Croissant experts open cosy wine bar in Brisbane’s south

Small, cosy and next door to the famed Lune Croissanterie, a new wine bar from the same owners is making its mark

They might make arguably Australia’s best croissants but how do they go running a bar?

We pondered the question as we wandered past South Brisbane’s Lune, the northern outpost of the Melbourne croissant juggernaut founded by Kate Reid, a former aerospace engineer who worked in Formula One before becoming a pastry chef.

We were headed to Lune’s newbie neighbour, Butler Wine Bar, a small 30-seater that’s part of a leap into the wider hospitality world for the Lune business owners.

At the base of The Standard high rise, the drinking spot has a streetside greenery-fringed, cosy circular seating area with a heater in the centre, while inside the long, thin burrow of a room is made more spacious by the judicious use of mirrors on central structural pillars and low-hanging gleaming metal lightshades. A wooden bar runs most of the length of the interior, with a compact kitchen alcove on one side and shelves of wine on the other and a small room with two tables for four at the back.

Butler Wine Bar.

We’re wedged in front of the wine bottles, close to some other couples perched around the end of the bar and it’s cosy without feeling like we’re all on top of each other.

From the get-go, service stands out in a low-key, chilled way. There appears to be quite a harmonious team here, all those we encounter are assured, experienced and personable; attentive without being overbearing and ready to offer information when asked.

The wine list ranges around the globe with about 100 often small-producer selections including a clutch of orange/skin contact choices from Australia and Italy, and 15 all-Australian, by-the-glass options. Six cocktails include a miso old-fashioned, and the beer list takes a local turn with a Whynot lager from Catchment Brewing Co in West End.

Chef Jane Kim’s menu is, perhaps surprisingly, a pastry-free zone (Reid has just launched a cookbook titled Croissants All Day, All Night, with recipes for around-the-clock eating) and starts with drink-friendly snacks such as marinated olives, anchovy spiced nuts, house pickles and ferments, cashew hummus and crudites, snapper crudo in lemongrass sauce or chicken liver parfait with crostini.

Then it’s on to profiteroles with corn custard or filo pastry tarts with basil mayo ($8 each). These little beauties are like scrunched-up pieces of paper topped with diced funghi.

The mushroom tarts at Butler Wine Bar.

The bigger dishes are interesting, the Mooloolaba prawns ($25) mixed with bouncy greens including a cloud of watercress on top, a Thai chilli sauce, nahm prik gapi, puffed grain and a gently poached 63C egg. This is a quirky dish that works well, with the flavours harmonious and a couple of slices of bread are delivered to help mop up the sauce.

Pork belly ($21) with gochujang, a Korean red chilli paste, and finished with puffed buckwheat is the dish of the night, with the soft meat finished with a blow torch blast and given depth by the chilli and welcome texture from the grains.

We’re told that much of the prep is done earlier in the Lune kitchen, which allows the chef to create more complexity than this small space might allow.

There are cheeses, but the only dessert listed is spiced madeleine with brandy caramel ($16). We opt for a special, Basque cheesecake, which is only slightly sweet and topped with rhubarb poached in an amaretto-accented syrup ($13) and it’s lovely, the perfect foil for the last drops of our wine.

The pork belly dish at Butler Wine Bar was a standout

There’s no obvious thematic link to Lune, rather it stands on its own as a well-run, low-key outfit, with quietly adventurous food adding zest to the intimate bolthole’s mix of quality service and enticing drinks.

Its charm will likely encourage more wine bars to open, as they seemingly continue to sprout across South East Queensland this year, like mushrooms after rain.

BUTLER WINE BAR

15 Manning St, South Brisbane

butlerwinebar.com

Open

Thur-Mon 4-11pm

Must try

Pork belly

Verdict

Food 3.5 stars

Service 4 stars

Ambience 3.5 stars

Value 3.5 stars

Overall 3.5 stars

For more reviews

visit delicious.com.au/eatout