Playful twists on Cantonese, wine on tap and slushy cocktails at new eastside eatery

A new Asian eatery just off one of Brisbane’s most popular high streets promises playful takes on Cantonese fare and more than a bit of booze.

Peking duck pancakes using roti instead of the usual dough discs, Queensland wine on tap and two types of slushy cocktails – Bulimba ­residents are sure to be feeling lucky when this new Asian-inspired ­eatery opens this week.

Luckies Kitchen 4171 will slot in just off Oxford St in the popular suburb in Brisbane’s east, serving up playful twists on traditional Cantonese fare, as well as a variety of classics.

Luckies Kitchen 4171 in Bulimba.

The work of Nick Wigley andTim Hearl (ex-Merivale Group in Sydney and Walter’s in Brisbane), the 70-80-seat venue is designed to be a casual yet colourful eatery that locals can visit multiple times a week, while still offering an experience elevated above traditional suburban venues.

On board in the kitchen is former Southside, South Brisbane chef Nick Tan, who will be turning out traditional eats, such as XO pippies, crispy fried Sichuan calamari and steamed pork and prawn wontons, alongside more fusion fare like the Japanese-inspired katsu eggplant, vegan-friendly mapo tofu with mushrooms instead of pork mince and Peking duck pancakes where the meat will be wrapped in roti rather than the original thin pancakes.

The new eatery is the work of Nick Wigley and Tim Hearl.

A largely Australian wine list will offer unusual drops, while keeping prices mostly under $90 a bottle, with Granite Belt wines the house vino on tap. Cocktails will also feature, including two slushy versions: a pandan pina colada and a watermelon margarita.

Luckies will open this Saturday and is set to be the first of many for the brand, with another operation planned for Brisbane’s northside.

YOUNG CHEFS TOP COMP

Two up and coming Queensland chefs have been named as finalists in the coveted 2022 Pacific Region S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition, and will face off in Sydney next month in the hopes of competing in the international final in Italy.

Pastry chef Alexis Belmas, from the Sunshine Coast’s La Petite Souris restaurant in Alexandra Headland, and Leidy Carolina Maldonado Ramirez,from Nu Nu Restaurant in North Queensland’s Palm Cove, are two of only 10 Australian finalists and are hoping to impress an illustrious panel of judges in a cook-off at the Sydney Fish Market on October 17.

Leidy Carolina Maldonado Ramirez.

Belmas will be preparing his dish Western Breeze Over Oz, while Ramierz will make her Clown Salad.

The winner of the showdown, judged by the likes of top chefs Josh Nilanand Peter Gilmore, will go on to compete at the grand final in Milan next year.

SAY G’DAY TO ROSE

Sellout Brisbane wine festival Rosé Revolution will return next month to paint the town pink, but with an exciting new format designed to give drinkers even more to love.

The annual event, now in its ninth year, will this time take over South Brisbane’s Fish Lane and run for an entire month, rather than just a single day.

“Every year the original event sells out and so we wanted to offer more options,” said Rosé Revolution creative director Amelia Taylor.

That will mean a series of smaller events from Fish Lane’s best restaurants and wine bars, such as La Lune Wine Co and Butler Wine Bar catering to between 14 and 250 people.

Included in that will also be five major ticketed events running from a paint and sip session for $35 to a $170pp five-course lunch with matched rose.

Dominic Getson from Butler Wine, Bailee Dewes from La Lune Wine Co and Eleanor Cappa from Maeve Wine will be taking part in this year's Rose Revolution in Fish Lane in South Brisbane. Picture: Tara Croser

To ensure lovers of the pink poison can have a taste of something new, 32 wineries from across the world will be taking part, serving up to 60 different roses, with about 2300 bottles expected to be consumed throughout the month.

“Queensland is the perfect place for a rose and it’s the only opportunity in Australia to try a multitude of restaurant-quality roses hand-picked by the best in the business,” Taylor said. Kicking things off will be the launch party on October 8 with one hour of complimentary tastings from 32 wineries, while another event expected to sell out will be a five-course lunch with matching wines at Maeve Wine Bar on October 23.

“We did a lunch last year and it was so much fun and there’s so many versatile roses so we jumped at the chance this year to be involved,” said Maeve co-owner Eleanor Cappa said.

The menu is still being finalised, but may include everything from ocean trout rillettes to spatchcock with pomegranate and fennel, paired with, say, a rose pet nat sparkling cocktail using rose vermouth to a Tasmanian sparkling rose to finish.

The event is designed to be a fun way for guests to learn about rose, with Cappa revealing even her gun team of experts have been educated by the process.

“Last time we all learnt a lot as well because there are so many different styles,” she said.

Other Fish Lane venues such as Bar Brutus, Kiki, Billykart and Butler Wine Bar will also run rose specials throughout the month, ranging from rose margaritas and martinis to rose aperitivo hours with $2 freshly shucked oysters.

Tickets go on sale 10am, Wednesday, September 21, at roserevolution.com.au

STUFFED CRUST PIZZA GOES GOURMET

Stuffed crust pizza we don’t have to feel like a bogan for liking, we can all get behind that.

Glam new pizzeria and wine bar Etna in Fortitude Valley is planning to rewrite the rule book on Italian food, turning tradition on its head when it opens this week.

Etna will offer an array of classic and new pizzas.

The 40-seat eatery is from Lauren Smith and Andrea Gatti, behind popular Italian restaurant Rosmarino, and will be its neighbour in the beautifully restored Stewart & Hemmant Merchants building on McLachlan St.

Rosmarino chef Dario Mancawill bring his adventurous take on Italian to the new venture, launching the likes of taleggio-stuffed-crust pizzas and those topped with everything from scampi to duck.

“Following Rosmarino we like to play with traditions and create unique flavours to wow our guests,” Smith said.

Classics will be available, too, with favourites such as margherita, capricciosa and Napoli, while the dough will be a serious affair made with wholemeal Italian flour and Manca’s six-year-old sourdough starter then fermented for 48 hours and cooked in an electric Moretti Forni oven on stone plates to deliver a consistently crisp base that’s soft on the inside.

Alongside pizza will be a solid selection of antipasti, including fritto misto and burrata, plus a meat and veg pasta, a main of duck cotoletta, hand-cut chips, as well as a few classic desserts.

Wine will be just as important
as the food with an impressive
118-bottle list of old and new-world varieties, including skin contact and pet nats.

“We’re offering a pizzeria with a hand-picked wine list and sommelier on shift so you can get an amazing bottle of wine stored at the correct temperature and always have someone knowledgeable to talk to about what they’re drinking,” Smith said.

Etna will open September 21.