Finally, the Kangaroo Point Bridge is open and, as of Friday morning, so is the first of its two much-anticipated eateries.

Mulga Bill’s sits on the Landing Plaza on the city side of the bridge, where it meets the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

A 60-seat open-air spot named after the Banjo Paterson poem, Mulga Bill’s Bicycle, it’s hospitality powerhouse Tassis Group’s (Fat Cow, Longwang, Dark Shepherd, Pompette and many others) first all-day eatery, intended to appeal as much to the morning grab-and-go crowd as it does to casual diners in the afternoon and evening.

“We’re trying to make it a great spot for the whole day,” venue manager Alex Abson says. “You have that breakfast trade, which includes takeaway pastries and coffees, and then we’ll roll into lunch and dinner.

“[Owner] Michael [Tassis] has been pushing for us to get an [all-day venue] into the group for some time.”

To that end, you can’t argue with the location, which captures commuters wandering over the bridge in the morning, office workers in the nearby towers on Eagle Street, and then weekend visitors strolling the river or visiting the Botanic Gardens.

Tassis has enlisted regular designers Clui for the fit-out, but this feels a little different to his past venues.

In part, that’s because of the skylights that bathe the dining room with natural light, but also the plush mustard booths and timber furniture that match the tree-lined riverside views through its open bifold windows. It makes for a beguiling spot to while away a couple of hours over some food and wine.

For food, Mulga’s kicks off in the morning with dishes such as woodfired eggs with kefalograviera cheese, sausage and red sauce, smoked salmon on sourdough with whipped Danish feta and baby capers, and a breakfast pizza cooked in an imported Moretti Forni oven.

Later in the day, there’s a handful of snacks followed by tapas, large plates and a more extensive pizza menu, plus a couple of steaks.

For tapas you can order chargrilled octopus and chorizo with pimenton dressing, a seared tuna salad with stracciatella cream, seasonal tomatoes and finger lime, and king prawns with herb butter and sourdough.

Large plates include fried barramundi with orzo pasta, tomato, garlic and white wine, woodfired paella made with traditional bomba rice with chorizo, calamari, prawns, tomatoes and green peas, and marinated, slow-cooked lamb ribs finished on the woodfire and served with chimichurri, fries and salad.

The steaks are a two-score eye fillet and a five-score striploin, served with a choice of fries or cos salad.

But you suspect many punters will come for the pizza, either to eat in or perhaps take away to the gardens opposite. The toppings tend to keep it classic, with a margherita, a gamberi and a capricciosa all present and correct. But there’s also the patate e salsiccia (mozzarella, sausage, potato, triple brie, rosemary) and a chilli crab pizza with a garlic base, cherry tomatoes, red onion and lemon oil.

For drinks, it’s espresso coffee, tea, juices and smoothies in the morning, before a crowd-pleasing cocktail selection and a keenly priced wine list take over in the afternoon (although the venue is still awaiting its liquor licence).

Taken as a whole, the venue is designed to be as flexible as possible, meaning you can make a visit to Mulga Bill’s what you will.

“The push into all-day dining has allowed us to be a bit more creative and trial a few things (such as a $20 pizza power hour from 3.30pm to 4.30pm daily), but we’re still focusing on delivering the same level of service you get at our other venues,” Abson says.

Mulga Bill’s is the first of two Tassis venues to open with the new bridge, the second being the more upmarket Stilts, on the bridge proper, which will run its first service next week.

“Opening definitely feels like a [celebration of the bridge],” Abson says. “Especially with the name Mulga Bill’s, we want to pay homage to Australian culture, and in this location with the gardens and the river and cliffs opposite, we definitely feel like we can do that.

“It’s a commuting spot, for sure, but also a bit of a meeting spot for locals and people coming into the city.”

Open daily 6am-late

155 Alice Street, Brisbane, (07) 2111 6800

mulgabills.com.au