Celebrity chef Matt Moran to open new Brisbane restaurant
Celebrity chef Matt Moran. Source: The Courier-Mail
In a big thumbs up for Queensland dining, celebrity chef Matt Moran will open a second Brisbane restaurant.
Just days shy of the third birthday of his first offering, Aria, in Brisbane's Eagle St restaurant strip, Moran and hospitality group Solotel will take over the defunct Boardwalk Bar and Bistro.
The Brisbane River Bar, due to open in December, will occupy the sizeable riverside site at the base of Riparian Plaza, also on Eagle St, that has been vacant since the demise of the ambitious Insyde Restaurant Group earlier this year.
Moran said the new offering would resemble Opera Bar, at the Sydney Opera House.
"There will be a pizza oven - there's a Beech oven going in there - and there will be lots of share plates and a grill similar to Opera Bar, but we don't want to take away from Aria," Moran said.
The new venue would serve breakfasts and coffees, as well as lunches and dinners, with seating for 400 and standing room for several hundred more.
As well as opening Brisbane River Bar, Mr Moran said there were also some renovations and changes in store for Aria Brisbane, involving outdoor seating and a new bar menu.
The site will be gutted before occupation and will be made weather-friendly in a design that will be "clean and natural, featuring lots of wood and a Queensland feel", he said.
Brisbane-born chef Damian Heads will soon open the Brisbane version of his Sydney Pony Restaurant close by at Eagle St Pier.
Source: The Courier Mail, 13 August 2012
