Brisbane needs more restaurants like August. Particularly right now.

The skyrocketing cost of doing business in hospitality post-pandemic means, more than ever, the industry favours larger groups that can apply economies of scale to these kinds of challenges, whether it’s securing staff or absorbing expensive fitouts and inflated produce prices.

That’s fine, but it can squeeze on the ambitions of independent operators, who often help add fresh ideas and texture to a city’s dining scene.

Thank goodness, then, for August, which opened on Friday in an old church on Dornoch Terrace in West End. In the kitchen is Brad Cooper, regarded as one of the city’s best young chefs after his stint at the lauded Bar Francine just down the road; out front, his partner, Matilda Riek. It’s the couple’s first venue as owners.

“I’m not sure it’s hit home,” Cooper says. “I don’t really think about it [whether we’re stressed or happy]. It’s so busy, you don’t have time to process, but maybe a bit of both.”

The other welcome aspect of August is that it has opened more or less on time, unlike most other restaurant builds in 2024. That’s partly down to its heritage-listed premises. This still very much feels like a church – just with a pre-fabricated kitchen where the altar would have been, and a bar with counter seating in the front right-hand corner.

“Because it’s heritage, we couldn’t put any plumbing below the original floor,” Riek says. “It had to all go above that … so everything in here is floating and can come straight out.

“We were plan-approved before we even signed a lease, which was handy in a way because we had to really think about what we wanted to do before we did it.”

Understandably, the digs themselves account for much of August’s vibe, but the kitchen and bar are neatly designed additions, and works from local artists hang from the VJ-board walls. The transformation from church to restaurant has been completed with the addition of white table cloths, a bunch of ice buckets and greenery on the bar, and a corner waiters’ station. It’s a natty take on less is more.

Cooper’s food is anchored mostly in European techniques and focuses on meat and seafood proteins. The bulk of the menu is split into snacks, smaller plates and three larger dishes to share.

Starters include an ox tongue and green tomato fritter with a sauce bois boudran, and pickled fennel fritti with skordalia.

Among the smaller plates there’s a mud-crab omelette Arnold Bennett; confit trout with Dutch cream potatoes, watercress and caviar sauce; perline bocconcini and zucchini alla scapece; and raw beef Neapolitan.

For dishes to share, there’s foie gras-stuffed chicken crown and peas a la Francaise; a Barnsley lamb chop served with caponata; and grilled flounder with vongole, butter beans and saffron butter.

There’s plenty of diversity here, particularly considering Cooper is working with just a flat-top grill, gas burner and deep fryer in the kitchen, much like he was at Bar Francine.

“When I went to Florence [in Camp Hill, where he ran the kitchen], I gave them this wish list [of equipment] – ‘I need this, this and this’ – and then I was like, ‘F–k, I don’t even need it,’” Cooper says, laughing.

For drinks, there’s a clutch of aperitif-style cocktails and a relatively compact wine list that focuses on smaller Australian and European makers.

“We just want to work out what people like and don’t like first, rather than end up with a heap of wine lying around that we can’t shift,” Riek says.

Open Wed-Sat 5pm-late, Sun 12pm-3pm