Where to Eat, Drink, and Stay in Brisbane, Australia

Every August, the bush arrives in Brisbane. The annual state agricultural exhibition — shortened in laconic local style to the “Ekka” — rolls in and affirms the Queensland capital’s reputation as “Australia’s big country town.” Growing up in the city in the early ’80s, it was always the most memorable time of the year. My cousins from cattle stations came to visit, and we’d watch wood chopping and horse riding at the rickety wood stadium, then devour strawberry ice cream made with ripe fruit and whipped cream at the Darling Downs. These days at Ekka time, there may be fewer jackaroos lining up at pubs around the city, but the same sense of joy, anticipation, and innocence persists.

I spent most of my first two decades plotting my escape from Brisbane to bigger city lights. To me, the subtropical Queensland capital, sprawled along its eponymous river, was less about charm and easy confidence and more about conservatism and intentional isolation from the world — the prevailing view shared by most Australians. This was especially the case when it came to the food scene; more glamorous Sydneysiders and sophisticated Melbournians brutally referred to the city as “Brisvegas” for the city’s perceived lack of taste.

But, as if overnight, there is now a sense in the rest of the country that the joke is on them. Not that Brisbanites would ever really gloat; they are as surprised as anyone that their city is suddenly in the spotlight. However, it is not by accident that Bluey, the cartoon about a family of blue heeler dogs that has captured imaginations and hearts globally, was created in Brisbane. Bluey, Australia’s biggest cultural export in a generation, has transformed Brisbane: first helping the city find its own identity, then changing perception within Australia, and now drawing global attention. The Brisbane of the Bluey era embodies the show’s singular mix of the sunny, sweet, and slightly silly that belies the city’s sense of quiet, growing sophistication.

The best brick-and-mortar example of Brisbane coming into its own as a destination is the James Street precinct, which gained prominence when The Calile Hotel opened as the centerpiece of the leafy shopping and dining strip in 2018. The striking hotel has earned international accolades for its singular design and lush subtropical landscaping, as well as its pragmatic yet polished service. These days, James Street is home to independent clothing and homewares brands, as well as some of Brisbane’s best homegrown restaurant talent. You can’t go wrong at Gerard’s, where the organic lamb comes with smoked labneh and zhoug made from hardy native saltbush, or at Same Same, a modern Southeast Asian–Australian spot where a bright yellow curry features tender hunks of a regional delicacy: the legendarily primordial-looking local lobsters known as Moreton Bay bugs.

The shellfish is featured prominently on menus across the city; their popularity signals a broader pride of place. In a state that was once so export-focused — where, for so long, “fancy food” meant food from elsewhere — naming farms on menus still feels like a novelty. Most local produce has Indigenous place names: lamb from Toowoomba, snapper from Minjerribah, beef from Goondiwindi, prawns from Mooloolaba, avocados from Cooroy.

Today, Brisbane’s restaurant scene has come into its own. Rising chefs are finding their feet, and dining out is now an essential rather than an occasion. Nothing illustrates this better than the return of chef Martin Boetz to his hometown. His Sydney institution, Longrain, helped to define that city’s dining scene. His new Brisbane venture, Short Grain, brings back his winning mix of Australian and Thai flavors, sleek urban design, and well-balanced cocktails. His impact on the local culinary scene can also be seen in his former apprentice and protégé Louis Tikaram, a local from nearby Mullumbimby, who moved to Brisbane to open the elegant, Cantonese-style Stanley after making a name for himself in Sydney and Los Angeles.

Similarly, just last year, Melbourne’s successful chef-restaurateur, Andrew McConnell, opened Supernormal on the Brisbane River. The menu has some signature dishes from Melbourne but moves closer geographically and spiritually to Asia, with pot stickers and dumplings alongside scallops in kelp butter, and a bean-and-sorrel salad with a whisper of ginger.

Be sure to make time, too, for McConnell’s Bar Miette just above Supernormal — a sleeper for a glass of Australian wine and elegant European-influenced small plates.

It’s not only expats and newcomers making a mark. Homegrown talent has been developing steadily. Take the restaurateurs of the moment, partners Bianca Marchi and Tyron Simon. Along with industry veterans Frank Li and Ben Williamson, they founded the restaurant group Anyday, Brisbane’s dominant player, with multiple venues serving multiple cuisines. Among them is the restaurant that was the tipping point for the food scene: Agnes, which opened in 2020. The moody, dimly lit space in a restored warehouse, is centered around a hearth, and every dish is prepared entirely over an open flame. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the group launched an offshoot, the pop-up Agnes Bakery. It was so popular that it now has a permanent location in a heritage-listed cottage on James Street. Anyday will soon evolve the bakery into an all-day café called Idle and plans to open two more concepts this year: Golden Avenue, a mezze-focused restaurant, and the Coal Board House, an ambitious multirestaurant venue in a grand Victorian-era building in the river-hemmed city center. 

Locally, the Brisbane River is referred to as the Brown Snake for its winding contours but also for its nature — often languid, but ferocious during the tropical floods that hit the city each summer. Much has been done in recent years to tame it and to orient life around its mangrove-lined banks. Pedestrian bridges and some brilliant local architecture have made the city walkable and bikeable, putting destination dining and buzzy areas within easy striking distance of a river stroll. 

One of the more unique openings this year was Stilts Dining, a restaurant built into the new Kangaroo Point bridge at the nexus of the river and the entrance to the exquisite botanical gardens. Follow the riverbanks around the city, and you will find yourself at South Bank, a park-filled riverside district that has become one of the country’s more important cultural centers. It hosts the state library and Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art — which house some of the best archives and collections of Indigenous knowledge and artwork — as well as a charming urban beach.

Behind South Bank is Brisbane’s most dynamic and promising area, West End. Historically home to large Greek and Italian communities and a haven for left-wing politics and youth culture, West End has retained its edge. Today, young bars and restaurants flourish in the neighborhood’s colonial-era cottages and cornerstones, coexisting alongside historic spots. (Case in point: Bar Hugo, a small vermouth and wine bar, sits alongside The Boundary, a rowdy, rough-and-tumble, open-air Aussie pub established in 1864.)

Two restaurants in Brisbane move me the most. One is Exhibition, a sleek basement spot with an in-house fermentation program and a stunning tasting menu that might offer Wagyu tartare with truffle and cured egg yolk or toothfish with smoked butter and caviar. And then there is August, a tiny converted tin-and-timber church that serves up mud crab omelets, lamb chops with caponata, and brown sugar pavlova with cream and peaches. Two places: one optimistically innovative, the other simple and pure, nearly to the point of naivete. I like to think that their names are a deliberate nod to every August at the Ekka, that happy moment when the country comes to the city.

How to get to Brisbane

There are nonstop flights from several U.S. cities to Brisbane including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Travelers from the East Coast might like to consider flying nonstop to Auckland, New Zealand, and then hopping on a short flight to Brisbane, or transiting through Japan. Qantas is launching direct flights from New York City to Sydney in 2026, which will be the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight at 22 hours.

South East Queensland

One would be remiss to visit Brisbane and not experience some of the surrounding region of South East Queensland, which informs and influences the city. The landscape stretches from the pristine beaches and untamed islands of North and South Stradbroke and Moreton Bay on the eastern coast, then inland holds a ring of ranges framing farmland and country towns. The plains are home to farming communities, while the rainforest hinterland features enclaves with an alternative streak. At the northern extremity lies Noosa, with its beautiful national park headland and its increasingly tony town. Farther down, there’s the Sunshine Coast and its classic beach towns. At the opposite end, the Gold Coast offers a mix of soaring high-rises, world-class surf beaches, and a potent blend of flash and grit.

Where to eat and drink in Brisbane

Agnes

This trailblazing restaurant serves up deliciousness from a wood-fired hearth: Think smoked lamb, wood-fired oysters, and roasted scallops. Don’t miss the dessert of roasted whole pineapple.

Agnes Bakery & Idle

A bakery from the Agnes crew, it’s currently evolving into an all-day spot called Idle: a full café experience with cooked-to-order dishes and salads joining the sought-after baked goods, including a burned-to-caramel Basque cheesecake.

August

This newcomer in a converted heritage-listed church adorned with pieces by local artists delivers sunny European flavors with a distinctive Brisbane sensibility. It’s one of the city’s most exciting new restaurants.

Bar Miette

Supernormal’s sister space is open all day, serving breakfast and lunch before it morphs into a humming wine bar in the evening with snacks, seafood, and charcuterie.

Bar Hugo

A small wood-paneled wine and vermouth bar in the city’s West End, Bar Hugo has a concise list of cocktails and snacks and a little outdoor deck overlooking the treetops.

The Boundary

This old-school Aussie pub dates back to 1864 and is one of the oldest in the West End. Stop by for a “pot” of beer, live sports, and a “chicken parmi” for the true pub experience.

Exhibition

Confident and ambitious, this new tasting-menu restaurant occupies a sleek basement space beneath Brisbane’s former Metro Arts theater building.

Gerard’s

One of the city’s most celebrated restaurants offers Middle Eastern flavors through a modern Australian lens, nodding to the owner’s Lebanese roots.

Same, Same

Local hospitality veterans opened this modern Southeast Asian–Australian spot, where they serve vibrant Brisbane bites and cocktails in a dramatic space with an open kitchen.

Shortgrain

After leading one of Sydney’s defining Thai spots, Longrain, for over a decade, chef Martin Boetz opened his first restaurant in his native Brisbane, with a winning mix of his Aussie-Thai flavors, sleek urban design, and well-balanced cocktails.

Stanley

Longrain alum Louis Tikaram moved to Brisbane after stints in Sydney and Los Angeles with a Cantonese-influenced spot in the revived Howard Smith Wharves precinct.

Supernormal

This Brisbane riverside outpost of the highly acclaimed Melbourne favorite by chef Andrew McConnell serves classics from the mothership alongside bites that nod to Asia.

Where to stay in Brisbane

The Calile Hotel

Designed by outstanding architects Richards & Spence, what makes The Calile the best urban hotel in Australia is the decades-long placemaking investment by the owners, the Malouf family. The 175-room hotel features a Greek restaurant on the pool deck and more than a dozen restaurants in the same precinct, including Same Same. Rooms from $350

Miss Midgley’s

Run by a mother-daughter team, Miss Midgley’s is located in one of Brisbane’s heritage houses that was at points a home, orphanage, hospital, and school. The almost 160-year-old building has since become a chic and charming boutique hotel with five two-bedroom suites that nod to the past with touches like old school desks. Rooms from $300