‘Still plenty to entice about old-fashioned fine dining’: Top marks for Brisbane institution
A celebrated South Brisbane fine diner has returned and is out to prove the concept still has plenty to offer.
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There are few true fine dining restaurants left in Brisbane. I’m talking the ones where complimentary house-made bread arrives just after you’re seated, ready to be torn and dipped in olive oil or smeared liberally with freshly churned salty butter.
Where a little tasty morsel known as an amuse bouche is served as a way for the kitchen to show off its skills and excite and entice diners about what lies ahead.
And where dishes come with careful explanations from highly knowledgeable staff well-drilled on the ins and outs of service and who consider their work as not just a “job” but a career or calling.
In a category that the global hospitality scene argues is on its death bed – especially since the announcement in January that world-leading restaurant Noma would be closing due to financial and emotional reasons – Bacchus in South Brisbane is out to prove there is still plenty of life left in the controversial class.
Tucked inside the Rydges Hotel along Grey St, the flashy long-standing restaurant reopened last year after a two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus sparked when the accommodation outlet was turned into a quarantine hotel.
To mark its relaunch, the venue has been given a makeover while still retaining the glitzy vibe it was always known for, with new dramatic carpet, plush velvet and leather chairs to nuzzle into and an abundance of lights so even the visually impaired among us can read our menu.
Incredibly, the hotel kept most of its staff on during the two year break, and that includes Chef de Cuisine Isaia Dal Fiume, who serves up a traditional a la carte menu alongside tasting and degustation menus covering plenty of dietaries with dishes running from a raw kangaroo and passionfruit number or champagne lobster with macadamias to a mussel risotto and an array of steaks from different Queensland beef producers.
Wagyu tongue ($34) is one of six entrees available, cooked for 24 hours to render it breathtakingly soft, then served in pieces almost like playing cards, thin and rectangular, and draped across each other like in a game of Solitaire.
It is brilliantly done, however, the accompanying leek boat crowned with a flourish of herbs and gels is near impossible to cut through with the blunt knife provided, taking away from the tongue’s beauty.
Not warring with the cutlery is the pumpkin ravioli ($28). Unsurprisingly, given the chef’s Italian background and time spent at two-Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy, this dish is easily the best of the night.
The just al dente pasta giving way to melting nubs of pumpkin, with a chilli-tinged almond sauce there for restrained heat, rather than to blow you away.
The toothfish ($63) is one of the most expensive mains – arriving after a complimentary granita palate cleanser – but the premium catch from Heard Island in the Southern Ocean is expertly handled, its flesh so supple and delicate that the accompanying celery broth is almost redundant.
Items off the grill come with just onion agrodolce and either Dijon mustard or red wine jus, with our lamb rump ($49) served with the latter, providing a little smack of flavour to help with the slightly under-seasoned meat.
There are four desserts, plus cheeses arriving on a trolley; but the signature finisher has to be the “chamomile and honey” ($22).
This dessert arrives as a plate of mini bees – their fat, adorable bodies comprising a subtle chamomile mousse and a honey lemon centre with brandy snap-like shards as wings adding crunch alongside a shortbread crumb. It’s as delicious as it is playful and whimsical.
With softly spoken, attentive staff who know the menu inside and out and a well-priced, global, 600-bottle wine list with a whopping 47 by-the-glass options, Bacchus is proof that there’s still plenty to entice about old-fashioned fine-dining.
BACCHUS
Level 1, Rydges Hotel,
9 Glenelg St, South Brisbane
3364 0870
bacchussouth
bank.com.au
Open
Dinner Wed-Sat
Must-try dish
Pumpkin ravioli
Verdict
Food 4 stars
Service 4 stars
Ambience 3.5 stars
Value 4 stars
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