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Food and Drink in Brisbane

The dining scene up north has been on the boil for a few years now, but this might be the best year yet. The Queensland capital has scene-stealing top-end restaurants, on-trend barbecue joints and overflows from the CBD into the outer suburbs in a way not seen in other cities. 

Eagle Street Pier

A classic choice for riverside dining, the Eagle Street Pier precinct’s unwavering popularly might have something to do with the top-grade restaurants and views they offer. If we listed them out individually we could be here a while, so let’s just promise you can’t go wrong with the fine diners along this stretch.

South Bank

In one corner of South Bank, right down by the river, this award-winning, architecturally designed patch of grass is surrounded by five excellent all-class restaurants. With the best vantage point, Stokehouse Q offers a contemporary menu with views of Brisbane City. Nearby, dine on Italian cuisine at Popolo, French at Aquitaine, seafood at River Quay Fish and modern Australian with an Indonesian influence at The Jetty

Medley Cafe, Kangaroo Point

One of Brisbane's best-kept secrets, Medley Café & Restaurant fronts the river on the quieter side of the point. Pull up a chair on the expansive deck to eat around the world with its exotic lunch menu that includes a Fijian cassava curry, Indonesian bebek betutu, South African lamb sosatie and more. Medley is also open for breakfast and dinner.

OTTO Brisbane City

Views, check. Excellent service, check. Exquisite food, check. New kid on the new block OTTO is an all-round winner in our books with epic riverside views. Drink in the Story Bridge with your Aperol spritz from its perch four storeys up, and tuck into a feast of fine Italian cuisine.

Customs House

From the basement to a banquet – eat fresh produce grown in the depths of Brisbane's CBD at Customs House. Operation manager George Musat and chef de cuisine John Offenhauser swapped oven mitts for garden gloves and have rolled up their sleeves to grow mushrooms in the Customs House cellar. Handpicked daily, the pair are currently focusing on shiitake and oyster mushrooms and these postcode 4000 fungi can be found in everything from the breakfast omelette to pasta dinner.

Wild Canary

Breakfast is arguably the best meal of the day, but let’s be honest – before coffee no one wants to travel far. Wild Canary is fortunately the closest destination dining spot on this list. The café is hidden at the back of a garden centre in Brookfield. Chef Glen Barratt is passionate about local produce and sources the best from around the nearby regions, topping it up with flowers, leaves and vegetables from the café’s own giant kitchen garden.

The dining scene up north has been on the boil for a few years now, but this might be the best year yet. The Queensland capital has scene-stealing top-end restaurants, on-trend barbecue joints and overflows from the CBD into the outer suburbs in a way not seen in other cities. 

Eagle Street Pier

A classic choice for riverside dining, the Eagle Street Pier precinct’s unwavering popularly might have something to do with the top-grade restaurants and views they offer. If we listed them out individually we could be here a while, so let’s just promise you can’t go wrong with the fine diners along this stretch.

South Bank

In one corner of South Bank, right down by the river, this award-winning, architecturally designed patch of grass is surrounded by five excellent all-class restaurants. With the best vantage point, Stokehouse Q offers a contemporary menu with views of Brisbane City. Nearby, dine on Italian cuisine at Popolo, French at Aquitaine, seafood at River Quay Fish and modern Australian with an Indonesian influence at The Jetty

Medley Cafe, Kangaroo Point

One of Brisbane's best-kept secrets, Medley Café & Restaurant fronts the river on the quieter side of the point. Pull up a chair on the expansive deck to eat around the world with its exotic lunch menu that includes a Fijian cassava curry, Indonesian bebek betutu, South African lamb sosatie and more. Medley is also open for breakfast and dinner.

OTTO Brisbane City

Views, check. Excellent service, check. Exquisite food, check. New kid on the new block OTTO is an all-round winner in our books with epic riverside views. Drink in the Story Bridge with your Aperol spritz from its perch four storeys up, and tuck into a feast of fine Italian cuisine.

Customs House

From the basement to a banquet – eat fresh produce grown in the depths of Brisbane's CBD at Customs House. Operation manager George Musat and chef de cuisine John Offenhauser swapped oven mitts for garden gloves and have rolled up their sleeves to grow mushrooms in the Customs House cellar. Handpicked daily, the pair are currently focusing on shiitake and oyster mushrooms and these postcode 4000 fungi can be found in everything from the breakfast omelette to pasta dinner.

Wild Canary

Breakfast is arguably the best meal of the day, but let’s be honest – before coffee no one wants to travel far. Wild Canary is fortunately the closest destination dining spot on this list. The café is hidden at the back of a garden centre in Brookfield. Chef Glen Barratt is passionate about local produce and sources the best from around the nearby regions, topping it up with flowers, leaves and vegetables from the café’s own giant kitchen garden.

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