Waitersfriend recently dined at Matt Moran’s new Aria Restaurant in Brisbane. We had heard a lot about it before we went but most of it from a parochial local crowd who we suspect may have been influenced by the fact that Aria comes from the arch nemesis and number one rival, Sydney.
It wasn’t that long ago that Brisbane and QLD were the butt of every redneck joke in NSW. In fact, after decades of snubbing it is only in recent times that the Good Food Guide has even bothered supporting the food & wine scene that is now making a large impact both nationally and internationally. Last year Gourmet Traveler awarded the Bowery Bar national honors and several prominent restaurants, such as Phillip Johnson’s Ecco Bistro & Urbane, recently discussed in our blog, are nationally recognized as being at the top of the game and as must visit restaurants. So it is no surprise that our local feedback on Aria was a little one-eyed.
However, we arrived and had pre-dinner drinks in the bar. The staff were attentive to our needs and unobtrusive to our experience. A couple of glasses of French and a bowl of olives worked a treat. It was a good start!
We decided to go to our table. A table for five located next to the floor to ceiling glass overlooking the stunning Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point cliffs. We continued on the French theme but took it up a notch and hooked in to a bottle of ‘98 keeping the momentum from the bar whilst we looked over the menu. Service was prompt and the specials sounded fantastic. As we were five we decided to order all the entrees except oysters and soup. As we have previously experienced Aria in Sydney we found ourselves in tune with the food and philosophy. Matt doesn’t over complicate things, he sticks to the principle of great produce, great preparation & great presentation. All of the entrees delivered that feeling of finality & completion, like the perfect last bite! It was a shame that the white wine intended for the entrees was only poured toward the end of the course and not before we started it.
The mains continued on with the Aria philosophy but we have always believed that the entrees are the most exciting part of the meal while the main course is the reason you order the wine. With this in mind we mostly ordered red meat accompanied by what was considered the best value wine on the list, a 1980 St. Henri Shiraz. At $180, it was beyond belief, had there been a typo? Either way the beef cheeks & the lamb matched perfectly. The wine confirmed my suspicion of value for money and we are still expecting the call any day now, “Mr. Wilson, there was an error and we missed a zero, would you mind giving me credit card details for the correct amount?”
Desserts seem to be Aria’s strong point. We decided to try them all with a bottle of Moscato D’asti which certainly worked well with the pannacotta.
At the end we all agreed that we had a fantastic time and as four of us were in the industry the bill did not seem extremely expensive although it was over $300 a head. Aria definitely has a formula, view, wine list, service & produce. It works very well and justifies the bill. Although we wouldn’t say that any one thing was truly amazing (St Henri aside) the whole experience definitely was! The company at the table contributed and the fact that we weren’t looking for them to fail as many Brisbanites are, led to us having a sensational evening!
Well done Matt Moran and good job in challenging the Northern market! Waitersfriend truly look forward to the opening of Urbane as the comparisons will be inevitable. The local boys versus the big fish from down South! We wait with anticipation………………………..
