Gourmet crumpets, waffles and toast: wine bar’s inventive snacks

Sourdough crumpets with hazelnut butter and duck ham, chicken liver parfait on milk toast and black garlic waffles ... what’s not to like about the snacks at this stunning new wine bar?

WHERE tellers once counted the hard-earned cash of National Australia Bank customers, a tattooed chef is whipping up creme caramel and slicing green tomatoes and draping them over kingfish belly.

The South Brisbane bank branch was built in 1928 and operated for 50 years before closing amid the precinct’s transformation into the city’s cultural epicentre.

Now, the white, double-storey heritage-listed building on the corner of busy Melbourne and Grey streets has this year become home to two diverse hospitality businesses.

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Upstairs is the atmospheric wine bar Maeve, while at street level there’s a new Starbucks, a frontrunner in the US-based coffee giant’s bid to re-enter the Australian market.

Maeve threw open its beautiful polished copper doors in March, a project by Eleanor Cappa, who spent several years as beverage manager at Melbourne Spanish success story MoVida; and Maris Cook and chef Jesse Stevens, co-owners of nearby fish and chip shop Ol’ School and Vietnamese Hello, Please around the corner in burgeoning eat street Fish Lane.

We climb the burgundy-painted stairs from Grey St in the early evening midweek to find almost all of the 70 seats taken and only a couple of spare tan leather stools vacant at the bar.

The unfussy fit-out of wooden floors, white walls, red and white linen napkins on bare wooden tables matched with bentwood chairs is appealing, lit by globe lights and enhanced by grape vines climbing out of judiciously placed pots.

Ortiz anchovies fermented garlic honey and sherry vinegar with crisp bread. Picture: AAP/ Sarah Marshall

We’re in no hurry so trawl through the 170-bottle, global-roaming wine list – a rkatsiteli from Georgia, a negramoll from the Canary Islands, and a zweigelt from Austria are among the more obscure offerings – that focuses on smaller producers and minimal intervention wines.

Unusually, the winemakers get their moment in the sun, with their names listed beneath every wine.

The mainly Australian by-the-glass selection of 23 wines is strong.

Other choices might include the two sour options from the beer list or a French cider.

Heritage-inspired decor: Maeve Wine Bar. Picture: AAP/Sarah Marshall

The menu works its way from snacks – perhaps oysters or whipped taramasalata with salmon caviar and house-made chips – to vegetable dishes, small plates – maybe buttermilk fava bean cassoulet with crispy kale – to larger versions – charcoal-grilled hanger steak with cafe de Paris butter and fries. All are keenly priced.

A complimentary small platter of focaccia precedes the arrival of our inventive snacks: A sourdough crumpet with hazelnut butter and soft folds of house-made smoked duck ham, and a drizzle of honey ($6); chicken liver parfait with blood orange jam on milk toast ($5) and potato rosti with creme fraiche and chives ($4).

A chunky rectangle of black garlic waffle topped with red wine jelly and a whorl of the Irish cheese Cashel Blue whipped into a “parfait” ($15) packs a power punch and demands a glass of red.

Power punch: Black garlic waffles. Picture: AAP/Sarah Marshall

Porchetta ($24) with spiced apple, carrot puree and mustard is OK but not the crisp crackling-clad specimen it could have been.

A piece of crackle atop the meat didn’t cut it.

Hiramisa kingfish ($27) is better, cooked just so, with strips of roasted mushroom and blobs of raisin and caper relish.

Boozy beauty: creme caramel. Picture: AAP/Sarah Marshall

There are two desserts, both with an alcoholic bent: the creme caramel with sweet vermouth ($12) is a boozy beauty while the saffron rum baba with spiced creme patisserie ($16) is a big blousy version of the rum syrup-doused yeast cake, and it’s on the money too.

Maeve is whatever you want it to be: a drop-in venue for a drink and a snack;
a wine immersion experience; a restaurant or a late-night supper club.

Service is adept, there’s a warm inviting vibe and the food is well-priced, interesting and bypasses complexity in pursuit of simple, strong flavours for a fuss-free experience.

MAEVE WINE BAR

39 Melbourne St

(Upstairs, entrance on Grey St)

South Brisbane

BOOK

maeve.wine

OPEN

Seven days, 4pm-midnight

MUST TRY

Black garlic waffle, gelatina de vino,
Cashel Blue parfait

VERDICT

Food 7.5

Ambience 8

Service 8

Value 9

Overall 8