It’s the second venue for the bridge this month. Expect plenty of steak, live lobster, bugs and oysters from the tank, and of course, those one-of-a-kind views.
Michael Tassis is reluctant to play favourites. But there’s no doubt Stilts is a different proposition to the many other restaurants he operates, including four (Longwang, Fatcow, Dark Shepherd, Pompette) he’s already opened in the past 12 months.
Taking pride of place on the newly opened Kangaroo Point Bridge, Tassis talks about Stilts almost as if it’s woven into the fabric of the city. And it is, in a sense. If Tassis wasn’t chosen by the Brisbane City Council to operate this tenancy, it would’ve gone to someone else.
“That location means it’s really part of Brisbane,” he says. “I have to make sure I really deliver. It feels like a legacy project of sorts. I’m catering for locals. I’m catering for tourists. I’m catering for people who want to bring their guests and show off Brisbane.”
Everyone involved in the project got the memo, it seems.
Stilts by name, Stilts by nature, this 100-seater sits a level above the bridge’s walkway, according it cracking 270-degree views. And go-to Tassis designer firm Clui has responded by dialling down its more lavish tendencies for a fit-out that plays second fiddle to the scenery.
There’s the typical marble counters and table tops, and sheer curtains. But the banquettes have been kept low and an eye-catching tiled floor has been laid diagonally to draw your attention to the real stars of the show: the Botanic Gardens and Kangaroo Point Cliffs on one side and Story Bridge and the CBD on the other.
“We have quite a tight working relationship,” Tassis says about Clui. “But I just said, ‘We’ve got to deliver this very good [dining room], but it has to be a clean environment where people can appreciate the views’.”
The food is intended to be a reflection of place too. Tassis shorthands Stilts as a steak and seafood restaurant (chef Dan Hernandez’s go-to weapon is a woodfire grill produced by Beech Ovens in Eagle Farm) but “modern” and “more elevated” when compared to other restaurants from the group in a similar vein, such as Fatcow and Rich & Rare.
“It has that modern Australian focus, specialising in seafood, but we’re aiming to have the best of the best when it comes to produce.”
There’s a relatively tight menu of entrées and mains – you might order ocean trout ceviche with rice crisps or confit beetroot with macadamia cheese and crackers from the former, and Moreton Bay bug linguine with a bug bisque or a medium-rare herb-crusted Queensland lamb rack with carrot purée and charred baby onions on the latter – but it’s the live seafood and steak menus that are the real stars here.
From the tanks there’s both lobster and bugs (Tassis reckons Stilts is the first restaurant in Brisbane to have a bugs tank in the dining room), served either smoked over charcoal with saltbush and béarnaise, or grilled with a miso-yuzu glaze, and pickled daikon and sesame.
The steak selection is sourced entirely from Queensland and split into Angus and Wagyu beef cuts. They range from a Diamantina 120-day grain-fed 300-gram Angus rump cap to a Little Joe eight-to-nine score Shiro Kin Wagyu sirloin that will set you back $175.
There’s also a pair of large cuts designed to share: a three-to-four score Angus tomahawk that’s priced at $26 per 100 grams, and a three-to-four score bistecca that will set you back $230.
Elsewhere, there are snacks, oysters from the tank and caviar served three ways.
It’s a menu that might surprise in its simplicity, but you could argue that’s all the better to celebrate the produce that lands on the table.
For drinks, there’s a 165-bottle wine list that ranges across Old World and New, with a stack available by the glass. There’s also a cocktail list of classics, twists and originals, and a handful of beers on tap.
It adds up to something well pitched for the location, upmarket but still – like all of Tassis’ venues – fastidiously approachable. And, with its location, it’s almost entirely unique for Brisbane; the only thing similar is neighbouring Mulga Bill’s at the end of the bridge, which Tassis opened two weeks ago.
“Brisbane is growing so fast right now,” he says. “And I do think it’s the best city in Australia. But it’s up to us to illustrate that to people when they come to Stilts and dine with us.”
Open Sun-Thu 11am-9.30pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm
147E Alice Street, Brisbane, (07) 2111 6880
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
