Agnes, Qld’s first fire-powered restaurant to open in Fortitude Valley

Forget stoves and ovens, a restaurant using nothing but fire to cook its food is opening in Brisbane. Agnes is from the award-winning team behind Same Same and Honto.

Tyron Simon and Ben Williamson’s restaurant Agnes will serve a fusion, share-style menu taking inspiration from Asia, the Middle East and beyond. Picture: Richard Walker

QUEENSLAND is set to get its first fire-powered restaurant, cooking everything from entrees to desserts over a huge flaming pit.

From the award-winning team behind Brisbane eateries Same Same and Honto and star chef Ben Williamson (ex-Gerard’s Bistro), Agnes in Fortitude Valley will open on Tuesday without ovens or stovetops, only using charcoal.

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Ben Williamson and Tyron Simon at the Fortitude Valley restaurant Agnes, which will cook everything over a huge flaming pit. Picture: Richard Walker

“This way of cooking is really unique so it’s quite amazing for people to watch,” said co-owner Ty Simon, who revealed every seat in the restaurant and private dining room will have a view of the kitchen. “I find it incredible to watch the chefs working with such limited utensils.”

In fact, because of the process of cooking with smoke and fire, much of the usual kitchen equipment on the market wasn’t suitable, so the culinary team began working with a local blacksmith to create their own.

Inside Fortitude Valley's Agnes restaurant. Picture: Richard Walker

“A lot of the pots we cook on we’ve designed ourselves,” said Mr Simon. “We had to make pots to allow smoke to permeate into the mussels or clams or whatever … it was challenging but it was fun.”

The restaurant will serve a fusion, share-style menu taking inspiration from Asia, the Middle East and beyond, running from radishes with smoked butter and mushroom salt to lamb ribs, aged duck with crispy skin and steaks that have been aged for up to 260 days.

“[The food] it’s not dictated by cuisine, it’s does it make sense to be cooked over wood? If it does, it’s on the menu.”

Even the cocktail list has been given the fire treatment with a smoked butter added to a whisky sour and a Tommy’s margarita infused with fire-roasted pears.

The restaurant has been two years in the making, delayed by council issues, structural problems and now a pandemic, but Mr Simon said they were thrilled to finally open next week.