“I don’t normally eat at my venues,” he says, revealing he scrutinises every detail if he does and can’t relax.

It’s why, as I go to take a seat, he insists I face into the restaurant, while he looks out the window towards the Story Bridge, so he can’t be distracted by finding any areas for potential improvement.

“Usually if I sit in my own restaurant I have my back to the room,” he says.

It’s this level of care and focus on perfection, however, that has turned the Melburnian chef, who once dreamt of becoming a painter and artist, into one of Australia’s top restaurateurs – highly respected and commended by those in the hospitality industry and critics alike.

McConnell – along with wife Jo McGann – is behind some of the country’s most loved eateries, from classic pub Builders Arm Hotel to casual institution Cumulus Inc, and the 84th best restaurant in the world Gimlet at Cavendish House – all in Melbourne.

His portfolio of nine ventures in Victoria’s capital, as well as his embodiment of the southern city’s hospitality spirit has led to the nickname “Mr Melbourne”.

It, therefore, came as quite the shock to those in the industry when he announced he would be expanding his empire to sunny Queensland, launching a sister restaurant of the same name to his Japanese favourite Supernormal, along with a river-facing bar, Bar Miette.

“It is a big step and I’ve resisted for many, many years,” he reveals.

“I think this was such a unique opportunity to move interstate and create something. It’s one of those things where everything needs to align and there’s no guide book. All we’ve got is our gut instinct as a restaurateur and it felt right a few years ago when we signed the lease.”

But McConnell reveals it did take him a while to warm up to the idea.

He was originally approached by Cbus eight years ago to set up shop in their glamorous river-facing residential tower 443 Queen St in Brisbane’s CBD, which now boasts both his venues, when the site was no more than a hole in the ground.

He admits he initially fobbed off the proposal, but remained in contact with the developers and gradually made more visits to the Queensland capital to suss out its food scene and determine whether there could be a potential opportunity.

In that time Brisbane’s dining scene began to boom, with top-notch restaurants entering the fold and venues and – more importantly – diners – becoming more sophisticated and food savvy.

The arrival of world-class CBD dining and lifestyle precinct Howard Smith Wharves also gave McConnell the confidence to commit to moving north.

“Brisbane has been on this amazing trajectory pre and post and during Covid,” he says.

“The city is bustling and the food scene is just one of the most exciting in the country and I just thought, ‘We have made the right decision, we are in the right place, it does feel like home’.”

And it seems diners couldn’t agree more with Supernormal full for lunch and dinner almost every day since it opened, and reservations for peak weekend sittings booking out weeks in advance.

“It’s been really warm, really positive, which I’m happy about, obviously,” McConnells says of the reception from locals.

“I think people in Queensland love food just as much as people in Melbourne. I don’t think there’s any difference. One of the reasons why I came here wasn’t just because of the weather, it’s because the dining public here are so enthusiastic and really are looking for great food and great experiences.”

He has witnessed this first hand over recent months, spending the first four weeks in the kitchen of Supernormal and Bar Miette.

While many “celebrity chefs” launching new restaurants in new cities simply bring their team in to train chefs and front of house staff, McConnell insists he is hands-on.

His entire team is Queensland based, with the exception of head chef Jason Barratt, who moved from just over the border near Byron Bay for the role, and McConnell has been teaching, training and collaborating with them to create a menu that is uniquely Brisbane, rather than simply a copycat of Supernormal Melbourne.

“It’s one of those things that to create something really special, I can’t be in Melbourne and email a recipe or a group of recipes and expect them to be executed to the standard or how I would like,” he says.

“I’m not an investor in restaurants, I live by them and enjoy them and it’s part of my world and my life. I’m actually lucky that I really still enjoy cooking and doing what I do because if I didn’t there’s no way I could keep it up. I’m blessed that I’ve found something I’m really passionate about.”

This passion can be heard when the condiments to our steak lunch hit the table.

McConnell has ordered the two beef specials – a Stockyard rump cap, which he says is incredibly underrated as a cut, but you simply can’t beat for flavour, and a wagyu tri tip, with a side of fries “because you have to” and spinach with mustard oil.

The condiments include a fermented chilli paste and a peppercorn sauce, prompting the chef to wax lyrical about their creation and how his team of chefs tweaked the recipes to find the perfect balance of heat and flavour.

He says it’s this creativity and collaboration that are some of what he enjoys most about cooking. It’s also what sees the chef, who started in restaurants fresh out of school and is now in his 50s, still creating many of his venue’s dishes at home first.

“My wife and my kids are my toughest critics, so if I’m looking at something different, I often tinker at home and if I get the thumbs up from them, it sometimes can hit the menu,” the father and stepfather of three adult children and an eight year old says, revealing the crab hand-rolled noodle dish at Supernormal Brisbane is one such dish.

While his two new Brisbane eateries have been fighting off the crowds, McConnell admits that hospitality has not been easy with the current cost-of-living crisis.

He says Melbourne, which has also had the misfortune of a brutally cold winter, has been particularly impacted, with diner numbers and spending dropping across the board. But having owned his own restaurants for 20 years, he says he has seen the economy ebb and flow and was used to accommodating to changing conditions.

It has, however, made him incredibly conscious of his prices at his new Brisbane venues, determined to keep things affordable, with menu items starting at just $10 at Supernormal, and wines by the glass at only $14 – something now becoming an anomaly at local restaurants.

“You can come and have a snack and really have a budget experience or you can come and push the boat out,” he says.

His focus on value is also, he says, about delivering hospitality in the true meaning of the word, and about delivering a restaurant experience he would enjoy himself.

“I like to run a restaurant how I like to go to a restaurant and that’s just relaxed. What I hate in restaurants is rules,” he says.

“I hate being told you can’t eat at this time or you can only eat that there, or you can only have a degustation on this night. I think it’s really important that there is a freedom when dining.”

That’s why his venues serve food from lunchtime through to 11pm each night, so fellow hospitality workers, or just those hungry at non-traditional times, can eat whenever they like.

It’s a practice that is popular overseas, and as Brisbane builds to the 2032 Olympics, will no doubt help the Queensland capital find favour with tourists.

As for those Olympics, McConnell believes they will only help continue the growth of the city’s food scene.

“I think what’s great for Brisbane is the lead-up (to the Olympics) – the investment in infrastructure, the accommodation and the energy that the city can get from an event like this is quite amazing,” he says.

But he did warn that unless the city nails it like Barcelona in 1992, there could be some fallout.

“I’m not concerned about now and the journey to the Olympics, it’s what happens after the Olympics where you fall of the cliff a little bit, potentially, who knows,” he said.

In the meantime, however, he is excited to watch the River City transform, with venues like Queens Wharf set to bring in a fresh wave of tourists from both interstate and overseas when it begins its staggered opening from the end of the month.

While the precinct, just a chopstick toss from his eateries, will boast 50 new bars, restaurants and cafes, he says he is not worried about the competition.

“I think it’s great – great for the city. More good restaurants the better,” he says.

“Brisbane’s food and wine scene is already on this great trajectory and it’s just going to add another layer.

“Personally, as a business owner, I think competition is healthy, it keeps us on our toes. It keeps us thinking about what we’re doing and makes us evolve and be better everyday. Even in Melbourne at Supernormal, there’s other restaurants that have opened close to us that are doing something similar and it’s like, ‘Right, what can we do better?’. It’s taking the bull by the horns. ‘What are we doing wrong? What can we improve?’, and just keep moving forward.”

While other restaurateurs around town have complained about staffing issues in relation to the Queens Wharf opening, with not enough hospitality staff to supply all the new venues as well as existing operations in the city, McConnell says it’s all part of the game and believed training his staff and offering them opportunities for growth, promotion and learning was the key to attracting and keeping them.

“It’s always been a challenge having enough staff. For us, coming to a new city, we didn’t have the network to be able to call up people and call in people, so we spent a long time, we started about nine months ago recruiting people and advertising,” he says.

“You have to offer career progression and opportunity within 12 to 18 months for a chef working in the same section of the kitchen, not just the title to move up, but also the training to back that up otherwise you’re going to get bored and leave.”

Getting bored and stagnating is also McConnell’s own biggest fear.

It’s partly why he hasn’t made a concrete plan forward for his new Brisbane venues, preferring for them to organically evolve based on customer feedback

This devotion to constant progression is also why he isn’t ruling out further expansion in the River City, and maybe one day earning the title of “Mr Brisbane”.

“I’m not here to create a large restaurant group, I’m here right now to create a beautiful restaurant on the river,” he says.

“But ask me that question in a year and I’ll be really curious myself to know the answer. The energy of the city is contagious so who knows what will happen and my wife loves it and our kids love it.”

Steak Scores

300g Rump cap 8/10

Wagyu tri tip 9/10