@ Mr & Mrs Jones restaurant review: Thin, silky pasta flavour bombs leave us stunned

While this Portside Wharf eatery offers a solid menu overall, it’s one particular menu item that will have you returning for more .

THE KNOTS of thin, silky pasta encasing small domes of pumpkin and ricotta puree are such appealing flavour bombs that we’re stunned.

Bathed in a sage butter with a scattering of micro herbs and a dash of truffle oil, these versions of the traditional northern Italian belly-button-like bundles are delicate and lovely but rather out of character with the more robust dishes we had tried beforehand.

We’re @ Mr & Mrs Jones at Portside Wharf in Hamilton on Brisbane’s northside, sprawled beneath enormous umbrellas in comfortable cane chairs on the potplant-decorated terrace, with our view to the river blocked by the flank of an enormous cruise ship that is disembarking passengers at the end of the pier.

@ Mr & Mrs Jones’ tortellini with pumpkin, bathed in a sage butter with a scattering of micro herbs and a dash of truffle oil. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Inside, it’s a moodier vibe, with dark colours, patterned wallpaper, single red roses on the tables, paintings and an adjoining lounge bar setting a tone likely to appeal more to the nocturnal crowd who can enjoy live music on Thursday to Saturday nights, as well as jazz on Sunday afternoons, although there is a substantial group indoors for lunch.

The venue, owned by Karen Phillips, opened in November last year seemingly with a wine focus – the website’s home page features the quote “because everything tastes better with wine” – but there’s a substantial menu to go with it. The opening chef was ex-Sydneysider Warren Turnbull, who made his name in fine dining establishments before starting the Chur Burger chain, but he’s now handed over to Derek Finn, who was most recently at e’cco in Newstead. Share plates of cheese and charcuterie, oysters and entrees including steak tartare, chicken liver parfait, confit chicken wings and spiced crumbed New Zealand mussels merge into mains that run to twice-cooked crispy skin duck breast and two steaks, including a 500g Lockyer Valley rib fillet.

The chocolate fondant dessert. Picture: Mark Cranitch

We begin with ceviche of hiramasa kingfish with avocado, chilli, tomato topped with a couple of frothy clouds of jalapeno puffed rice ($20). The dish is fresh and light on a hot day, although the fish could have been more thinly sliced, while Moreton Bay bug meatballs ($28), three orbs of fried, dense fishy matter, are pleasant enough but it’s difficult to discern the bug flavour, and they are teamed with onion puree and enlivened by a drizzle of salsa verde.

Next, it’s the tortellini ($24) that stuns, while our other main, a crisp-skinned fillet of barramundi ($32) perches on a hillock of the big-flavoured caponata, with a drizzle of basil oil and is competently cooked if otherwise unremarkable.

The moody interior of @ Mr & Mrs Jones. Picture: Mark Cranitch

The wine list begins with a strong line-up of champagnes before wandering the globe with a selection that keeps an eye on price. There’s more than a dozen reasonably priced by-the-glass choices, enhanced by an additional small Coravin selection of more expensive wines.

To finish, we pass on the peanut butter parfait and go straight to the vanilla panna cotta ($16) which is rather bland and needs all the help it can get from its accompanying tart rhubarb compote and caramelised white chocolate. Chocolate fondant ($16) is a traditional version and oozes like a broken dam wall when pierced with a spoon, the vanilla ice-cream and toffee lattice adding contrast and texture.

An adjoining lounge bar will appeal more to the nocturnal crowd who can enjoy live music on Thursday to Saturday nights, as well as jazz on Sunday afternoons. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Wait staff, dressed in an odd combination of long pants, long-sleeved shirts and waistcoats for the men and bright, short, backless sundresses for the women, is friendly and attentive if somewhat inexperienced in our case, with our waitress on her first day.

While there’s a music and drinks focus here, the food provides a solid backup. Our main question was, with tortellini like that, why isn’t there more pasta on the menu?

@ MR & MRS JONES

Food: 2.5/5

Ambience: 3/5

Service: 3/5

Value: 2.5/5

Overall 2.5/5

Must try: Pumpkin tortellini

Where: Portside Wharf, 39 Hercules Street, Hamilton

Contact: 0408 238 498, mrandmrsj.com.au

Open: Wed-Thur 12pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 10am-10pm