ARC Dining, Brisbane review: style and substance

This is New Brisbane: a milestone restaurant with a rising talent in the kitchen. Watch this space.

ARC Dining, Brisbane. Picture: Jeff Camden.

It starts… almost perfectly. A balmy evening; a glass of manzanilla; pleasant tunes and a Moroccan-tiled bench/bar at which to perch and watch the river, beautiful-by-night Story Bridge and the twinkling towers of Brisbane City.

The fact that pre-dinner drinks include an outstanding, briny sherry (and several more from Jerez) speaks volumes, and not only about the acute wine focus of a new kid in town. It also makes a statement about the new guard and the old on this city’s fast-changing restaurant landscape. ARC Dining looks out, no navel gazing. This could be the Yarra or Sydney Harbour but it is proudly Brisbane, no shoulder chips.

From the moment you arrive you’ll get the idea this is a seriously well thought-through operation. It just clicks. Someone meets, greets and explains that you can have that pre-dinner drink on the deck or head straight to a separate pitched ceiling dining pavilion. The wine list is beautifully bound, the content within compiled by one of the country’s best sommeliers (Ian Trinkle) and catering to broad budgets and tastes.

You’ll take in the aesthetics (uniforms, decor, fixtures, fittings) and the intangibles (staff demeanour). And when that sherry is finished and you head for a beautiful Norwegian pink marble table in the pavilion, you’ll register more attention to detail: the menu, the glassware, the cutlery. The affable, knowledgeable waiter. The gentle wisdom of the sommelier.

At this point the game is entirely the kitchen’s to lose. And for all the hype about location (the Howard Smith Wharves redevelopment), design (Anna Spiro, Halcyon House at Cabarita) and the wine, the real interest is in chef Alanna Sapwell, who quit Sydney fish restaurant Saint Peter to come home. So it’s not her first head chef job but almost certainly her most heavily scrutinised; her old boss, Josh Niland, has unwittingly become quite the celeb in food circles lately.

Cobia and daikon at ARC Dining, Brisbane. Picture: Jeff Camden.

His reputation is in safe hands; hers on a trajectory. ARC’s food is creative, grounded, mature, mostly fishy and extremely good.

I’m thinking about the short “noodles” of barbecued baby squid lightly dressed with preserved lemon – a restrained, creamy, textural treat – with two puddles of sauce, ink and saltbush. It’s an intriguing melding of distinctive flavours (particularly with a Corsican vermentino).

I’m thinking about ribbons of cobia and daikon (pictured), a sashimi masterclass in knife skills and delicate seasoning brightening the fish with sweet citrus pops of finger lime. About alternating wafers of persimmon and goose prosciutto on a smooth, fresh yoghurt bed with fig leaf oil to balance. And silken, lightly egged pappardelle with local spanner crab, crunchy pangrattato, gremolata and slippery periwinkle.

And so it proceeds. Thick batons of just-set swordfish and a variety of unusual coal-roasted mushrooms (including puffy/spongy lion’s mane) wallow in a deeply flavoured swordfish broth zinged up with verjuice and given meaty substance with lardons of swordfish bacon. Wow. Even a side dish – heavily charred leek, opened up to reveal a creamy, steamed interior, sitting on a puddle of beeswax-infused cream – is hugely impressive in its simplicity and fresh thinking.

The chef’s menu – a $90 deal you should opt for – finishes with the latest in a long history of desserts channelling the Snickers bar. It’s a little rich, but I don’t care.

ARC is New Brisbane, a Next Gen milestone. Style and substance. And it’s a great home for a rising star of Australian cooking. Watch this space.

ADDRESS: 5 Boundary Street, Brisbane

CONTACT: [phone]; arcdining.com.au

HOURS: Lunch and dinner, Tues-Sun

TYPICAL PRICES: Entrée $17; main $32; sides $10; dessert $15

LIKE THIS? TRY… Saint Peter, Sydney; Cirrus Dining, Sydney

SUMMARY: A star is born