Brisbane's New Order

From Greek poolside snacks to neo-Chinese share plates, the scene is set for the Sunshine States next wave of great dining.

- Fiona Donnelly

Three Blue Ducks, Brisbane. Opposite: cod with cauliflower, artichoke barigoule and vermouth emulsion at Restaurant Dan Arnold.

“Beautiful one day, perfect the next.” The old tourism campaign might still be true of Queensland as a whole, but in Brisbane “busy one day, even busier the next” is closer to the mark. The city is buzzing with activity and teeming with growth, not least in food, drink and travel.

Clues are everywhere across the city. The huge construction crater on William Street, for instance, will be filled by a chunk of the new Queen’s Wharf precinct when it arrives in 2022. The $3.6-billion casino resort will bring 50 new cafés, restaurants and bars plus a handful of luxury hotels in its wake, including The Ritz-Carlton, Rosewood and Dorsett Brisbane. A second runway at Brisbane Airport, the fruit of an eight-year project, is on track for 2020.

Howard Smith Wharves, an ambitious $110-million development of a disused wharf at inner-city Kangaroo Point, is due to dock before the end of the year. The setting will provide digs for an upscale 164-room hotel, convention facilities, Felons Brewing Co., and Mr Percival’s, a bar designed by local Anna Spiro.

It’ll also be home to three promising new restaurants. Greca, a modern take on the Greek taverna, is a collaboration between chef Jonathan Barthelmess and designer George Livissianis, their follow-up to The Apollo in Sydney. There’s a new izakaya, Toko Brisbane, and Stanley, a two-storey Hong Kong-inspired 180-seater from Brisbane restaurateurs Andrew and Jamie Baturo.

Brisbane scored its first five-star city hotel in two decades with the arrival in August of W Brisbane. Ovolo unveiled the new-look Ovolo Inchcolm in inner-city Spring Hill and is putting the finishing touches to Ovolo The Valley, a rebranding of the former Emporium Hotel in Fortitude Valley.