Restaurant review: Otto

Otto, Brisbane, safely caters to a captive market.

Bodies corporate: Otto is located in teh new Brisbane CBD headquarters of BHP. Picture: Jeff Camden

It's getting noisy on table seven.

Five blokes, one lady, and I can't help but wonder whether the voluble good cheer can be put down to a late-afternoon spike in iron ore. Otto, you see, new Brisbane franchise of the Woolloomooloo original, is in bloke heaven, the new CBD headquarters of BHP, and the gender imbalance is noticeable.

For a safe restaurant doing safe food, this juxtaposition with a major corporate makes it a cracking site from a business perspective. And while the full-frontal views of Storey Bridge aren't exactly Hong Kong by night, they're not bad. Freshly minted, yet running with the kind of efficiency you'd expect from an operator with restaurants such as Quay, Bennelong and Otto Sydney under its belt, Brisbane's newest Italian seems destined to be damned by the faintest of praise. It's pleasant.

The look is safe: some timber here, some swirly tarantella skirt-like light fittings there ...  It feels adventure-free, corporate, predictable. And the staff, who all do a perfectly acceptable job, don't add a lot of joie de vivre to the experience, either. Everyone seems to have the requisite skills yet nobody seems to bring much joy the "task" of looking after diners.

Booze prices are high: there's a riesling on the list that costs the restaurant about $20. It's $91.

Which leaves the food, promoted as Otto-ish with a more southern Italian accent. It's ...  pleasant. Well cooked, safe and pricey. A menu that ticks a lot of predictable boxes but deserves credit for the straightforward, unembellished manner in which it is expressed.

Order "fried Sardinian globe artichokes, lime mayonnaise" and it's exactly what arrives: quartered, pickled, crumbed, golden-fried, properly drained and put in front of you with lime mayo. Fritto misto - another beer companion - gets you quality school prawns, pieces of calamari and whitebait, all semolina dusted, with a chilli mayo.

We move from "assaggi" to "primi piatti": a nice raw snapper assemblage with pink grapefruit, candied chilli, pomegranate seeds, sorrel, lightly dressed. And sardines with a Sicilian accent: butterflied, pan-fried, finished with a welljudged sweet/aromatic topping of crisp brioche crumbs, muscatels, diced fennel and pine nuts. For a smelly-fish enthusiast, this might be the restaurant's go-to dish.

Good, house-made alla chitarrastyle square section pasta strands team with a $39 main of carbonara, made here with a generous whack of smoked ham hock; it's a point of difference, I guess, less intense than traditional guanciale, but not necessarily better. A decent fennel/ orange/radicchio salad is almost obligatory with such a rich dish.

Beef options are short rib or minute steak. Wood grilled "Great Southern" lamb rump will sell its socks off for good reason: quality meat beautifully cooked over coals, sliced thick and served over a traditional caponata with capers and smoked eggplant. The quintessential businessman's lunch.

By contrast, desserts are much more feminine, and probably the strongest suit at Otto. A sort of deconstructed strawberry panna cotta with fresh berries, amaretti and yoghurt gelato adds a bit of lead to a classic pencil. Lovely.

Same for the "Mandarino":

mandarin sorbet, fresh fruit segments, zest and an appealing Campari granita (pictured). It's super fresh, clean and harmonious, a brilliant way to end a pleasant meal.

Otto is organised, systematic, professional. Just a little soulless.

Campari granita. Picture: Jeff Camden

AT A GLANCE

ADDRESS:

Level 4, 480 Queen

Street, Brisbane

CONTACT:

[phone]

ottoristorante.com.au

HOURS:

Lunch Mon-Fri;

dinner Mon-Sat

TYPICAL PRICES:

Entrees $24;

larger dishes $39;

desserts $15

SUMMARY :

Pleasant. No more, no less

LIKE THIS? TRY ...

Fatto Bar & Cantina, Melbourne;

Otto, Sydney

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