Brisbane named a food hot spot

It’s been a while coming but Brisbane has been named one of the world’s food hot spots.

Travel site TripAdvisor’s blog named Brisbane after looking at the best food cities and tours in the world.  It compiled the list by measuring bookings for food experiences.

The news puts Brisbane right up there with the usual suspects - Rome, Paris, Barcelona and New Orleans.

However, Brisbane was ranked ninth in the world following a secondary round-up which measured growth in food-tourism bookings.

Sydney came in at number three.

The up-and-coming list of cities also included Charleston, Vienna, San Juan and Quebec.

The methodology is particular and rigorous. What Trip Advisor does is measure the number of food-experience bookings per number of available food tours.

Whatever the methodology, it would be welcome news for Brisbane which has had tough start to the year.

A number of restaurants have closed including Nativo, Burnt Ends, The Survey Co, Ryan Squire’s Esquire and Esq.

Added to the tales of woe were the collapse of Damian Griffiths Doughnut Time, taking with it Chester Street Bakery and Mister Fitz.

And then award-winning chef, Alejandro Cancino is about to leave Urbane.

In late March, Ryan Squires told Broadsheet he had no plans to open another restaurant in Brisbane.

“The industry is going in a funny direction,” he said. “It’s becoming very commercialised and it’s good business nous to do that. But Brisbane is lacking that tourism [to drive trade through the week].”

But then Star chef Josue Lopez of soon-to-open Opal says Brisbane does offer a lot of value.

“There’s good value in cooking for $200 a head, and good value in a $20 burger,” Lopez told Broadsheet last week. “It’s all about perceptions and your expectations and your experience.

“If you’ve got good food, good wine in a lovely location, I think that works in any of the great cities of the world, and Brisbane is really on the verge of making that leap. It already has in many ways.”

Leon Getler 7th May 2018.