Brisbane restaurants: Zero Fox, Teneriffe

Chopsticks are the go at this Teneriffe beer bar with nary a burger in sight. Restaurant reviewer Tony Harper says he was wooed in a millisecond.

If I were to have a generic whinge about craft beer bars (not only here, but also in California, New York, New Zealand and Japan, and probably everywhere such bars exist) it’s that they so rarely seem to think beyond burgers, onion rings, ribs and fries.

If you consider the incredible stylistic spread of craft beers (darks to farmhouse, double IPAs to Gose and Gueze, reds and ambers, fruit infused, marshmallow even) it seems daft that the menus remain chained to American fast food.

Surely there’s enough imagination in those kitchens to let them gaze beyond the deep fry and a brioche bun. Surely?

Which is why Zero Fox wooed me in a millisecond.

Zero Fox, 36 Vernon Terrace, Teneriffe

It pairs an eclectic offering of craft beers (and a short, constantly changing, nicely kooky wine list) with a menu based on Japanese foods with a fair bit of Korean thrown into the mix.

Halle-bloody-lujah.

It’s a relaxed place, in the Teneriffe wool sheds, with a bar and a few seats indoors, but most of the action is on high tables and stools out on the deck.

Service is fast and friendly and the trappings are minimal – paper napkins, condiments and cutlery in boxes on the tables.

There’s a blackboard wine list that tends towards the low-intervention end of things, and a menu broken into sushi and sashimi, small plates, and bowls.

Most of the action at Zero Fox is on high tables and stools on the deck.

And the bowls include some crowd pleasers like bulgogi beef, bibimbap, and a basket of wings, plus the usual selection of Japanese donburi (rice bowls).

Still, it’s the small plates that interest me most.

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Takoyaki ($6), a classic Japanese street snack – small dumplings filled with octopus – is given some lavish treatment with lashings of mayonnaise and some other sticky-sweet sauce, bonito flakes and shards of green. Beer food? You bet.

Perhaps they are missing the precision and sparsity that marks good Japanese cuisine, but it is a pretty yummy dish.

Zero Fox, Teneriffe

Similarly, chilli prawns ($11) in tempura batter are more sticky and fun than classic tempura, so perhaps more a dish inspired by, rather than emulating, Japanese.

Pork dumplings ($9) are good, as is a plate of salmon nigiri (again lavishly sauced, $10).

Spicy pork bao ($15 for two) is where the warping of tradition goes off kilter.

Zero Fox, Teneriffe

Nice buns, good pork, and a few interesting leaves like shiso hiding in the mix. But the mix is mesclun – goodness me!

Just tasting it brings me thudding back down to the world of school lunches and plate filler on a counter-meal. Why?

Up until that moment everything is spot-on … interpretations that taste great and go beautifully with beer. Weeks later I’m still befuddled about mesclun making an appearance.

Zero Fox, Teneriffe

Still, it’s a tiny, tiny slip-up, merely one that’s hard to figure out.

But do I like Zero Fox? You bet I do, regardless of odd bits of leaves in my bao.

It seems to have a really good fix on its drinks list and the kind of foods that work well with it.

And goodness … there isn’t a plate of ribs or a pulled pork burger in sight.

SCORES OUT OF 10

Food: 8

Drinks: 8

Vibe: 7

Service: 7

ZERO FOX

7/36 Vernon Tce, Teneriffe

Ph: 3161 6233