West End, Brisbane · a short-menu bistro
A short menu, because the market is honest.
Twelve tables, an open kitchen and a list that changes on Tuesdays. We cook what came in good this week and we tell you what it is.
Open today
Open Tuesday to Saturday dinner from 6pm
Where
West End, Brisbane
The green door, no sign on it
Ring the room
(07) 2150 3678
For tonight
Walk-ins
Two tables held back
Every night
The idea
Five starters, five mains, two desserts. That is the whole thing.
A long menu means a big freezer. Ours is short because everything on it was bought this week, by one of us, from people we can name.
Lunch, two courses
Thursday and Friday, twelve until two
$52
per person
Dinner, a la carte
Tuesday to Saturday from six, typically three courses
around $85
per person
The counter, chef’s choice
Six stools, six or seven courses, booked a week ahead
$145
per person
Bread and GST included. No service charge.
The board · changes Tuesday
What keeps coming back
Starters
Bread and cultured butter
Baked here every afternoon.
Mains
Whatever came in whole
One fish, roasted on the bone, for one or two.
Market price
Shoulder for the table
Lamb, carved at the table. For two.
Dessert
Tarte tatin
Never off the board.
The list. Thirty bottles, mostly from growers we have met. Everything is available by the glass.
Three ways to eat here
Lunch, dinner, or a stool at the pass
Dinner
Tue to Sat · From 6pm · Around $85
The full board. Last orders at nine, and nobody rushes you.
The counter
Six stools · Chef’s choice · $145
Whatever the kitchen is most pleased with, course by course.
This week
What has been on the board lately
Snapper, brown butter
While it lasts.
Bread
Baked here, daily.
Lamb shoulder
For two, off the bone.
Tuesday market
Where the board starts.
Tarte tatin
It never comes off.
The two cooks who own it. Demo portrait.
Who cooks
Two cooks who got tired of long menus.
Between us, twenty-six years in other people’s kitchens and one very firm opinion about how many dishes a kitchen can actually cook well. We wanted a room small enough to see every plate leave it.
What people say
Mostly to our faces, which we prefer
- Sample notes, not live reviews
★★★★★
I asked what was good and was told, plainly, that the lamb was better than the duck that night. It was. I have never been steered wrong here.
Colm D., West End
Regular since it opened
★★★★★
Booked the counter for my father’s birthday without telling him. He talked to the chef for two hours and has since bought a fish kettle.
Nadia O., Paddington
Counter, six stools
★★★★★
Small menu, no theatre, everything on the plate earns its place. This is the restaurant I send people to when they want to be looked after.
Peter L., New Farm
Lunch most Fridays
The board starts at the market.
Tuesday, early. One of us, with a crate and a list.
Private dining
The whole room, on a Monday.
We take over the whole room for parties of twenty or more on Mondays, when we are otherwise closed.
Come on a Tuesday
The board changes Tuesday. The tables go on Thursday.
Tue, Wed
Dinner from 6pm
Thu, Fri
Lunch 12 to 2, dinner from 6pm
Sat
Dinner from 6pm
Sun, Mon
Closed (Mondays: private dining, 20 or more)
Last orders at nine.
The green door with no sign on it.