The new Brisbane restaurants topping the charts

Despite the pandemic, these innovative restaurants have managed to open up this year and climb straight into our Top 20 hot eateries list.

A number of operators have braved the uncertainty of the pandemic and opened new restaurants this year that are so good they have almost immediately won places on our list of Brisbane’s hot 20 eateries.

While it’s been a tough time for many in the hospitality industry, others in the inner-city, particularly Fortitude Valley, have thrived with strong demand from diners, unable to travel and keen to go out and enjoy themselves.

Experience counts when venturing into uncertain territory, with Italian newbie Bianca a confident opening from the operators behind Agnes, Honto and Same Same; Kid Curry is the work of the owners of success stories Happy Boy and Snack Man; Italian Gemelli has a successful Gold Coast sibling and upmarket Japanese Takashiya is helmed by chef Takashi Nami, who was involved in another new opening relatively recently. The others are from eager first-time operators keen to chance their arm with innovative enterprises that throw caution to the wind.

A spread of pasta dishes at Bianca restaurant in Fortitude Valley.

BIANCA
Ada Lane, 46 James St, Fortitude Valley

biancarestaurant.com.au

The up-tempo beats of house music pulse throughout the salmon-hued, architecturally appealing, on-trend space as animated diners quaff bottles of Italian reds and cleansing cocktails. Welcome to Bianca, the buzzing Italian eatery where a good night, not just good food, is the aim of the game. Warm, chatty staff dart throughout crowded tables, explaining the share-style menu that moves from bread cooked in a roaring wood-fired oven at the back of the restaurant to house-made pastas such as a lamb ragu that tastes like it’s straight from nonna’s kitchen. Dine with a group to take full advantage of generous plates like the crackling-ringed porchetta, or simply enjoy the top-notch antipasti such as pickled sardines, buffalo mozzarella and butter-soft mortadella, just one of the salumi products made to house recipes. Sugar-crusted bombolini, plain or excellently over the top stuffed with gelato, and sorbet-filled fruit complete a dining experience that covers multiple price points and is pure, escapist fun.

Essa Restaurant Fortitude Valley. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

ESSA

181 Robertson St, Fortitude Valley

essa.restaurant

Inventiveness and big flavours are on the menu at this Valley newcomer, which opened in late August, with ex-Gauge chef Phil Marchant heading the kitchen. The 60-seater is a long, dark burrow of a room that passes by a green stone bar and open kitchen and ends at a glass wall that fronts tropical foliage. Oysters and charcuterie kick off the menu. Then offerings include chickpea beignets in a pool of caramelised scallop cream or perhaps venison tartare with toasted house-made sourdough. House-rolled malloreddus pasta (also known as Sardinian gnocchi) with Fraser Isle spanner crab, nduja and carrot or an organic pork chop might be next. Don’t miss the kipfler potato cake slathered with comte cheese sauce. Desserts are terrific, from the Jerusalem artichoke cream choux bun to the mandarin sorbet.

Elska restaurant, New Farm. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

ELSKA

148 Merthyr Rd, New Farm

elska.com.au

For culinary adventure, head to this intimate Nordic-styled eatery. Crocodile, emu, kangaroo and foraged veg are likely to make an appearance on the $135pp 15-course set degustation that showcases less commonly seen Queensland produce, often prepared with Scandinavian cooking techniques such as fermentation, pickling and smoking. The boutique enterprise allows 12 diners at each of two sittings of an evening. It takes its name from the Scandinavian word for love, and is owned by chef Nathan and wife Freja Dunnell, who has Danish heritage. Dishes are labour intensive and intriguing with emu tartare and desserts including citrus koldskal, a concoction of buttermilk mousse, Danish almond biscuit, preserved cumquat curd, fingerlime, mandarin granita and berg

The steak al cioccolato from Rosmarino. Picture: David Kelly

ROSMARINO

McLachlan St, Fortitude Valley

rosmarino.com.au

Steak aged in white chocolate? Cheesecake with rosemary ice-cream and miso sable crumble? The first-time restaurateurs who’ve opened in a newly renovated historic building in Fortitude Valley are not playing it safe. The drinks side of the operation is equally attention grabbing. There’s a multi-page cocktail and spirits menu and a lengthy global wine list with a particular interest in Italy. Owners Lauren Smith and Milan Michelin-trained sommelier Andrea Gatti have teamed up with Italian chef Dario Manca for the enterprise. Starters include delicious culurgiones, traditional Sardinian pasta pockets stuffed with potato, or maybe house-made short pasta twists bathed in a rabbit ragu. Main could be rolled lamb belly cooked for 24 hours or the caramelised delights of tri-tip aged in white chocolate.

Oyster with caviar at Takashiya in South Brisbane.

TAKASHIYA

267 Grey St, South Brisbane

takashiya.com.au

Blue fin tuna flown in from Japan, sea urchin plucked out of Tasmanian waters and Patagonian toothfish – the absolute best produce from around the world takes centre stage at this Japanese restaurant’s luxury omakase experience. Closed off from the main dining space in its own room, this 12-person culinary adventure leaves guests in the hands of the chef – acclaimed sushi master Takashi Nami – as he prepares an elaborate degustation-style affair where each course is a surprise. Tucked into a curved, blonde wood bar, diners sit within arm’s reach of Nami, watching on as he plates up the freshest sushi, sashimi, soups, seafood and his extravagant signature: Japanese wagyu topped with foie gras and truffle pulled from a custom-made Louis Vuitton chest. All this comes at a price: $230pp.

Kid Curry, East St, Fortitude Valley’s butterflied grilled fish. Picture: David Kelly

KID CURRY

East St, Fortitude Valley

kidcurry.com.au

This newbie is an elegant, sparsely decorated restaurant with an expansive menu than moves from smaller dishes such as fried chicken sandwiches or cured kingfish with coconut milk, finger lime, chilli and herbs, to a strong vegetable line-up including a carrot curry. Bigger plates work through a repertoire that includes a prawn salad or crispy pork belly with palm sugar and moves into a line-up of curries including a Sri Lankan fish version, butter chicken, massaman, rogan josh and duck rendang. The wine selection is a tight list of overseas options, supplemented by highball cocktails and Kirin and Asahi beer. This is a third side-by-side venture from brothers Cameron and Jordan Votan, joining Snack Man and long-time favourite Happy Boy, and it delivers in the same way on big flavours and value.

New Italian restaurant Gemelli and Bar Tano in James Street Fortitude Valley, Margherita Pizza. Picture: David Clark

GEMELLI

15 James St, Fortitude Valley

gemelliitalian.com.au

With egalitarian values and personable, thorough service, this new family-run Italian restaurant in Fortitude Valley’s glitzy James St has become a thriving hotspot despite its infancy. Guests can melt into a terracotta banquette or engage in serious people watching from tables along wraparound bi-fold windows, ready to feast on traditional home-style fare. That means antipasti ranging from bar-marked, grilled calamari pepped up by a radicchio and walnut salad or delicate zucchini flowers blossoming with a ricotta and anchovy filling, to a generous range of pastas and a handful of traditional main courses including veal saltimbocca and eggplant parmigiana. But the big drawcard is their lauded pizza – cooked in a wood-fired oven imported from Italy rendering the crust puffy and scorched.