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Eating outFood
What’s served from the sea in this city has improved out of sight in the past decade. From the fancy to the casual and everything in between, here’s where to discover it for yourself.
Matt Shea
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When did seafood in Brisbane get so good?
There was a time, not so long ago, when a lot of the Queensland seafood you’d find in Brisbane restaurants had come via Melbourne and Sydney, such was the market power of southern markets and the restaurants that purchased from them.
But around the middle of last decade, that started to change. What landed on our plates locally began to get fresher and display more variety.
“I think it’s changed,” says Ghanem Group executive chef Jake Nicolson, who oversees the menus at restaurants such as Blackbird, Donna Chang and Bisou Bisou.
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“Producers now know how much Queenslanders love their seafood and they’ve been targeting that market. So we’re seeing a lot more marketing and always new products coming through.
“You have Skull Island prawns or blue scampi caviar from The Fish Girl or producers such as Rocky Point Aquaculture with its giant Queensland grouper. We now have such a great range to choose from.”
When chef Will Cowper first moved north from Sydney to open Otto Brisbane in 2016, he was taken aback by what he found at local fish markets.
“It has come so far,” Cowper says. “I came up probably nine years ago now, and I did the due diligence and went around to different suppliers. I was shocked by how small the operations were, and the lack of variety. It was just that old-school mentality of barra and salmon.”
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Cowper reckons the migration of chefs from southern cities helped drive change.
“We were asking for that variety, we were asking for more, and that gave local suppliers the confidence that they could sell it [locally], and then it exploded. There are so many great restaurants here now using some of the best produce.
“I came up probably nine years ago now, and I did the due diligence and went around to different suppliers. And I was shocked by how small the operations were, and the lack of variety.”
Otto chef Will Cowper
“If you go to Fish Factory [in Morningside] now, what they’re doing is rivalling a lot of places in Sydney.”
Cowper adds that what was once considered bycatch is now appearing on a lot of menus.
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“That’s only added to the variety,” he says. “That’s how I found the champagne lobster back in the day to create the [Otto Brisbane signature] spaghettini.”
In short, there’s never been a better time to be a Brisbane seafood fan. Here’s where to seek it out.
Tillerman, CBD
Tillerman perhaps shouldn’t work as well as it does. Much of the team, including head chef Suwisa Phoonsang, shifted over from owners Andrew and Jaimee Baturo’s Naga, an extended Thai restaurant pop-up at Eagle Street Pier leading up to that precinct’s redevelopment.
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But Phoonsang’s seafood-forward menu is killer. You might start with snacks such as blue swimmer crab with finger lime on warm brioche, crispy southern reef squid with a truffle tartare, or a Moreton Bay bug vol-au-vent with kaviari caviar.
Entrees include Moreton Bay bug dumplings served in a seafood bisque, battered Balmain bug with prickly ash, and seared kingfish crepes with saffron-pickled radish and cucumber.
For mains, there’s a chilli tiger prawn linguine with garlic and parsley; a seafood bouillabaisse; a popular golden pompano meunière; and tropical painted lobster served with angel-hair pasta, lemon, garlic and thyme.
The menu is accompanied by a 250-bottle wine list that leans towards coastal vineyards. And then there are the views: right on the river, Tillerman looks out over a brilliant stretch of river from Kangaroo Point down towards the Story Bridge.
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Otto, South Brisbane
There’s a stack of great Italian restaurants in Brisbane, but Otto is up there with the best, and that’s largely because of the quality of its seafood.
For entrees, you can order Hervey Bay scallops with corn, sugar snap peas, sweetbreads and balsamic, or raw yellowfin tuna with fennel, ginger, finger lime, tomato and basil; and on the mains menu there’s always a market fish special – typically red emperor, spangled emperor, coral trout or sand whiting.
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There are also Sydney rock oysters, and a menu of small bites that changes daily but might include a raw fish tartare on a masala cracker, or a potato scallop topped with creme fraiche and caviar.
Still, the pastas (ordered either as an entree or a main) are where Otto really makes it count – particularly a champagne lobster spaghettini that’s become the restaurant’s signature showstopper.
A cracking 450-bottle wine list (42 by the glass) is one of the most considered in the city, and the waterside South Bank views help seal the deal.
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Gambaro Seafood Restaurant, Brisbane
This Caxton Street institution’s reputation rests on the Gambaro family’s deep connections with local and Australian seafood suppliers, which run back more than 60 years.
The menu is an approachable entree-main-pasta split, with mud crab and Tasmanian southern rock lobster available from the tank.
For entrees you might order dishes such as chargrilled whole squid with chimichurri and chilli oil, charred Fremantle octopus with potato mayonnaise, umami butter, lemon and chilli, and South Australian kingfish crudo with orange, lime, jalapeno, shallots, tomato, coriander and herb oil.
For mains, there’s miso-roasted, crisp-fried Tasmanian salmon with a corn salsa, chilli, coriander and goat’s cheese, deep-fried Moreton Bay bugs with lemon butter sauce and Singapore chilli, and Western Australian rock lobster served with either a thermidor or mornay sauce.
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There’s also a tomato-based seafood bouillabaisse and a linguine marinara with prawns, scallops, market fish and chilli, and extensive seafood platters served either hot or cold.
Drinks are anchored by a 78-bottle wine list that focuses on Australian drops.
The restaurant’s dining room was refurbished in early 2023; decked out in coastal tones with timber flooring and white table cloths, it’s a pleasant spot to laze over a long lunch or dinner.
One Fish, Two Fish, Kangaroo Point
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Set inside a beautifully renovated weatherboard corner store opposite the iconic Pineapple Hotel, Dan Miletic and Amelia Taylor’s One Fish, Two Fish manages the neat trick of being as fancy or as casual as you want it to be.
You could do an afternoon on its shady back deck grazing on buckets of prawns, fish and chips (cod, sand whiting, red emperor and snapper are all options) or a dory burger, or you can settle in for an elevated dinner of salmon sashimi, Moreton Bay bug risotto, bouillabaisse, or whole baby barramundi served with a gem salad. And there’s a bunch of sides, of course, including the requisite potato scallops and Greek salad.
For drinks, there’s a clutch of craft beers on tap, plus a concise wine list that favours high-acid drops to counter the seafood.
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The Prawnster, CBD
Prawns on a converted trawler on the Brisbane River. The pitch for The Prawnster couldn’t be any simpler.
And it’s not just platters of prawns, but Moreton Bay bugs, oysters and Tasmanian salmon. Owner Martin Brennan for the most part tries to source his seafood directly from local trawlers (with the exception of the salmon and the oysters, which are typically Coffin Bay).
The menu is straightforward, and ranges from a large platter of king and tiger prawns, right up to the extra-large San Michelle platter that includes prawns, oysters, sashimi and whole lobster.
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You can take your catch to the Botanic Gardens opposite if you please, but it’s best to BYO some wine or beers and eat on one of The Prawnster’s converted trawlers, watching life on the river float on by.
Blackbird, CBD
A modern riverside institution, Blackbird next month celebrates a decade in business and has always been known for its beef menu, but in recent years has become increasingly celebrated for the quality of its seafood.
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Group chef Jake Nicolson and head chef Tom Smith have created a menu that cross-pollinates ideas from other Ghanem Group venues to produce imaginative starters such as spanner crab from Fraser Isle Spanner Crab served on grilled cornbread with sweetcorn and pumpkin seed oil, and marinated albacore tuna with sesame, white kimchi and shiso.
On the mains menu there’s coal-roasted market fish (knobby snapper and coral trout are kitchen favourites) with seaweed butter, dill oil and a tosaka salad, and Infinity Blue farmed barramundi with cauliflower, green beans, Vietnamese mint and a black bean vinaigrette.
To share, there are iced shellfish platters adorned with local king prawns, albacore tuna tartare, Moreton Bay bugs, freshly shucked oysters and a scallop ceviche, and a wood-fired Ora King salmon steak with Warrigal greens, horseradish and a sorrel sauce.
The food is accompanied by a hefty 600-bottle wine list overseen by group sommelier Chris Entwistle.
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Shucks Bar, Manly
A curio when it opened in 2017, Belinda Ho’s Shucks has grown into a bayside favourite because of its no-nonsense seasonal menu and charming little dining room that overlooks Bayside Park and the boats moored at Wynnum Manly Yacht Club Marina.
As you might imagine with the name, oysters are a central play here, served natural, dressed, grilled with a bourbon chipotle butter, or as shooters.
The rest of the menu is a mix of small plates such as Olasagasti anchovy toast with goat’s curd and wakame, torched scallops with orange miso butter and pickled ginger, and Moreton Bay bugs served with a horseradish creme fraiche; and larger plates that include a clam spaghetti with XO sauce and green beans, and baharat-spiced prawns served with smoky eggplant and pine nuts.
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Hellenika, Fortitude Valley
You might associate this James Street linchpin with zucchini fries, saganaki and co*cktails by the pool, but seafood has always been its true strength, on account of owner Simon Gloftis’ deep connections with suppliers, both in Queensland and down south.
The restaurant recently reworked its menu to bring the seafood front and centre (it used to be in a separate section).
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You might order dishes such as a Queensland tuna ceviche with avocado, lemon and chilli; a chargrilled South Australian octopus salad with capsicum, chilli and lemon; kritharaki with spanner crab, saffron, lemon and parsley; chargrilled or crumbed King George whiting (a Gloftis favourite – he has the fish tattooed on his arm); and oven-baked ocean trout with olive oil and ladolemono.
For wines, there are 250-plus bottles – including a bunch of Greek drops – alongside a stack of signature co*cktails.
Consider Hellenika a two-hander with Gloftis’ SK Steak & Oyster downstairs which, on the seafood side, deals in hot and cold platters, pastas and mains.
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Other seafood restaurants to try:
Manly Boathouse: it’s all about the location at this light-filled, seafood-themed dining room overlooking Wynnum Manly Yacht Club Marina.
Fosh: Michael Tassis’ restaurants are known for the quality of their seafood, and that’s best exemplified at this airy Portside eatery.
Reef Seafood & Sushi: A Gasworks favourite that deals in everything from fresh sashimi to battered fish and chips, and burgers.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
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