2 weeks ago
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Bar Alto is the best Brisbane restaurant you’ve never been to. Now, with an updated design, evolved food menu and killer wine list, you have no excuse not to go.
Simon Hill could choose to define himself by any one of a bunch of restaurants.
Back in the day it was Isis, and then Ortiga on Brunswick Street. Both were acclaimed. More recently, his exceptional Spanish-inflected Bosco eatery has become a hit with Newstead locals.
But the through line these past 19 years has been Bar Alto. It’s ages since this was the trendiest spot in town, but diners in the know never stopped coming. Chefs and restaurateurs can often be found populating its tables on their days off, going large on plates of saltimbocca and crespelle.
“For sure, this is the one I feel most comfortable working the floor,” Hill says. “It’s the one I physically work the most. You can’t just float into Bosco and start taking orders. You’d get called out pretty quick; it has a touch more complexity to it.”
Also, needs must. Bar Alto is a theatre restaurant, after all, and service here can get intimidating.
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“It’s the hairiest service in the world,” Hill says. “You have 90 people sitting down within 20 minutes of each other and they’re all going to need to be out by 7pm. So you need to be able to prepare things quickly. That doesn’t mean things need to be dumbed down, but it’s a different skillset.”
Being a theatre restaurant within the Powerhouse also meant timing a long-awaited refurbishment with a lease renewal. The restaurant officially relaunched in late March.
“It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while, because we’ve always felt that the product and the service were really good and stable,” Hill says. “It’s a classic, but it didn’t really fit with the look.
“We felt we had a lot of clients who really valued the food, but the decor didn’t live up to that expectation. So we’ve reworked the entire restaurant including the branding.”
Bar Alto is an open-plan restaurant that occupies the riverside atrium of the ground floor of the Powerhouse, so you’d be forgiven for wondering how much you could really change about the place.
But designer Hogg & Lamb has done a clever job, reorienting the rump of the dining room lengthways using a set of cushioned, timber and brass-lined banquettes. Hill says he was inspired by Misi, chef Missy Robbins’ immensely popular Williamsburg restaurant, to create something “tactile and user-friendly”.
The resulting restaurant is much more lived in and inviting, the focal point a set of eye-catching, hanging light boxes. Mirrors have been placed above the larder section and angled toward the windows, allowing in much more of the passing river life.
“This room was always a bit unloved because you couldn’t see the river and now you can,” Hill says. “The other thing, the room had just tables and people gravitate towards something, a wall or an edge. We’ve fixed that now so every table is a good table.”
In the kitchen, chef Niccolo De Tommaso has taken the reins from the recently departed Sajeth Vengateri. He hasn’t made wholesale changes, with classics such as Brisbane Valley quail saltimbocca, prawn strozzapreti, and ricotta and pumpkin crespelle all present and correct.
New dishes include grilled eggplant with aglio olio e peperoncino and ricotta salata, and slow-roasted spiced duck caramelle with figs and pecorino. Otherwise, it’s about letting the menu slowly evolve over time.
“The structure is pretty much the same,” Hill says. “But the plating is sharper, a little sharper, a little more modern.”
For wine, it’s still around 50 whites and 50 reds, but Hill says to expect the focus to shift slightly towards international drops over the coming months. Otherwise, this remains one of the best priced and most interesting lists of its type in town.
Away from the wine there are classic cocktails, mocktails and beers on tap.
Open Tuesday 5pm-late (show nights only), Wed-Sat 11.30am-late, Sun 11.30am-3pm
119 Lamington Street, New Farm, (07) 3358 1063
