Coming Soon: Marlowe, an Aussie Bistro From the Central and Southside Team, Will Open on Fish Lane

It’s all happening on Fish Lane.

The South Brisbane hotspot is soon to be home to Clarence, Detour, a newly reinvigorated pub from the Ghanem Group and now Marlowe, a swish Australian bistro from the Fanda Group (Rick Shores, Central, Southside and more).

“Fish Lane is gathering momentum as a precinct and it has been for a while,” co-owner David Flynn tells Broadsheet. “This is something we’ve had on the boil for a while. We locked in the space maybe two-and-a-half years ago.”

The space is a two-storey heritage-listed apartment block between Melbourne Street and Fish Lane called Merivale Flats. It’s fitting – the team wants dining at Marlowe to feel like home. Fanda is once again partnering with J.AR Office (the team behind the award-winning design of Fanda’s CBD dumpling spot Central) on the fit-out, but the brief is to preserve the space rather than rework it.

“The layout itself hasn’t changed,” says Flynn. They’ve converted kitchenettes and bathrooms into booths and used the apartments’ sunrooms as tiny dining areas with a view over Merivale Street. “Each room has its own little quirks, its own layout, its own character. There’s no room that feels the same … [There’s] the same sort of interest and individuality that you would expect from entering someone’s home.”

Ollie Hansford (ex- Stokehouse, ex- Gauge) will serve as head chef and co-owner.

Hansford will dish up elevated takes on nostalgic favourites, with a particular focus on 1950s, ’60s and ’70s Australiana food. His reference points are as varied as Women’s Weekly cookbooks and Ross Dobson’s The Lost Recipes.

For Hansford, this sort of retro cuisine was the only option. “It’s the venue that decides the cuisine, really,” Hansford tells Broadsheet. “To do anything other than Australian bistro within that beautiful building just seemed unjust for the build itself. We want to kind of transport patrons back to the time the building was established.”

He’s doing this with dishes including prawn cocktail tartlets with classic Marie Rose sauce; yabby-crowned surf’n’turf; and a coral trout Wellington finished with a rich caviar butter sauce. There’s also a rhubarb, macadamia and custard trifle for dessert.

Hansford is drawing on his connections with local suppliers. “I’m lucky to have locked in five kilos of jumbo yabbies a week from a farm just outside of Gympie, and 20 whole heritage-breed chickens from Joyce’s Gold, too,” he said in a statement. “For many of the producers we’re working with – like Chauvel Wagyu – Marlowe will be the only restaurant in the region they’re supplying.”

Hansford says delays with the venue’s opening timeline “gave us a lot of opportunity to go for research trips, so we could home in our offering. It it also gave me the time and the flexibility to go to these farms, go to these producers, see what incredible produce is out there.”

The mixed grill is one way Hansford is showcasing Australian produce, with four or five proteins grilled on a woodfired hearth custom built by Sam Fraraccio (aka The Brick Chef) and served on one platter along with a string of sides.

The extensive wine list, curated by group beverage director Peter Marchant, will focus on almost exclusively on Australian wine. But Marchant has made an exception for French champagne.

Cocktails will also highlight native ingredients. There will be a lemon myrtle and eucalyptus highball topped with Granny Smith soda and a house Martini made with butter-washed gin and macadamia-infused manzanilla.

The governing principle Flynn and Hansford have for the venue is that the dishes and the space should evoke a sense of warmth and nostalgia. For everyone who visits, it should feel like coming home.

Marlowe will open at 105 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane in late September.

www.marlowebne.com.au
@marlowebne