Featuring: Fredericks, The Port Office, Ciao Papi…
THE ever-evolving West Village super-site in the heart of West End in Brisbane’s inner south has a new wine bar with a pretty serious pedigree. Named Fredericks after Frederick Peters, founder of the eponymous ice cream factory, the original brick buildings now forming part of mega-development that includes cafes, art galleries, retail and residential. It is the latest project from Paul McGivern and Bailee Dewes, of The Wolfe, La Lune, and Corella in collaboration with Daniel and Amelia Miletic, of Kangaroo Point’s One Fish Two Fish. Two chefs (Paul and Daniel), a front of house gun (Dewes) and PR and branding supremo (Amelia) makes for something of a dream team for this colourful, sub-tropical vibe.
This West Village concept celebrates the history of the site and designers Jon Dowding and Chrissy Feld were engaged to bring the concept to life. Positioned at the top of West Village’s fairy-lit Factory Lane, with an open plan, mostly al fresco space, Fredericks will have a similar, strong focus on wine as McGivern’s existing venues, with a crafted cocktail and beer offering also available.
Simple snacks such as cheese and charcuterie boards are on offer and guests can also enjoy food from West Village’s The Garden Pantry (which houses Salt Meats Cheese, Cheeky Poke, and Mr Bunz) with a drink. West Village, 97 Boundary St, West End.
While ice cream and fine wine may not be a favourite pairing, the Peters Ice Cream factory building, which received extensive media coverage when it was built in 1928 for Frederick Peters’ innovations in the use of salt, ice and cutting-edge refrigeration, has an interesting story and the Frederick’s team aims to emulate the joy of the entire ice cream experience, including the packaging, various flavours and shapes popularised by the Peters Ice Cream brand. 3A, 80 Hope St, South Brisbane; phone (07) 3255 3961.
For Brisbanites who follow the restaurant scene, it has been a dizzying couple of years, with a veritable tsunami of openings, closings, moving and morphing going on in the ever-enlarging industry. By far the biggest player has been the Howard Smith Wharves development which houses multiple venues, including breweries and watering holes, refurbished wharves where events seating up to 1000 guests can be held, and a slew of dining options such as Greca and Allana Sapwell’s Arc Dining.
Day or night the views are sensational, perched under the Story Bridge with wide expanses of the river and CBD. Now Sapwell and her team have created Ciao Papi, another alfresco spot adjacent to Arc, but, as the name suggests, with a serious Italian lilt. Super casual, with a clipped menu of classics – think antipasto, handmade burrata with tomatoes, artichokes with stracciatella to start, spanner crab conchiglie and chilli, classic ragu and pumpkin agnolotti, crumbed fish or wagyu skirt steak with salsa verde – the choices aren’t there but the quality is. It is the venue this precinct needed – quality food and wines without the drinking droves of the breweries and bars or the eye-watering price tags of the various fine diners. 5 Boundary St, Brisbane; phone (07) 3188 9090.
Publican Nick Gregorski breathed a sigh of relief recently when his hotel in the CBD, The Port Office, finally reopened after a kitchen fire spread into the ceiling of the heritage-listed corner pub near the Botanical Gardens in January.
Expecting to be out of action for six to eight weeks, the extent of the damage wasn’t realised initially and the ensuing re-build delayed the comeback by six months. The original part of the pub are the front bars and, although they are now pristine, they are largely authentically restored and it’s here that you can order traditional pub grub and counter meals – steak sandwich, sticky lamb ribs and eggplant parmie.
Shucked-to-order oysters and house-made bread served with roast chicken dripping is available throughout the venue, the dining room menu steps it up a notch with hearty dishes like stout braised oxtail, crumbed lamb’s brains, low and slow braised wagyu brisket and suckling pig porchetta.
The 155-year old venue is back in full swing not only with daily diners but also with the venue hire – there’s a private dining room that seats 40 adjacent to the main restaurant and a cosy cellar that seats up to 20 guests. Upstairs there are several rooms, all with elegant colonial-style decor that hold numbers between 100-300 guests. 40 Edward St, Brisbane; phone (07) 3003 4700.