheet was there and – as we’ve come to expect from the group – service on night one was seamless, as if the restaurant had been open for weeks. Anyday Group co-founder Ben Williamson says it helped that the opening had been more than three years in the making.

“It’s taken time to get it off the ground, but I’m glad we took that [long] because there are so many moving parts,” he says. “It’s enabled us to really get it right and make sure the pieces are perfect, especially with our staff.”

Design firm JAR Office was tasked with creating a Queensland version of Babylon. The result is a sprawling 500-square-metre space packed with greenery, pink juparana granite, green-tinged concrete and stainless-steel finishes.

Looks aside, the real magnet for punters is the Avenue’s menu of Levantine dishes (not to mention the 150-bottle wine list, Middle Eastern-inspired cocktails and standalone bar). Williamson collaborated with group executive chef Adam Wolfers and head chef Tim Yates (ex-Scully, London) on a selection spanning breads and dips, cold and hot meze, plus large plates courtesy of the oven and grill.

In other words – there’s a lot to choose from. If you want to do Golden Avenue right, these are the dishes to order.

Chickpea hummus

Williamson knew Golden Avenue’s hummus had to be spot-on. He tasked Yates with perfecting the dish. “It took about four weeks for Tim to get that completely right,” Williamson says. “It’s one of those simple things on the [menu] that we have to do really well.” The result? A silky smooth dip with optional toppings of harissa lamb or chermoula cuttlefish. For the lamb, mince is braised with harissa and stewed onions for depth and sweetness. “If it’s going to be the first thing you [eat], we wanted something striking, flavour-wise, that’s going to catch your attention.”

Fried quail with Levantine chilli oil

When Williamson was head chef at Gerard’s, his Bekaa wings – a Middle Eastern riff on American Buffalo wings – became a fan favourite. He’s taken a similar approach at Golden Av – but this time, it’s Southern fried chicken that’s reimagined through a Levantine lens. Quail is marinaded in yoghurt with turmeric and spices, then coated in besan and rice flour. Chilli oil combines Aleppo and Urfa peppers cooked with garlic, then blended with verjus and carob molasses for acidity and freshness. (Save some bread for mopping up.)

Mechoui lamb shoulder with fermented daikon ajvar

This dish showcases Yates’s background in fermentation. Before joining Golden Avenue, Yates was head chef at London’s Scully, the namesake restaurant by Ramael Scully, with one of the country’s leading fermentation programs. The lamb shoulder is flavoured with roasted red peppers, chillies and garlic, and served on a bed of fermented daikon. “[Daikon] adds another dimension and loads of acidity to offset the richness of the lamb,” says Williamson.

Lebanese mochi

Golden Avenue’s headline dessert takes inspiration from a trip to Lebanon, where Williamson ate booza (Lebanese ice-cream) and the texture reminded him of Japanese mochi. “It was the middle of summer, we’d just had this amazing spread, and then finished off with this really refreshing, chewy [dessert] you picked up in your hand,” he says. His version sees frozen pistachio parfait wrapped in mochi, then finished with fennel pollen and a sprinkle of salt. It’s part palate cleanser, part dessert, all magic.

Golden Avenue
67 Edward Street, Brisbane City
(07) 3473 0006

Hours
Mon to Sun: 11.30am-2.45pm; 5pm-10pm

@ golden.avenue.restaurant
anyday.com.au