House-made souffles, pate and sausages: why a new wine bar is drawing crowds
Elevated bar food and a wine list that veers away from the ordinary make this newcomer in a trendy inner-Brisbane suburb stand out.
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It’s the beginning of a long weekend and staff at the Wild Legs Wine Room in Newstead are toiling to slake the thirst of quite a crowd. All tables are taken at the low-key outlet that spills out on to the pavement in Wyandra St and people are hovering hoping for one to become vacant.
Opening in mid-March in the premises previously occupied by Ardo’s Wine, Wild Legs is owned by Silvana Calil, Manolo Lopez and Holly Tite, and it’s the sister venue to Adela Wine Bar on Sandgate Rd in Albion, an inviting outlet in a street lined largely with newish residential blocks.
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On a balmy evening we’re early enough to grab the last outside table near a kerbside, fairylight-entwined tree, while indoors there’s a cosy vibe with high tables and stools set beside the bottle-bedecked walls, a shared marble table and a bar.
Unsurprisingly given it’s a wine bar, most people seem to be drinking from the global wine list with an emphasis on lesser-seen varietals from small wineries and organic and biodynamic choices, across the almost 80 bottles. Many wines are Australian but there are also Champagnes, French rosé, a couple of Super Tuscans, organic Brunellos, and offerings such as Argentinian malbac, pinotage from South Africa and chasselas from Chile.
Queensland wines are fairly uncommon on Brisbane wine lists and it’s a treat that the 12-strong by-the-glass list here allows space for two whites from the Granite Belt: the 2024 Essence & Bloom Verdelho ($22) and the 2022 View Gros Manseng Reserve ($26), a variety from southwest France. This is an unfussy, relaxed venue but given the enthusiastic spiel about the wines and the winemakers, and the price, it would have been good to have the bottles presented and the wines poured at the table.
There is also house sangria, a cherry spritz and a granny smith cocktail, a mix of fresh apple juice and the French herbal liqueur chartreuse, and five beers including Yulli’s Brews Seabass Mediterranean lager on tap.
Plus there’s food well beyond a bar bowl of nuts or a cheese plate (although there’s one of those too). Chefs Jean-Antoine Jeffrey and Priscila Hoerau are turning out a European menu with elevated bar items such as cheese soufflé, lamb merguez, stracciatella with roasted pineapple and carpaccio as well as oysters, focaccia, a pickle plate with fermented garlic, a charcuterie selection and yes, a cheese board.
Many base items are made in-house, including the focaccia, an array of pickles, the merguez sausage (a generous portion of spicy slices line up in rows on a platter with capsicum and vegetables on a bed of labneh, $26), and the duck liver parfait. A thick slice of parfait ($18) with its jellied top, has a pleasing hint of sweetness, which we’re told is courtesy of the addition of maple syrup.
We also share a mortadella-stuffed brioche bun, held together by a pickle-bearing skewer, which is quite delicious. The cheese soufflé with a crown of house-made, red wine-infused onion jam surrounded by a creamy sauce ($26) is also a fine, hearty, wine-friendly choice.
The staff we order from are knowledgeable and keen to offer suggestions but all the savoury food arrives at once which, given the small table and wine and water glasses, is a rather major logistical challenge.
We hadn’t asked for the arrival of the dishes to be staggered but it would have been a more enjoyable experience if they had been.
However we are treating Wild Legs more as a restaurant – we later share a slice of nicely tangy lemon tart ($16) – while most of those around us are couples or groups of friends enjoying drinks and maybe a dish or two.
Either way, this is a venue that is hitting the mark with locals.
Our table is pounced on as soon as we stand up.
Wild Legs Wine Room
22 Wyandra St,
Newstead
@wildlegswine
Open
Wed-Sat 3pm-late, Sun 2-7pm
Must try
Cheese souffle
Verdict
Food
Service
Ambience
Value
Overall
delicious.com.au/eatout
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