‘Elegant, minimalist and sleekly noir’: New Brisbane restaurant brings the glam
The latest dining newcomer to Brisbane’s CBD is the restaurant equivalent of a little black dress: Elegant, minimalist and sleekly noir, with a location full of intrigue and a chilled-out, casual menu with quality ingredients.
QWeekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from QWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
This is the restaurant equivalent of a little black dress. Elegant, minimalist and sleekly noir on the outside, it’s perfectly accessorised with a fairy-light-bedecked, red-leafed tree splaying its limbs to the air from a pot beside the huge, sliding front door.
Japanese-focused newcomer Hideki opened in November in Burnett Lane, which runs between George and Albert streets in Brisbane’s CBD – the city’s oldest laneway dating from convict days when it was the site of prison cells and barracks.
These days the thoroughfare is lined with atmospheric bars Death & Taxes and its sibling Antico, and various food and drink venues.
‘A venue in hot demand’: New Noosa waterfront restaurant you’ll need to queue for
‘Pull up a pew’: This new restaurant in a church is worth a visit
In the space that was once home to Alba Bar and Deli, Hideki also ratchets up the glamour inside, introducing what its website says is a “fine casual” dining concept.
It’s by Joe Chagoury and Wasim Ghanem, whose wife Sophia Klemenz Ghanem has interior design and homewares business Klemenza in James St and oversaw Hideki’s dramatic look. A sister venue is bound for the James St precinct in early April, with apparently an entirely different decor concept.
The fit-out here is dramatic – with a large, light box on the wall and the ceiling above the bar bringing a yellowy hue to the dimly lit interior, while an attractive antique Japanese artwork featuring foliage and storks skimming across a golden background enlivens the opposite wall, lined by brocade-upholstered banquettes. Floors are concrete, tables are marble, napkins are linen and we have a small brass lamp to help illuminate the menu amid all the atmospheric gloom.
The soundtrack is reasonably loud dance music, which doesn’t appear to bother a clientele that ranges across age demographics and includes a large group.
Hideki is half full on the weeknight of our visit and we’re offered one of three marble-topped tables for two right at the bottom of the stairs near the front door, not the most auspicious of seats but service is attentive from the beginning.
The glam decor almost demands more from the food but the menu keeps it low key and throws in some quality ingredients.
Share plates range from chicken karaage to popcorn prawns, or a wagyu sando; a raw list including the likes of oysters, sashimi, tuna tataki and a 12-strong line-up of yakitori ranges from okra to scallops; and there are three mains: teriyaki chicken, Senku wagyu sirloin and toothfish saikyo yaki.
The drinks list is on-theme with sake, Asahi, Sapporo Black and Kirin Ichiban beer, cocktails including a “perfect matcha”, a “paper crane” with a Suntory Toki whisky base and a Hideki highball as well as a wine list with more than a dozen options available by the glass or bottle.
Our waiter encourages us to order a banquet, there’s an $89 version (with the chicken teriyaki) or $139 (with the sirloin) but we go it alone. Two delicious small salmon cornets ($17) from the raw section are the starting point; crunchy white bait tempura ($26) follows; three yakitori grilled over charcoal: salmon teriyaki ($14) wagyu meat balls ($14) and pork belly ($12), all fine if unremarkable, are nicely presented and arrive on a stone platter.
Wagyu gyoza ($23) are a little disappointing, the dough rather stiff in places, with perhaps the best of the lot miso eggplant ($22), the shatteringly crisp batter cladding the veg chunks turning the dish into a textural pleasure.
There’s only one dessert, matchamisu ($18), which has the cream and biscuits of a tiramisu with a heavy dusting of matcha and it works.
This is a chilled-out menu that hits the venue’s KPI of keeping it casual, part of a bigger picture of an elegant hideaway where you could hunker down at the bar for drinks or head to a booth to settle in for dinner.
Hideki
34 Burnett Lane
Brisbane
hideki.com.au
Open
Tue-Sat 5.30-10pm
Verdict
Food
Service
Ambience
Value
Overall
Byron, Bali, Tassie: Simple hack to score the cheapest holidays
Byron Bay to Japan, Bali and Tasmania. There are cheap holiday deals on offer this year but you need to know when and how to book to maximise the savings.
Lorna Jane’s simple secret to 35-year love story mixing business and pleasure
Fashion queen Lorna Jane has been happily married for 35 years to the man she built her clothing empire with. How they juggle work and home life successfully revealed.