There was an inevitability about the rumours that spread through the food and industry late last year that Michael Tassis had taken on the old City Winery spot on Wandoo Street.

Who else but the prolific restaurateur, fresh from opening four eateries in the previous 18 months, could seize a rare vacant tenancy in the James Street precinct? He’s since gone on to open four more: Stilts and Mulga Bill’s on the Kangaroo Point Bridge, and Pompette and Dark Shepherd at Queen’s Wharf.

But it also made sense. This is a bit of a storied spot, once being home to Campos’ heaving Brisbane outpost, but it’s also a tricky one: City Winery, for all its potential, was a venue that never really hit its stride (although the pandemic didn’t help). Tassis was someone who could make it work, as long as he had the right concept.

But what concept?

“We debated doing a bunch of cuisines in the space, including Greek,” says the restaurateur, who is best known for his Hellenic cuisine. “But we didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. There’s so much around here, and you want to do something that works from a community standpoint.”

The answer was a Cantonese restaurant, Aunty, that will open towards the end of the year.

Tassis says he’s tasked regular design collaborators Clui with “mixing up” their usual design cues in a moody, modular dining room.

Aunty won’t have any outside dining, leaning instead into a hidden, “mysterious” vibe – a clever move for a restaurant that will sit just off the strip and carry with it that sense of discovery.

Head chef Salvatore de Ponte will be cooking a menu based on Cantonese food but which also draws inspiration from other cuisines, including his native Italian. Tassis says diners can expect everything from a traditional half-Peking duck to house-made dan dan ragu.

“We’re going to be cooking with a lot of wood-fire,” he says. “And we’re looking at using different types of lamb and seafood to what you might usually find in Cantonese cooking. It should evoke that soul and memory [of Cantonese], but people shouldn’t expect traditional Cantonese.”

For drinks, sommelier Ben Rolfe is compiling a list heavy on champagne and white wines that have enough acidity to match the spice of the food.

“It’s almost an iconic space these days,” Tassis says. “So we’re going to give this a good crack, a great fit-out and a different vibe. We’re trying to create another great place that fits into that James Street dining scene.”