Longrain’s influence continues to echo throughout Australia’s restaurant scene.

Martin Boetz’s late-’90s Sydney original (there was and still is a Melbourne sequel, these days owned by Scott Pickett) pretty much wrote the low-lit, music-driven script for upper middle-market, fast-paced Southeast Asian food that would go onto inform restaurants such as Chin Chin in Melbourne and Longtime (now Same Same) in Brisbane, among many others.

That heady formula stuck with Louis Tikaram as much as anyone else. He was an apprentice in the Longrain kitchen in 1999.

“It just had this electric energy of a bar on one side, a DJ spinning records, cocktails flowing,” Tikaram says. “Then on the other side, dining. Really great food, awesome service, a really considered menu. The synergy of those two atmospheres was just perfect.”

Tikaram helped apply the formula to EP & LP in West Hollywood, where he ran the kitchen for six years (“People would come for a dinner, go upstairs for a drink, or come for a drink and then go down to dinner”).

Now, he’s doing the same at Stanley, the blockbuster Cantonese restaurant at Howard Smith Wharves where he is chef and partner, converting the upstairs floor of the old Water Police Headquarters into Stan’s, a beautiful, low-lit lounge and cocktail bar.

“This has actually been a long time coming,” Tikaram says. “We were thinking, where can we do something like that? We considered doing something on the side deck, but we didn’t want restrictions with noise.

“At the start of the year, Adam [Flaskas, Stanley co-owner] and I just thought, ‘We want this bar. Let’s do it upstairs where we can soundproof it, and it can open rain, hail or shine.’”

Returning to take charge of Stan’s design was Samantha Leigh. The interiors take inspiration from old-world Hong Kong, with the bar decked out in rich jewel tones with plenty of timber accents, antique mirrored wall panels and velvet curtains, banquettes and seating.

“Everywhere you look, it’s been thought through, with so much attention to detail,” Tikaram says.

Taking pride of place is a DJ booth and vintage JBL sound system, with a vinyl collection curated by the Wharves’ music director Dan McCarthy (perhaps better known by his DJ name Danny Mumbles). Expect plenty of soul and funk, with DJs spinning most nights of the week.

For drinks, there’s a cocktail list that presents modern, Cantonese-inflected interpretations of the classics, with a signature martini menu that taps premium gins and vodkas along with special bitters and other extracts.

There’s also large collections of whisky and agave, and rare and precious bottles of spirits sourced from around the world, with some dating back to the 1960s.

“We were just scouring online,” Tikaram says. “Just looking at auction sites and rare alcohol websites. A lot of it came from the UK. But that’s been a six-month process and, as a chef, it’s quite cool to immerse yourself in this different environment and learn about different spirits.

“Receiving a bottle of Campari that was made before my parents were born is pretty cool.”

Elsewhere, there’s a short, punchy wine list that favours Australian drops.

For food, Tikaram has written a snack menu in tune with the Cantonese food served in Stanley downstairs. You can expect dishes such as golden fried prawn toast with sesame and truffled mayo, pan-fried pork and prawn dumplings with fermented chilli and white soy, and painted tropical cray san choy bao with water chestnuts and coriander.

There’s also rolled peking duck pancakes with leek, hoisin and cucumber, and caviar and yuzu cream blinis.

“The menu marries a lot of the techniques I’ve learned throughout my career,” Tikaram says. “It’s been an awesome experience. Many of my team have been here for three or five years cooking fried rice like an absolute crazy person, so it’s been fun with Stan’s teaching them techniques that they would typically learn in a fine dining restaurant.

“But it’s been such a cool experience. You wait your whole life to do something like this. You spend 20 years cooking on equipment held together by occy straps and zip ties.

“To build something like this and work in an environment you’re just so proud of — it’s a full circle moment that’s pretty cool.

Open Mon-Thu 2pm-1am, Fri-Sun 12pm-1am.

5 Boundary Street, Brisbane, (07) 3558 9418.

stanslounge.com.au