The must-try new restaurants of 2025
From $200 steaks to rooftop farms, Brisbane's newest restaurants are redefining luxury dining with jaw-dropping venues and extraordinary menus.
From a couple of retro stunners to Middle Eastern hits and a Champagne wonderland, here are this year’s must-try new Brisbane restaurants
Marlowe, South Brisbane
With pavlova punch, cheddar scones, stuffed chicken breast with sherry sauce and rhubarb and custard trifle on the menu, West End newcomer Marlowe is rocking a definite retro vibe. Cleverly reimagined inside the original layout of four 1938-built red brick Art Deco flats, the restaurant is quirkily creative, with terrific food that cleverly references the past, old silver tableware, and a nostalgic soundtrack. It’s the latest opening from the Fanda Group (Gold Coast icon Rick Shores, South Brisbane’s Southside, and more).
Winnifred’s Fortitude Valley
Named for founder Megan Nunn’s nanna, Winnifred’s is in a dramatic new build designed to house 14,000 bottles of Champagne and additional still wines, an 18-seat bar and cellar, a Champagne garden, two event spaces and a 60-seat bistro. The city has seen nothing like it. Hors d’oeuvres, including a mini take on the croque monsieur and choux pastry balls filled with bechamel sauce and Langres cheese from the Champagne region, are a drink-friendly start before, perhaps, duck or Black Angus steak then Le Paris Brissie – a hometown twist on the traditional Paris-Brest pastry.
Golden Avenue, Brisbane CBD
Replete with palms waving from garden beds, soaring, green-tinged concrete walls, skylights that fully open to the air and pink-hued granite over tiered levels, this is a huge, architecturally dramatic enterprise from the Anyday group (Agnes, Bianca, hôntô), with a Middle Eastern menu. Maybe begin with hummus with puffy pita or potato bread, then follow with slow-roasted lamb shoulder or fenugreek chicken from the grill.
The Fifty Six, Brisbane CBD
On the top floor of the freshly refurbished, 1860s-built Naldham House, in the shadow of Waterfront Place in the CBD, The Fifty Six is a temple to slick interior design and modern Cantonese food. The menu offers everything from small, elegant prawn tarts and quail tea eggs with Avruga caviar to dim sum, claypot Queensland mud crab vermicelli and Angus tenderloin and scallops with black pepper and shiraz jus.
Penelope, Fortitude Valley
A fun nod to the era of disco and devilled eggs has opened, with walnut-hued tables, brown velvet banquettes and booths emphasising the retro vibe. Penelope Bistro & Bar, from the Coats Group (Maya, Fortitude Valley, and Il Molo, Bulimba), has a menu riffing on ’70s classics such as steak frites with pepper sauce, pasta alla vodka and chicken cotoletta.
Layla, West End
Moodily lit newcomer Layla, the work of celebrity chef Shane Delia, brings modern Middle Eastern flavours to the ground floor at Queensland Ballet’s Thomas Dixon Centre. Hummus is a signature, but also notable are the tiny Turkish beef dumplings teamed with mushroom XO, spicy sausage, yoghurt and spiced burnt butter; and the briwat – triangle-shaped pastry parcels filled with potato, cabbage and leek. Follow perhaps with slow-roasted lamb shoulder, coal-grilled swordfish or a generous serve of ‘Habibbi butter chicken’.
Stilts Dining, Brisbane City
At the CBD end of the new Kangaroo Point Bridge, Stilts delivering enviable river views. Guests can settle indoors or on the covered balcony. The venue is the work of prolific local restaurateur Michael Tassis, and the vibe is polished yet approachable. The menu covers snacks such as beef tartare cannelloni, entrees of seared scallops with morcilla, and mains including Moreton Bay bug pasta and a selection of seafood and steaks.
stiltsdining.com.au
Evra, Newstead
This restaurant’s focus on quality local produce includes some harvested from its own rooftop farm, seen in its farm plate entree. Main courses run to fish, chicken and several steaks, with shared options that include Aylesbury duck, chateaubriand and rock lobster bolognese. Add quality service and a strong wine list, and this is a well-rounded operation.
evra.au
Clarence, South Brisbane
The neighbourhood eatery marked its move to Fish Lane from Woolloongabba with a switch to a more brasserie-style format, where comfort food is given a fun and creative edge. Think pig head schnitzel or potato gnocchi with caviar and dashi cream, and possibly the city’s fanciest roast lunch on Sundays.
Cartel del Taco, New Farm
This year’s opening in New Farm is a sister venue to the Hawthorne eatery of the same name, a roaring success since it opened in 2022. However, the New Farm Cartel del Taco feels like it was ripped straight from the streets of Mexico City, with 10 margs, chicken tostadas, beef empanadas, and eight varieties of taco.
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