Essa brings understated fine dining to Brisbane

After four years, dozens of menu concepts and a change of ownership, this highly anticipated contemporary Brisbane restaurant, headed by one of the state’s best chefs, is finally set to open. TAKE A LOOK INSIDE!

It’s the restaurant eager foodies have been waiting four years for, with top chefs desperate to snag a booking, now the highly anticipated contemporary Brisbane fine diner Essa is finally set to open this Friday.

Launching in Robertson St, Fortitude Valley, the venue is the work of coveted ex-Gauge, South Brisbane chef Phil Marchant and Angela Sclavos, behind the nearby, soon-to-open Lebanese eatery and nursery The Green; and has been inundated with bookings well into November.

Inside Essa Restaurant in Fortitude Valley. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

Focused on creativity and responsibly grown ingredients, the venture will be rooted in fine dining conventions, but with a more relaxed approach.

“What’s good about fine dining is there but what’s not isn’t,” said Ms Sclavos, who jumped into the project after former co-owner Jerome Batten left to focus on his restaurant, Gauge.

“It’s really just about amazing food and wine and being able to give people a great experience.”

Chef and co-owner Phil Marchant at his new restaurant Essa in Fortitude Valley.

And that starts with the building, she said, with the long, narrow space an industrial wonderland of texture and materials from steel and green marble to timber split across three levels, with a raw bar in the centre of the “cave-like” structure designed by acclaimed architect Craig Channon.

In the kitchen all eyes will be on a wood-fired grill, which will be at the heart of the share-style menu, used to cook everything from crispy, smoky beetroots served with macadamia puree, vincotto dressing and walnut to plates of protein like spatchcocked quail with a brown butter chicken sauce, pumpkin vinegar and mandarin koshu.

Venison tartare. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

A raw menu will also star, especially in the afternoons and late at night, featuring the likes of oysters, charcuterie and a venison tartare with bergamot, buckwheat, hibiscus and fermented rhubarb.

The menu will change with the micro climates, with the kitchen brigade, including Gauge alumni Cormac Bradfield and Fin Burgess, using a special Sunday set-menu experience to test and try new dishes.

“With the food, as soon as something is comfortable and familiar (for us to cook) then it’s gone. It’s about keeping creativity at the forefront rather than convenience,” Mr Marchant said.

A 110-plus wine list of old and new world varieties will match the food, while a separate bar specialising in vintage champagne and cocktails will open next door in a few months.

Essa will take its first bookings this Friday.