Anise Wine Room, Brisbane: restaurant review
The driver gives two thumbs up to a corner place called Taj Mahal as we cruise Brunswick Street. He’s from New Delhi and dreaming of a franchise of his own; kebabs, maybe. He has savings, and $80K from his dad. House or business? It’s the young capitalist’s dilemma. And the Taj Mahal is, he reckons, Brisbane’s best Indian.
Who knows what he might have said had he been Japanese, Indonesian, Californian, Thai or Italian? They’re all here in a cluster of casual New Farm ethnic eating. Multiculturalism on a plate (or bento box). So it’s an odd place to find Anise, jammed between a bar with $10 pizza and a taco joint. Were it not for its tiny footprint and demure, moody façade, Anise would stick out like you-know-what, an island of single vineyard fiano and amphora-fermented nero d’avola in a sea of mojitos and BYO Yalumba.
Anise is a little wine-centric gem of a bar/restaurant. Or is that restaurant/bar? Sure, there are two small tables in the window, but the bulk of its few seats are at a broad bar that does a J-curve near the front door and winds back up the room to the kitchen, where three guys jostle for elbow room.
Servicing diners, clearly here as much for quality, non-mainstream wine as the food, is a single server: she triples as host, sommelier and DJ, dropping the needle on a succession of LPs throughout the night that reads the “crowd” the way she reads a glass of wine and a plate of food. There are parallels. She suggests a succession of wines, local and foreign, thankfully never wacky, talks about them knowledgeably, without any suggestion of being patronising, and keeps the price points sensible. She makes the night.
Head chef Peter Moon’s food is contemporary but with obvious classical roots. Most of it is very good, based on a $100 six-course tasting menu, which is by no means mandatory. It is, however, the path of least resistance.
Raw farmed kingfish teamed with a black sesame paste smear, shaved daikon and finger lime is the fresh opening salvo, teamed with a 2015 River Sand Fiano made by Unico Zelo, which is apparently rare and obviously delicious. It goes on this way. Pretty, composed, yet full of ballsy flavour. With nice wine.
Baby zucchini flowers stuffed with smoked eggplant, with pretty little satellites of pickled carrot wafers and a fresh sheep’s curd. Delicious, earthy nuggets of pan-fried potato gnocchi in a puddle of truffled chestnut sauce with roasted baby beet, pecorino and shaved Tassie truffle.
A Japanesey piece of slowly cooked pork jowl, crisp-shelled yet delightfully molten inside, served with fennel jam over “noodles” of celeriac crepe, a variety of Asiatic mushrooms and a sparkling pork consommé. Intelligent stuff.
And, most impressive, ruby pieces of molasses-crusted Wagyu “teres” – a shoulder cut – served with a purple cauliflower puree and brussels sprouts. With that, a glossy, wine-friendly sauce and a peppery scattering of barley, green wheat freekeh and other crunchy/nutty grains. Add a glass of Brash Higgins’ NDV (the aforementioned amphora-made drop) and… relax.
Too few eating experiences embrace wine the way Anise does; staff who can manage it without sounding like complete knobs are rare. So it’s a real pleasure to be in a place where the product matches the rhetoric.
Dessert is a kind of free-form and totally delicious mandarin “crème brûlée” served with orange olive oil sponge and poached blood orange pieces, all on a piece of slate. It’s a fine package.
As is Anise. Highly crafted but not precious, welcoming and fun. It’s easy to drive past; slow down, take a look. I can guarantee your taxi driver won’t know it.
Address: 697 Brunswick St, New Farm
Phone: (07) 3358 1558 Web: anise.com.au
Hours: Lunch Thu-Sat; dinner daily
Typical prices: Starters $22; mains $36; desserts $16
Summary: Anise stars
Like this? Try… Bellota, Melbourne; 10 William St, Sydney
Stars: 3.5 out of 5
Source: The Australian, John Lethlean, 14th November 2015
Originally published as: Anise Wine Room, Brisbane: restaurant review
