Brisbane was a little late to the vinyl listening bar party compared to the southern capitals, but over the past 18 months a bunch of spots have popped up around town where you can drink and eat while listening to a record or three – whether they be bars, restaurants or something in-between.

The trend has its roots in Japanese jazz kissatens (tea or coffee shops), which emerged post-war as places for music fans to gather and listen to the latest imported records. They remain popular in that country.

The Australian take is perhaps a little louder and boozier at times, but the basic concept remains the same: head along with some fellow music nerds and open your ears to a bunch of tunes you perhaps haven’t heard before.

Here are four places in Brisbane to check out.

Ruby, My Dear

Arguably no other venue has done more to kick along Brisbane’s vinyl listening scene than Ruby, My Dear.

This slick, moody Japanese-inspired bar and restaurant opened in Newstead in April last year and immediately began drawing punters from the surrounding apartment blocks.

Owned by Bonnie Warner and Tom Sanceau (who are best known for CBD-based burger joint Red Hook, its Portside sister venue Dumbo and the currently on-ice Coppa Spuntino), Ruby, My Dear boasts a collection of 1200 vinyl records played through four Pitt & Giblin speakers, hand-built in Tasmania and decked out in timber and bronze.

Food is a selection of Japanese inspired snacks, served raw, fried or from the hibachi – think wagyu tataki, eggplant katsu sandos and grilled Hokkaido scallops – plus a couple of larger plates designed to share.

DJs play Wednesday to Sunday, with details released weekly via the Ruby, My Dear Instagram.

Stan’s Lounge

Earlier this month, Howard Smith Wharves Cantonese restaurant Stanley transformed its upstairs dining room into Stan’s Lounge, a Hong Kong-inspired, music-driven hideaway intended to keep the party going late into the night.

Taking pride of place is a DJ booth and vintage JBL sound system, with a vinyl collection 1000-records strong curated by the Wharves’ music director Dan McCarthy (perhaps better known by his DJ name Dan Mumbles) and Stanley chef and partner Louis Tikaram. You can expect plenty of soul and funk, with DJs spinning most nights of the week.

For drinks, there’s a cocktail list that presents modern, Cantonese-inflected interpretations of the classics, with a signature martini menu.

There’s also large collections of whisky and agave, and rare and precious bottles of spirits sourced from around the world, with some dating back to the 1960s.

For food, Tikaram has written a snack menu in tune with the Cantonese food served in Stanley downstairs. Dishes include golden fried prawn toast with sesame and truffled mayo, pan-fried pork and prawn dumplings with fermented chilli and white soy, and painted tropical cray san choy bao with water chestnuts and coriander.

The interiors take inspiration from old-world Hong Kong, with the bar decked out in rich jewel tones with plenty of timber accents, antique mirrored wall panels and velvet curtains, banquettes and seating.

B-SIDE

B-SIDE made it two new vinyl bars at Howard Smith Wharves in as many weeks.

Located up the staircase at Yoko, B-SIDE is a formalisation of two-storey izakaya’s semiregular upstairs beats, eats and drinks parties, which themselves had their roots in The Apollo Group co-owner Jonathan Barthelmess’ experiences sifting around Japanese vinyl bars when opening The Apollo in Tokyo in 2016.

B-SIDE harnesses the same format, where a chef works behind the bar alongside a bartender and a DJ.

Food is a selection of small plates such as sliced-to-order sashimi, kizami wasabi octopus, tuna tataki, Wagyu katsu sliders, and prawn buns. Larger plates include two different ramen bowls.

The drinks menu has been written by award-winning Sydney bartender Matt Whiley and features a short menu of highballs, a B-SIDE slushy, and a selection of matcha lattes, with drinks from the Yoko menu also available.

Barthelmess has also added to the bar’s vinyl collection, which now sits at around 500 records, with DJs bringing their own to spin seven nights a week, with a retro night on Mondays.

The fit-out is a light refresh of the upstairs dining area: the cork flooring, posters and Japanese-inspired light timber are all present and correct, as is the mirror ball.

Flying Colours

Not a vinyl bar specifically, but Simon Martin’s West End warehouse venue’s music credentials are very much intact: on the wall hangs an exxy Pitt & Giblin sound system similar to Ruby, My Dear, and the bar has 300 records on hand, with DJs bringing their own to spin Friday through Sunday (with occasional mid-week guests).

For drinks, Flying Colours has a tight 50-bottle wine list that favours low-intervention and natural drops that are relatively easy on the wallet, with a house white and house red on tap produced by NSW’s Jilly Wine Co.

There’s also a cocktail list that features both signature and classic drinks, and Yulli’s, Aether, Range and Diablo craft beers on tap.

Food lines up a selection of small plates (you might order a beef carpaccio with bonito flakes and pickled enoki mushrooms, or flash fried baby squid with chilli and a caper aioli) next to menu of hand-stretched pizza.

Flying Colours itself is an open-air affair, with a shady courtyard our front, and low-lit booths and a lounge inside.