Howard Smith Wharves to boast world-class restaurants

A GLOBAL-first dining and entertainment precinct is coming to the Brisbane riverfront with acclaimed Sydney restaurateurs set to open up to eight venues. Here’s what you can expect.

SOME of the biggest names in Australian hospitality have promised to deliver a dining destination unlike anything else in the world at Brisbane’s new Howard Smith Wharves.

Acclaimed Sydney restaurateurs Matt Yazbek (Toko Sydney and Melbourne) and Jonathan Barthelmess (The Apollo Sydney and Tokyo, and Cho Cho San Sydney), along with Brisbane hospitality king Andrew Barturo, announced they would be launching their most exciting venues to date at the new riverfront precinct underneath the Story Bridge when it kicks off in late November.

Lineup revealed

Qld’s changing face

Originally constructed in the 1930s, the 3.4ha heritage site on the Brisbane River will feature up to eight restaurants, including a brewery and eatery.

Howard Smith Wharves director Adam Flaskas said the lifestyle and entertainment zone will be a global first, and would become a huge drawcard for not only locals but interstate and overseas visitors.

Toko Brisbane owner Matt Yazbek at the site of his new restaurant under the Story Bridge. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I haven’t really seen anything like this internationally,” Mr Flaskas said.

“There will be seven to eight restaurants on the site, and a number of those I’m totally confident will be the best in Australia, if not the world.”

Those restaurants include the first Toko Brisbane from Mr Yazbek, a modern Japanese venture in one of the old sheds; Greca, a Greek eatery from Mr Barthelmess in another heritage timber building; plus glam Chinese offering Stanley courtesy of Mr Barturo and his wife Jaimee in the former water police site.

The development will also feature the impressive 600sq m octagonal-shaped Overwater Bar, which will float above the Brisbane River serving drinks and light lunch and dinner offerings, as well as brewery and eatery Felons Brewing Co.

“I think a lot of people in Brisbane are really looking forward to some new food and beverage offers and I can’t wait to be sitting with them in the venues and enjoying it,” Mr Flaskas said.

Artist’s impression of the Howard Smith Wharves redevelopment

With construction having just begun on the initial five ventures, the restaurateurs said they would be bringing their best design ideas to the site and trying to create something quintessentially Queensland but of global appeal.

Mr Yazbek said he had been looking for the past 11 years to open a restaurant in Brisbane and believed the Howard Smith Wharves would herald a new era in Brisbane dining.

“I think what people have been witness to in the past is just that typical dining out — go to a restaurant, eat drink, be merry and go home — where I think what Howard Smith Wharves have done here is nothing short of brilliant,” he said.

“It won’t be a destination to come to just for food, it will be destination just to come to.”

The site with 700m of uninterrupted waterfrontage will also feature family-friendly parklands, food trucks and activations, where visitors can enjoy fish and chips on a picnic rug with a paddle of beer or carafe of wine.

There’ll also be a coffee roaster and five-star boutique hotel.

Artist’s impression of the Howard Smith Wharves redevelopment

Artist’s impression of the Howard Smith Wharves redevelopment