Newcomer serves up alcoholic slushies, tap wine and creative Chinese

With an adventurous drinks list, chirpy decor and a playful menu, this newcomer is attracting attention in an inner-Brisbane suburb already known for its good dining.

Wine on tap? A take on Peking duck with roti bread instead of pancakes? Bulimba newcomer Luckies Kitchen is thumbing its nose at convention, with a drinks list offering less commonly seen tipples, and a Cantonese-based menu that’s not afraid to pluck inspiration from other geographic sources.

The venue, just a few steps off the inner-eastern suburb’s busy Oxford Street, is the work of Nick Wigley (ex-Merivale Group in Sydney and Walter’s in Brisbane) and Tim Hearl, with a former Southside chef Nick Tang in the kitchen.

Luckies Kitchen, Bulimba. Picture: David Kelly

The decor is bright and welcoming, with the terrace at the front sporting red metal chairs and potted palms, and inside, large paper lanterns, a feature wall of posters and the words yummy yummy glowing in neon capitals over the kitchen servery. Red metal and wood chairs are pulled up to bare wood tables set with plates, bowls, disposable chopsticks and paper menus that, after you order, are flipped over by staff to reveal a squiggly background design and a new role as placemats.

Inside Luckies Kitchen at Bulimba. Picture: David Kelly

The menu is divided into snacks (including oysters with sichuan vinaigrette, prawn crackers with squid ink mayo or chicken wings), moves on to “smalls” (perhaps drunken chicken salad and vegetable spring rolls), “bigs” (Japanese-inspired katsu eggplant, steamed market fish), noodles and rice (fried rice with crab, kung pao prawns with rice roll) and sides. For groups, or those wanting to bypass choice, the “hungry” banquet is $45pp and a “very hungry” $69.

Classic sichuan pepper fried calamari with five-spice salt ($24) is a underwhelming start, with calamari tender but overly oily and the seasoning light-on. However, once we add some of the dried chilli that accompanies the seafood on the plate, things start to look up.

Four steamed pork and prawn wontons arrive in a bowl and while the dainty parcels are soft and warm, the filling lacks impact.

The duck with roti at Luckies Kitchen. Picture: David Kelly

The “bigs” section offers 250g of wagyu rump stir-fried with king mushrooms and roast bamboo and sweet and sour pork has the added attraction of charred pineapple. We opt for the fresh take on Peking duck, with sliced smoked duck breast, house hoisin, fine herbs ($36) and a roti on the side. The traditional flaky Indian bread makes an interesting swap for the traditional pancakes and works well wrapping up chunks of the sliced, moist duck.

A generous portion of pippis bathed in XO sauce ($30) come with chunks of Chinese doughnut (strips of deep-fried dough) to help mop up every last vestige of the sauce.

XO pippies with Chinese doughnut. Picture: David Kelly

Tap wine is not commonly seen in a restaurant and here the options are rose or white from the Granite Belt for $10 a glass. On our visit the white is a verdelho, which is fine, but on a revisit I’d try something else from the 11 other by-the-glass options. Just over two dozen wines are on offer, including a couple of orange wines, a Provençal rose and a couple of chilled reds. A dozen beer options include lager and XPA from Bulimba brewing outfit Revel Brewing Co, which is just up the road and Kangaroo Point’s Sea Legs Brewing. Cocktails run to alcoholic slushies such as watermelon margarita and pandan colada, a bubble tea cocktail fortified with dark rum and port, and Vietnamese coffee espresso martinis, as well as non-alcoholic choices.

There’s only one dessert, a pleasing mix of coconut sago, small cubes of herb jelly, walnuts lodged in chunks of toffee, perfect for a sweet tooth but perhaps something of a dental hazard, Malibu and melon ($12).

Luckies is just getting started, having opened at the end of September, with a young service team, most inexperienced but keen. The unpretentious establishment was already doing good business on a midweek night, with locals seemingly keen to try a welcoming newcomer determined to bring a good time to Bulimba.

4/210 Oxford St, Bulimba

4800 7070

luckies.kitchen

Open

Lunch Wed-Sun
from 11.30am,
dinner from 5pm

Must try

Smoked duck with roti

Verdict

Food 3 stars

Ambience 3 stars

Service 3 stars

Value 3.5 stars

Overall 3/5 stars

For more reviews visit delicious.com.au/eatout