Hello Please delivers flavour bombs at fresh, new location

A Vietnamese-inspired Brisbane eatery has moved out of the box, widening its offering to dishes from across Asia at a new location in one of the city’s hottest laneways.

The Vietnamese yellow curry was a hit at Hello Please. Picture: Mark Cranitch

I AM going to be that jerk. That jerk who gloats about their amazing overseas holiday.

But I promise this self-indulgence also has relevance.

I have recently returned from three weeks in Vietnam, mixing swimming, cycling and kayaking with food tours, cooking classes, and basically eating everything in sight.

It’s a country where you can find something delicious to eat – whether it be from a makeshift grill on a busy footpath or a tiny restaurant amid a gaggle of nail salons and massage parlours.

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Just a week at home and I began craving noodles and banh mi, so headed to the recently relaunched Hello Please in South Brisbane.

The Vietnamese-inspired eatery previously tenanted a shipping container and carpark underneath the railway line along Fish Lane.

But with the site claimed by developers, they shifted just a chopstick toss away down the popular foodie alley, reopening at the end of last year.

Hello Please has been revamped at a new location in Fish Lane, South Brisbane. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

The work of Maris Cook and chef Jesse Stevens (also behind nearby Maeve wine bar), the new digs are slick yet relaxed, with the front bar boasting a modern, minimal cafe vibe stripped back to polished concrete floors and an industrial ceiling, with only a slight nod to Asia through lantern-style pendant lights.

The side main dining room has more of a grungy street feel, with a grey tiled floor and heavy, black, timber benches and tables that run almost the length of the space.

The two rooms are almost incongruent, with the main dining room feeling more on brand to their identity of old.

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However, that identity has clearly morphed in the latest inception, with the share-style fare taking on a more Asian-fusion slant with the likes of Korean beef tartare, Chinese bolognese and Hainanese chicken salad.

While its commitment to only one cuisine has wavered, its dedication to delivering flavour has not.

Crispy chicken ribs ($14) pack heat, sweetness and salt with a chilli-infused soy sauce dressing the crunchy-crusted morsels of succulent poultry – a pimped up version of the KFC-like bird you find in the south of Vietnam.

Maris Cook, owner of Hello Please, at the restaurant’s previous location in a shipping container in Fish Lane. Picture: Patria Jannides

As for Vietnam’s ubiquitous yellow curry ($24), the Hello Please version is a far more sophisticated adaptation, featuring fatty, toothsome chunks of chicken thigh in an intensely layered, turmeric-stained broth.

The flavour grenades keep coming in the form of cured salmon ($20), however, this is a little too explosive, with the textural elements on point but the chilli oil overpowering the fish.

A similar fate meets the stir-fried greens joined by lap cheong sausage ($16) – the fermented chilli soy dressing a little too aggressive en masse.

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Cocktails take on Asian influences, with the likes of a lemongrass pina colada and Kaffir lime margarita, while the wine list is a tight but smart affair running from Spanish alborino to South Australian syrah.

I can’t bring myself to pay $9 for a Bia Hanoi lager when I was paying only 80¢ for a bottle in Vietnam (Australian alcohol taxes at work again), but there is a handful of other local brews and ciders available.

While Hello Please may look and feel different in its latest incarnation, its heart is still the same: it’s a place for an affordable, flavourful feed with friends or family in the relaxed spirit of Vietnam.

HELLO PLEASE

Address 10 Fish Lane, South Brisbane

Web helloplease.co

Open Tues-Thurs 5pm-late; Fri-Sun midday-late