Easter holidays: Have a staycation at Emporium hotel, South Bank

An Easter Family Escape at Emporium Hotel South Bank offers a great option for holiday fun with the kids while staying close to home.

“I want to live here,” announces Master Eight.

Me: “What, in the hotel? Won’t you miss me?”

Master Eight: “It’s OK, you can live here too Mum!”

And so goes the “if only” chat as we reluctantly pack our bags after a family staycation at Emporium South Bank, the gleaming edifice at the top end of Grey St that opened in July 2018. It’s a five-star haunt, designed to impress. And impressed we are.

My son and 12-year-old daughter have joined me to sample the Easter Family Escape package, available from April 1.

We open the door to our 16th floor twin suite to find a cushion-filled teepee on the floor (yippee!) and a giant basket of Easter eggs on the bed (yikes!).

The bunny has delivered at Emporium South Bank.

As I wail, “No more than two!” the kids, of course, set upon the spoils like ravenous hyenas, scattering coloured foil to the four winds.

The Easter package also includes free movies – room service will happily deliver fresh popcorn and Magnums to enjoy with new releases such as A Dog’s Journey or Abominable – and a little toy zebra for the kids.

Lola is the hotel mascot, with her stripes referencing the zebra print used throughout the stylish hotel, from armchairs to the cuddly bedroom slippers.

We are getting to know the suite – the wine fridge, the mirror-cum-TV, the myriad buttons that control curtains, lights and possibly the main runway at Brisbane Airport, and the spectacular views of South Bank, the Brisbane River and the city – when there is a call from reception.

Emporium South Bank opened in July 2018 and is a favourite among Brisbane staycationers.

“Ms Maher, we understand you are dining at Spaghetti House Trattoria tonight. Can we offer you a transfer in the Emporium’s Maserati?”

Um, let me think. “Absolutely you can!”

A chauffeur-driven gleaming black Quattroporte sedan (price tag $270k at Maserati Brisbane) is available to guests in premier suites (from $599 a night), at the discretion of the concierge desk, for short hops – performances at QPAC, shopping or meetings in the city, yoga classes, that kind of thing.

Master Eight snags the front passenger seat for the trip to SHT on Little Stanley St, and almost levitates with glee when our driver guns it (within the speed limit, obviously) down Grey St.

One of Emporium South Bank’s Maseratis.

It’s a sweet ride to the perennially popular Italian owned by Claire Parviz, who happens to live at the hotel complex, and is well-known to staff.

After a warm welcome from Claire, we settle in for a feast of delicious gnocchi, wood-fired pizza and a fettuccine marinara made with gluten-free pasta – staff here are well-schooled in food allergies, and don’t bat an eyelid at my practised coeliac disease spiel.

We linger over dinner – it’s a packed house and there’s a wonderful buzz in the air – and then walk back to the hotel along the river at South Bank, with New Zealand Natural ice creams in hand.

The river shimmers beneath the illuminated skyscrapers and the William Jolly Bridge, a blaze of pink neon, and I decide I should play tourist more often. The city is stunning by night.

After a restful sleep, we zoom up to Level 21 – the top floor – for a lavish buffet breakfast at The Terrace rooftop bar.

The Terrace at Emporium Hotel, Southbank.

We poked our heads in the day before, en route to the pool for a splash about, but now relax into its plush mint green swivel chairs for a leisurely bite.

The buffet is bountiful – charcuterie, fruits, cereals, bacon, eggs, the works – but guests can also order from an al a carte menu that includes buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, eggs benedict and a free range egg omelette.

We stick with the buffet where I discover plenty that’s gluten-free, and the kids discover the mini jam doughnuts. Well, of course they did.

We round off our inner-city foray with a trip to GOMA to see the Water exhibition – on until April 26 – before heading for home.

We packed a lot into 24 hours, including some much-needed family time.

And what a place to do it.

The writer was a guest of Emporium Hotel South Bank

Easter Family Escape, from $389 a night including Easter egg basket, kiddie teepee, free in-room movies and a gift for the kids, April 1-30.

Emporium Hotel South Bank

267 Grey St

South Brisbane