Hip transplants in Brisbane; country class in Kyneton
The revamping of an urban zone and a historic rural pub shows the power of imagination.
Hot in the city
Fish Lane, South Brisbane
Gazing at Brisbane’s South Bank precinct from the city centre, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s all cultural institutions. After all, a row of monolithic jubes that variously house the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Museum, State Library of Queensland and Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art dominate the riverbank. Cross Victoria Bridge and poke around, though, and you’ll stumble into Fish Lane.
The long-neglected back alley was originally Soda Water Lane, as it housed a soft-drink factory, before rebranding as Fish Lane to honour a prominent laundry owner turned politician. It’s now undergone a transformation so hip that the thoroughfare’s Town Square, a communal hub conjured from a derelict car park beneath a rail bridge, won the Built Urban design category in the recent World Landscape Architecture Awards. More than 3500 plants, including towering tree ferns, Australian fan palms and bird’s nest ferns, turned the dead zone into a subtropical oasis complete with timber seating.
It’s cool by day – and by night too with fairy lights and neon signs adding sparkle to the buzzy dining and arts destination. Cruise along checking out murals from the likes of Fintan Magee or pop into one of the eateries. Highlights include Southside, a three-storey pan-Asian restaurant from the owners of Burleigh Heads’ Rick Shores (famous for its spicy bug rolls). Southside’s menu includes another variation on the bug theme: char kway teow with Moreton Bay bugs and lap cheong (salty-sweet Chinese sausage). La Lune is a European-inspired wine bar (that does food too) with a list that includes extravagant old-world drops.
KATRINA LOBLEY
Cool in the country
Botanik/Royal George/Kabinett, Kyneton
It’s fair to say the Royal George, established in 1852 and the oldest pub in the Victorian highlands town of Kyneton, an hour from Melbourne, has never had a transformation like this. In its storied history the pub has had various lives, including one as a Cobb & Co staging post. Owners Melissa Macfarlane and Frank Moylan have turned the two-storey landmark into what they jokingly call “Australia’s first licensed department store”.
Combining their love for hospitality, design and digestives, the pub is a labyrinth of linens, vintage furniture, fragrances and indoor plants, served by an upstairs bar and a kitchen turning out snacky plates of local produce. The end result is fun. The quirky emporium incorporates Macfarlane’s interior store Kabinett, packed up from its original shopfront further down Piper St. Expect items from India – Goan wicker chairs, Jaipur dhurrie rugs – and Macfarlane’s own designs.
The upstairs balcony is a plant store, Botanik, best viewed at sunset with martinis among the monsteras. The menu features Macedon Ranges wines, a “vermouth library’’, flights of Amari and one of Australia’s largest selections of digestives. Open Wednesday-Sunday.
KENDALL HILL