Brisbane riverfront restaurants and bars reopen four months after devastating floods

Following more than $1m in repairs, two of Brisbane’s prime riverside eateries are finally set to reopen – four months after being wiped out in February’s flood.

After a four-month, $300,000 rebuild, replacing everything from furniture to kitchen equipment, Brisbane’s Will & Flow riverfront bar is finally set to reopen after the February floods that wiped it out.

The bar and restaurant on the city-side entrance to the Goodwill Bridge was inundated with 2.5m of floodwaters during the freak weather event, leaving only its structure intact.

“Mud destroyed stock and equipment, so we’ve had to do an extensive safety clean, source replacement equipment, new furniture and conduct a complete interior rebuild,” Treasury Brisbane chief operating officer Kevin Dodt said.

Chief operating officer of Treasury Brisbane, Kelvin Dodt, at Will & Flow before it was devastated by February’s floods. Picture: Richard Walker

The renovations also included redesigning the kitchen deck area and installing a new pizza oven. The rebuild also means a new menu, with a fresh offering across breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Kicking things off in the morning will be a strong vegetarian offering, including a wood-fired mushroom omelette and smashed avo, plus meaty options such as a breakfast pide with bacon, pork sausage, mushrooms and egg.

At 11.30am, small plates, ­platters, pides and pizza will be pumping out of the kitchen, with everything from pork meatballs or baked potato gnocchi to cheese platters and prawn pizzas available.

A new drinks list will also be rolled out, with the hero to be a beer created especially for the venue by brewer Jared Palu from nearby Felons Brewing Co.

Brewer Jared Palu has created a signature beer for bar Will & Flow, which will be available when the venue reopens this month. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Palu won “Best New Queensland Craft Brewer” at this year’s Royal Queensland Beer Awards, with the prize a 12-month contract to sell his beer at Will & Flow. However, his plans were thwarted when the floods struck.

Now, four months later, he will finally be able to see his beer on tap at the venue.

“It’s a light, hazy, fruity pale ale at about 4.5 per cent (ABV),” Palu said.

“We live and breathe at ­Felons by the two-pint rule – if you can’t pretty easily sink two pints of it then it’s not a beer worth making, so that was driving my thought, so this should be a beer that you can have a few pints of and not need to get dragged out of the place, but be really refreshing and really ­nicely drinking.”

The beer will be available when Will & Flow reopens at 4.30pm on June 30.

Meanwhile, Greek eatery Opa Bar + Mezze is finally set to reopen this Thursday after being destroyed by February’s floods.

The riverfront restaurant in Brisbane’s CBD lost everything when water above head height consumed everything inside.

The rebuilt Opa Bar + Mezze in Brisbane’s CBD.

Furniture, kitchen equipment, walls, floors, crockery, cutlery and glassware all had to be replaced – a lengthy, four-month ­process believed to have cost more than $1m.

The venue’s bar area has been slightly tweaked during the repairs with a new elevated deck area added, but otherwise, the glamorous taverna has been rebuilt in the same slick design.

The initial menu will be revived, with favourites such as saganaki, souvlaki, moussaka and spanakopita all making a comeback, alongside the restaurant’s signature fresh seafood, including live lobsters from the tank.

Opa underwent an extensive rebuild after being destroyed in February’s floods.

New to Opa, however, will be breakfast, with the venue set to serve traditional Greek morning fare, such as baked eggs in a red sauce with cheese and bread, Cypriot eggs with yoghurt sauce and mortadella, and Greek coffee.