Brisbane restaurants: The Euro, city review

There’s a sure sign this Brisbane restaurant has maintained its quality through a succession of chefs over the years.

There’s a dish at The Euro, cotoletta, that I reckon has been on the menu since day one — or at least since I first dined there in its early months.

I honestly can’t recall if it’s exactly the same or it has morphed; if it’s better now, or just as good. But it is simple, beautifully executed and delicious.

And it shows that the restaurant, despite the slow but steady change of high-profile chefs in charge of the kitchen, has maintained its identity.

The Euro serves bistro fare in Brisbane city. Picture: David Kelly

For a place that isn’t a craft beer bar The Euro offers a big, thoughtfully curated range of beers — some craft, some mainstream, some domestic, others not.

And the wine list treads a similar but broader path, with some decadent bottles for the inner city spenders and a clever array of lesser stuff.

It’s a big, sprawling collection, with a section devoted to the wines of Queensland (hooray), a range of saké, a dazzling array of champagnes and just about anything else you could wish for.

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Prices kick off at $13 a glass and end in the thousands for a rare, old Dom Perignon Oenotheque.

The Euro is emphatically a bistro — no foams, powders or deconstructions — and its menu draws from all sorts of places across Europe and Asia, combining them at times into clever creations.

Euro seared scallops with cauliflower puree ($26).

There is the cotoletta — distinctly Italian, but here nestled with coleslaw (of Dutch origin I reckon) and ponzu sauce, which is Japanese. It works.

And there is the veal tartare ($24) with gojuchang — Korean — and gomasio which is again Japanese.

So I guess there are classics that have been taken to bits, the core parts retained and then new bits added with a refreshing disregard for convention or country.

We begin with grilled calamari ($22), which, unexpectedly, ends up being the best dish we eat. It comes on a bed of parsley pesto with a liberal cover of jamon crumbs.

It’s wildly good.

Grilled scallops and cauliflower puree (so far quite a classic combination) are paired with miso butter and crunchy-fried kale ($26). There’s that Euro-meets-Asia thing again.

Brisbane Valley quail ($25), plump, juicy, perfectly pink, is topped by a handful of escabeche … meat-meets-pickle. Then the cotoletta ($42) and Angus sirloin with crunchy potatoes and porcini sauce ($47).

The Euro’s Brisbane Valley quail ($25)

There’s a section of the menu devoted to big share plates — lamb shoulder, Koji-aged beef, grilled Gold Coast tiger prawns, baby chicken — and another of vegetarian dishes. Then three rather creative desserts, including pina colada with its pineapple pavlova, lime and coconut mousse ($18), plus cheese.

The Euro’s tonka bean creme brulee

Nothing is either hurried or slow — it comes out perfectly paced. The front of house team is slick, watchful and confident.It’s a coddling dining experience in a cleverly designed space.

It’s hard to imagine anyone, no matter how fussy, how demanding, not enjoying a meal at the Euro. There’s a gloss to the whole experience, and the offering in terms of food and drink manages a perfectly precarious balance between familiarity

and adventure.

SCORES OUT OF 10

Food: 8.5

Drinks: 9

Vibe: 8.5

Service: 8.5

THE EURO

181 Mary St, city

Ph: 3229 3686

Chef: Andrew Gunn

Lunch, Mon-Fri; dinner, Mon-Sat