The 2007 film All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane captured a feeling that was all too real for many locals at the time. Stephen Vagg and Louise Alston’s cult classic follows Anthea, a 25-year-old Brisbanite uninspired by her life in the River City. Tired of the same social group, overworked at her job and frustrated about being single, she watches friends leave for Sydney and London, and wonders: should she follow?

The thing is, Anthea likes Brisbane. But the allure of a bigger, more dynamic city is too tempting. In the end (spoiler alert), she leaves the River City for London, like so many before her.

This isn’t surprising when you think about the Brisbane of the early 2000s, which was having something of an identity crisis. While the film showcased iconic landmarks like The Story Bridge, South Bank and even the upstairs pool room at The Royal Exchange Hotel, Brisbane’s cultural fabric was stretched perilously thin. The nationally recognised Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) had only just opened, and the city was still years away from glossy developments like Howard Smith Wharves in the city, Fish Lane in South Brisbane and James Street in Fortitude Valley, which have dramatically upped the city’s eating, drinking and shopping credentials.

Renowned fashion designer Gail Sorronda remembers opening her flagship store on James Street in 2012 with partner Atlas Harwood, a move that felt daring at the time.

“We lived in London and Paris and there were expectations for us to move to Sydney,” Harwood tells Broadsheet. “[But] we wanted to stay grassroots and go back to Brisbane. That was thirteen years ago, and it seemed kind of different [to do that]. Now it would just be normal.

“Maybe Brisbane is just getting cooler,” Sorronda adds.

The numbers back it up. The ABS began recording net interstate migration to capital cities in 2001. Brisbane was Australia’s most popular city at the turn of the millennium but began to lose its shine around 2007 – right as All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane came out. It bottomed out twice in 2010 and 2012, falling to third most attractive and almost zero growth.

Then came a miraculous recovery in 2015-16, led by people like brothers Ben and Nick Chiu, who opened a streetwear boutique, burger joint and record store, consciously trying to reinvigorate the city. “Part of the problem is that, traditionally, the work hasn’t been here,” they told Broadsheet at the time. “But if everyone leaves and no one actively tries anything, it’s always going to stay in this cycle.”

By the end of 2019, Brisbane had broken Melbourne’s five-year run at the top and briefly recovered its status as Australia’s most popular city. Then came Covid, and a mass exodus of Melburnians fleeing lockdowns. Brisbane’s popularity hit a 17-year high. While the numbers have since corrected, the city continues to welcome more interstate transplants than anywhere else in Australia.

One of the biggest changes Sorronda has noticed since returning is the influence of The Calile Hotel, which opened on James Street in 2018 and was crowned best hotel in Oceania last year by a prestigious international guide.

“There’s been really considered town planning and landscape architecture, and people have responded to that,” she says. “They’re like, ‘this isn’t just a cool place nationally, but internationally too.’”

Brisbane architects Ingrid Richards and Adrian Spence, who designed The Calile, are at the forefront of this transformation. Their firm Richards & Spence ’s breezy, uniquely Queensland aesthetic is writ large across many of the aforementioned glossy developments – both in large public spaces and numerous individual tenancies. And restaurateurs are loving it.

Brisbane has long punched above its weight with institutions like E’cco Bistro, Beccofino and 1889 Enoteca, as well as influential but short-lived venues such as Esquire, Gauge, Urbane and The Buffalo Club – an impressive list given the city’s population is roughly half that of Sydney or Melbourne. But the past few years have seen an incursion of big names from interstate.

Melbourne restaurateur Andrew McConnell skipped Sydney and brought Supernormal here, alongside his Brisbane-only Bar Miette. Martin Boetz launched Short Grain, 24 years after founding the influential Longrain Sydney. Popular Sydney restaurants Sokyo and Otto likewise expanded north; ditto Melbourne bakeries Lune and Baker D. Chirico. (The former arrived three years before finally landing in Sydney.) And later this year celebrity chef Shane Delia is slated to open a restaurant in the Thomas Dixon Centre – his first outside Melbourne.

“It’s exciting to be part of what’s touted as one of Australia’s up-and-coming food cities,” says Delia, who’s just spent three days in Queensland talking to suppliers and visiting farms. “Everywhere you turn there’s something new, something exciting and something passionate.

“This is the most inspired I’ve felt about restaurants and food in ten years. To be here right in the nucleus of this birth of Queensland hospitality is really special.”

Alongside that influx of big names, we’ve also seen more world-class openings driven by locals, representing a growing confidence in Brisbane’s food and drink culture. Fish Lane’s Maker has been quietly setting the standard for intimate cocktail bars since 2015. The Anyday Group, which behind Agnes, Bianca and four more of the city’s hottest venues, is all about Brisbane people creating spaces for Brisbane people. And upcoming kappo restaurant +81, an offshoot of the ridiculously photogenic +81 Aizome Bar – will change the Japanese dining scene when it opens in West End later this year.

With these venues also comes a generation of young star chefs pushing the industry forward. Names like Juliana Butteri (The Calile), Brad Cooper (August), Benny Lam (Central), Jason Barratt (Supernormal) and Leaham Claydon and Jianne Jeoung (Snug) are all bringing fresh ideas and ambitious concepts that reflect Brisbane’s desire for forward-thinking restaurants.

Louis Tikaram, executive chef of Stanley at Howard Smith Wharves, grew up in Mullumbimby and came up through some of Sydney’s most respected restaurants – Longrain, Bentley and Tetsuya’s – before moving to West Hollywood to run the kitchen at A-list Australian restaurant E.P. & L.P. He arrived in Brisbane in 2019 with a new wave of imports, including Adam Wolfers (now group chef at Anyday Group) and Maeve Wine’s Eleanor Cappa and Maris Cook. Tikaram has been a strong advocate for the city ever since.

“I’ve gained more appreciation for the restaurateurs and chefs who were flying the flag for Brissie and helping attract talent long before we came,” he says. “They’re actually pushing the bar and raising the level even higher than what the imports are doing.”

A few months ago, Tikaram found himself chatting with acclaimed musicians Dom Dolla and Leon Bridges at his newly minted bar, Stan’s. He says both artists loved the city: “I think everybody that comes to Brisbane falls in love with Brisbane. I don’t know if it’s the element of surprise or an underdog story, but Dom and Leon both said Brisbane had the best show of the tour.”

Still, Tikaram says Brisbane needs to “grow up a bit” to become a truly world-class city. He opened Stan’s Lounge because he felt the city lacked quality late-night venues.

“We need to start eating dinner after eight o’clock and going out on Tuesday and Wednesday, not just a Friday and Saturday,” he says. “It goes hand in hand – we’ll open the venues and provide this for everyone, but it’s up to Brisbane to hold up their end of the bargain as well.”

With the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon, we can expect more precincts to emerge. Not far from the airport, Northshore Hamilton – Queensland’s largest waterfront urban renewal precinct – will host the main athletic village and bring more new restaurants with it. The inner-southern suburb of Stones Corner is also preparing for a major transformation.

On paper, this all looks great for business. Happy Boy ’s Cam Votan, who, with his brother Jordan, was part of the locally led 2015-6 revival says breaking into Brisbane’s hospitality scene has become more challenging for first-timers.

“When we started ten-odd years ago, it was relatively easy and affordable to get a space and give it a go,” he says. “The level of risk was more palatable then [because] you didn’t need such massive investment. That opportunity is less and less in Brisbane.”

Even so, he’s impressed by the number of young hospitality operators taking risks and carving out a distinct Brisbane identity.

“People are looking internally to what Brisbane wants, rather than bringing concepts that they had seen elsewhere,” he says. “It is risky to try something totally new.”

“We’ve really got something going here and it’s working – and (fingers crossed) it’ll continue working,” All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane writer Stephen Vagg declared in an opinion piece for Broadsheet in 2023, the same year the sequel, All My Friends Are Returning to Brisbane, hit the stage.

The Olympics will no doubt supercharge that: hotels will be packed, restaurants will be bustling and the streets will be alive with global visitors. But instead of treating the Olympics as a destination, we should see it as a milestone in a much bigger journey – one where Brisbane becomes a city that not only retains its creative talent but draws it in from around the world.