Stanley – Restaurant Review
This new addition to the Howard Smith Wharves precinct brags the talent typical of Brisbane’s recent restaurant renaissance. On the floor is manager Norbert Beaujean and head sommelier Thibaud Crégut, overseen by front-of-house director Hervé Dudognon – veterans of Sydney restaurants Fred’s, Quay and Mr Wong respectively. And in the kitchen, Louis Tikaram is back from five years at hip Los Angeles restaurant E.P. & L.P. Tikaram’s wide-ranging Cantonese menu includes classic dim sum, barbecued meats plus rice and noodle dishes to share but the star of the show is the Peking duck pancakes (top right). The flavoursome bird is brined, blanched, dried and then roasted in a process that spans three days.
Otherwise, the kitchen keeps the focus on local produce – there’s steamed reef fish (such as coral trout or red emperor) with ginger, shallot and white soy, and Moreton Bay bug or mud crab served one of four ways. Accompanying the food is a 500-bottle wine list that leans towards smaller European producers. Dine on the deck with the Story Bridge towering overhead or inside the heritage-listed former headquarters of Brisbane’s water police, which has been given a charismatic makeover with murals, vivid printed fabrics and vintage lighting.
5 Boundary Street, Brisbane; (07) 3558 9418; open seven days for lunch and dinner.
