Lockdowns changed the way Ben McShane cooks.

Early in the pandemic, McShane, who temporarily stood down from his position as sous chef at Nineteen at The Star on the Gold Coast, had to cook for himself seven days a week.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a point in my career where I’ve done that,” he says. “I finally had time to eat properly and see how my body felt when I ate different things. And I always felt better when eating lighter and more vegetables. You consider your health and how food makes you feel, and that was just from spending a few months at home having nothing to do but cook dinners.

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“In restaurants, you’re always starting with the protein and adding certain elements to elevate it, and it can become super umami-rich and really heavy. It’s trying to tick all the boxes flavour-wise. When you start to cook for yourself a lot, I was more satisfied by eating a bowl of chickpeas with vegetables than a big old steak and some roasted potatoes.”

It’s an experience that informs McShane’s cooking at Clarence, a new 35-seat restaurant he opened in a heritage-listed Woolloongabba space with business partner Franklin Heaney last Thursday.

On a seasonal menu that he expects to evolve weekly, McShane is giving his vegetables just as much shine as his protein. There’s green beans with white peach, almond and marjoram; asparagus with clams, bourride and espelette pepper; pig-head terrine served with peas, grapefruit and ginger; and giant grouper with sweet corn, black olive and black butter.

“The asparagus and clams dish [is] as much about the asparagus as it is the clams. The terrine is very much about the vegetable garnish also … I lock in the protein and go through what’s in season and use as much of it as I can in whatever I’m cooking," McShane says.

“Diners have responded to that, commenting on how nice and clean the food is, and saying it’s not too heavy.”

That lighter touch is complemented by Heaney’s Australian drinks list that focuses on smaller wine producers such as Express Winemakers, Growers Gate and Future Perfect, alongside boutique spirits such as Brisbane Distillery gin, Tilde vodka from NSW and Morris muscat barrel malt whisky from Victoria.

It’s all served in a space that feels like a reaction to McShane and Heaney’s combined resumes, which include such gilded venues as Nineteen at The Star, The Fish House, Stokehouse Q, Umu in London and Momofuku New York. Clarence is nothing like those restaurants. Occupying the old Vespa Pizza spot on Stanley Street, the duo has done as little to the space, keeping the timber banquette, the raw brick walls and pendant lights. The furniture is on loan from C’est Bon next door.

It’s an unfussy treatment that gets out of the way of the food and drinks, with the restaurant having the feel of dining in someone’s house.

“The building has tonnes of character and doesn’t feel like a big, designed space,” McShane says. “It feels real. The bar is open-style, there aren’t any service areas that get in the way. It’s a restaurant that’s about human interaction and creating a nice experience for people.”

Clarence
617 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba
No phone

Hours:
Thu & Fri 5.30pm–Late
Sat & Sun 12pm–Late

clarencerestaurant.com