Which Queensland restaurants created the best dishes of 2018?

The opening of a number of new restaurants and bars caps off a year that has seen new life breathed into Queensland’s dining scene with some standout dishes created across the state.

10 best Queensland dishes of 2018 have been revealed. Photo: Supplied

A brew pub with expansive water views and an octagonal overwater bar have just flung open their doors beneath Brisbane’s Story Bridge.

Part of the massive Howard Smith Wharves development, the attractively designed and wonderfully situated Felons Brewing Co and Mr Percival’s (with enticing seafood snacks to supplement the drinks) are immediately drawing crowds and there are several more restaurants to come in the riverfront precinct.

New restaurant Mr Percivals at the Howard Smith Wharves under the Story Bridge. Picture: Lachie Millard

These openings cap off a year that has seen new life breathed into the Brisbane dining scene and a spike in Chinese, Greek and pan-Asian offerings.

On menus, the epidemic of share plates, designer burgers, yuzu accents and Aperol spritzes seems to be subsiding.

TOP 10 BEST ASIAN RESTAURANTS

But there is no slowing in the rise of the glam sandwich (that includes you, Honto, with your “sando” of soft white bread encasing crunchy lobster katsu, salted cabbage and dill slaw; the scrummy bug roll that’s become a staple at Rick Shores on the Gold Coast; and in Noosa, Ricky’s River Bar and Restaurant’s puffy brioche buns filled with spanner crab and chilli sauce, topped with finely grated macadamia; or the cumin lamb buns at Brisbane’s Donna Chang).

The fried bug roll with bug mayonnaise and sriracha at Rick Shores at Burleigh. Picture: Tim Marsden

Couture steak has also had a breakout year with a highly marbled $240 wagyu sirloin on the menu at Nineteen at The Star on the Gold Coast, and Brisbane’s Black Hide Steakhouse at the Treasury dishing up a 1200g Angus tomahawk for $145.

Black Hide Steakhouse Angus tomahawk.

In the parallel universe of plant-based eating, vegetables have received star treatment, with cauliflower having a major moment.

A standout version is the cauliflower with raisins, capers and almond and anchovy custard at the new e’cco in Newstead, and also making waves in the inner north is a zingy salad of zucchini, black pepper and pickled jalapeno at Little Valley in Fortitude Valley, also in Brisbane’s inner north.

But trends aside, here are 10 other dishes that stood out during my year of Queensland eating out:

1

Corn and pumpkin rice porridge studded with chunks of tiger prawn and scattered with fried fish skin pieces and pumpkin seeds is splendidly robust and bursting with the flavours of the north at Palm Cove’s Nu Nu.

2

Tortellini of endeavour prawns topped with thin discs of pickled radish, a furled sail of dehydrated cabbage sitting amid a bacon broth wows at Harrisons by Spencer Patrick in Port Douglas, also in far north Queensland.

Rock Lobster Bolognese at Nineteen at The Star Picture: Richard Gosling

3

Rock lobster bolognese is a stunning dish of handmade pasta with a hint of saffron, coated in a ragout from ingredients including smoked lobster shells, at the Gold Coast’s Nineteen at The Star.

4

King George whiting, deboned, grilled and topped with a shower of finely chopped oregano and a scattering of fried capers, is simple but spectacular at Hellenika at the Calile in Fortitude Valley. Add sides of Greek salad and zucchini chips scattered with finely grated kefalograviera cheese.

5

Ravioli filled with Moreton Bay blue swimmer crab and mascarpone with black garlic crema at Otto in Brisbane CBD; the pasta is silken and the sauce light and luscious.

Sum Yung Guys aromatic red curry of confit duck.

6

Sum Yung Guys’ aromatic red curry of confit duck with kaffir lime and shallot served with terrific roti bread is just right for Sunshine Beach-goers seeking sustenance.

Rick Shores at Burleigh Heads.

7

Roasted Sichuan lamb with smoked eggplant and braised shiitake mushrooms at Rick Shores, right on the sand at Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast

8

Wagyu beef with mustard greens and yakiniku sauce in the moody, dimly lit surrounds of pan-Asian Honto, down an alleyway in Fortitude Valley.

9

Shards of mushroom and cacao-dusted radicchio covering chocolate sorbet and mandarin curd combine for a knockout dessert crated by the innovative alchemists at South Brisbane’s Gauge.

“Chocolate and passionfruit” dessert at Aria. Picture: Peter Wallis

10

Aria’s understated menu description of “chocolate and passionfruit” undersells the luxe glamour of this complex and exquisite dessert built on a chocolate brownie biscuit, with layers including a passionfruit and chocolate parfait and a scattering of freeze-dried passionfruit pulp on top.