Lunch at Bretts Wharf

449 Kingsford Smith Drive Hamilton Q 4007 - 07 3868 1717
www.brettswharf.com.au

Bretts Wharf Restaurant is an award-winning, iconic Brisbane seafood restaurant, situated along the Brisbane River in Hamilton. Established in 1995, the restaurant offers a relaxing, wide riverside view, with a spacious interior dining area, which is structured lengthways, to take full advantage of the view, as well as an outdoor dining area and a private dining room. On site is also a private function venue, known as 'The River Room'. The restaurant boasts fresh, local seasonal seafood, so the à la carte menu changes frequently, according to produce availability.

Headed by executive chef, Alastair McLeod, the restaurant has secured a strong reputation in the Brisbane fine-dining scene over the years. Besides the food and the service, its continuing success is no doubt probably also attributed to the rising popularity of their executive chef, who is also a celebrity chef here in Australia. He presents for radio and television shows, such as Ready, Steady, Cook, and also attends food shows to present food demonstrations, as well as to MC for other chefs in the 'celebrity chef theatres'. He is hilariously funny at the food events, and through his light-hearted, laid-back manner, one could almost perceive the type of food that could be expected from him at his restaurants - contemporary and simple, in a relaxed, informal dining environment. And that is exactly what Bretts Wharf is renowned for.

Despite its success as a business, certain events surrounding the local council's decision to reclaim the land on which the restaurant is situated led to the owners' ultimate decision to close the restaurant down (a more detailed explanation of the situation can be found on their website). This was sad news for me, because I've never dined there before, and it's been on my 'to-dine-at' list for quite some time. My friend messaged me about it as soon as she saw announced on the news that Bretts will be closing down at the end of this month, so I hurriedly went on their website to make a reservation, as I was convinced that if it was on the news, they would very soon be inundated with bookings. The booking was successful, and I went there for lunch yesterday afternoon with my friend, Joanne.

Without further ado, let's get started with the review!

The restaurant:

On arrival, we were taken to a corner table in the indoor dining area, overlooking the boardwalk and river. As described previously, the dining space was very large, so the tables were at a comfortable distance from each other, allowing privacy and ample personal space to relax. Although the Brisbane River is not the cleanest nor the prettiest body of water to look at, there's just something so tranquil about looking out at water and the large expanse of blue sky (it was a lovely bright, sunny day). It lends to the calm, relaxed ambience of the restaurant, and perfectly suits its seafood theme. The sight and sound of water, seagulls and pelicans can also make diners imagine their seafood to be extra fresh. Positioning a seafood restaurant next to water is a clever tactic indeed.

A gang of pelicans

The pelicans were definitely a talking point and a good distraction for those silent breaks in conversations. There were so many of them! It's all well and good that we were separated by a sheet of glass, but I think I might have been a bit intimidated if I had to walk along the boardwalk, with these birds manning it like it was their territory.

The service:

The restaurant certainly lived up to their claim of having friendly, professional waitstaff. The waiter, who serviced our section of the restaurant during the whole sitting, was fantastic. He was attentive without being intrusive, like a shadow. As soon as the water in the glass was drained halfway, an arm with a jug of water would instantly appear over the shoulder and automatically refill the glass. Even when we had questions to ask, he was never far away from reach, unlike in some other restaurants, where you might have to wait for some time before a waiter does their round near your table. When he saw my friend and I staring out at the birds, he told us a bit about them, like how one of them was 70-80 years old, and when standing tall with beak in the air, the bird would reach his height (i.e. quite tall). He also told us how when the kitchen had any fish left, they would feed the pelicans, which explains why there were so many of them wandering along the restaurant part of the boardwalk, and why even when in the water, they waded closeby in flocks.





We saw a lot of people walking along the boardwalk to take pictures of the pelicans, so they're quite popular birds!



I can never tell if the birds are looking at me when they look side on or when they look en face

The birds kept walking up close to the window and peering at our food on the table. Just imagine the chaos that would ensue if they found their way inside!

The food:

For drinks, I ordered a pineapple and ginger-root mocktail, and my friend ordered their Berry Crush mocktail, which was a blend of cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, and lemon juice. Her's was, as expected, a bit tart, and mine was sweet and tasted okay. 

Mocktails

There was a large range of starters and entrées on the à la carte menu, all of which sounded extremely tasty. We decided to order some stuffed olives and fresh natural oysters to share. When I read the description of the stuffed olives on the menu, I imagined bite-sized olives, which would be crispy on the outside, due to the crust, and yieldingly soft on the inside, because of the soft cheese filling. They weren't as delicious as I expected them to be, but, for a largely non-olive-eater, eating my fair share was a pretty big compliment.

Parmesan-crusted olives, stuffed with goats cheese, and served with aioli 

Deciding to go for natural or grilled oysters was a no-brainer for me. In my opinion, anything that can be eaten raw, may it be oysters, salmon sashimi, or salmon roe, should be eaten raw if it is very fresh, as that is when you can taste and savour its freshness. That's not to say that if the food is cooked it doesn't have to be fresh, but it just seems like such a waste to cook fresh food that can be eaten in its simple unadulterated form. Same with fruit. You wouldn't poach a perfectly fresh, ripe peach, now would you? Back to the oysters: they were super fresh, and the simple shallot vinegar and lemon juice added a bit of zing that enhanced the natural taste of the oysters. Thumbs up!


Natural Pacific oysters served with shallot vinegar

The mains featured largely seafood, but also offered two steak dishes. It seemed a bit silly to order steak at a seafood restaurant, so we decided to go for the fish. I ordered the roasted fish of the day, which was swordfish, with two grilled tiger prawns, on a bed of petit pois à la Française (peas, bacon pieces, shredded cabbage in a beurre blanc-like sauce). My friend ordered the roasted barramundi, which came atop spaghettini.


 'Roasted local fish, grilled tiger prawns, petit pois à la Française'

'Roasted barramundi, king prawns, spaghettini, tomato'

I must admit that I was a tad disappointed when the dishes were placed on the table. On first impression, the plating was boring, and the presentation was simple and homely, probably moreso my friend's dish than mine. However, when I cut into the fish, my fears of not being able to finish the huge cut of boring-looking fish were alleviated. Despite the fact that the steak of fish was cut quite thickly, the flesh was cooked to perfection, and it was moist and juicy throughout. The seasoning was spot on, and the creamy peas complemented the fish and its creamy sauce well. The prawns were okay. The serving size was a bit too big for me, and I couldn't finish it all, but I'm sure it would have been just right for someone with a bigger appetite. Overall, it was a simple but wholesome and delicious dish.

My worries for my friend's dish, which looked like it was lacking sauce, were also needless. My friend said that her pasta was well coated in the sauce and tasted really nice. It comes to show, yet again, that one really should not judge a book by its cover. It does say on the restaurant's website that Alastair likes to present his fish simply, too. I think all these reality cooking shows on television, like MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules have brainwashed us to expect a lot more presentation-wise at restaurants.

At this point, we were already quite full, but didn't want to forgo dessert. I ordered the coffee-flavoured crème brulée with an espreso poached pear, and my friend ordered a chocolate fondant with vanilla icecream. The fondant would take 15 minutes, we were told, which gave our stomachs some time to digest the first two courses.


'Latte' crème brulée and espresso poached pear

Valrhona chocolate fondant, vanilla bean icecream, blueberries

The presentation of the desserts was simple, but nice. I love how my crème brulée was served in a clear glass, which allows all the layers of the dessert to be seen. I'm surprised they managed to find oven-safe glasses to bake the custards in (Note to self: must go hunt these down). I was quite baffled over the identity of the creamy, white topping. At first, I thought the fluffy cloud of white, opaque foam sitting atop the crème brulée was whipped cream, but the light substance held its structure when cut through with a spoon, and it didn't taste sweet. In any case, its contrasting lightness helped to cut through the dense, rich, creamy custard and the sweet, caramelised sugar layer. Maybe the serving size was too big, or maybe it was because I was quite full already, but this dessert wasn't very moreish for me. Sometimes, less is more, especially when it comes to very rich dishes. I couldn't finish it. I liked it, but I wouldn't be wishing to eat it again any time soon. The poached pear was unmemorable. I don't care for poached fruit; however, I can say that it was well poached, but didn't taste of coffee, like it was probably supposed to.

My friend said the hero of her dish was the vanilla-bean icecream. She liked the chocolate fondant, but found it a bit too bitter, unless eaten together with the other elements of the dish, which makes sense.

Remember how I said that the waiter mentioned that they would feed the pelicans if there were leftover fish in the kitchen? Well, they must have, because one of the staff was seen on the boardwalk with a bucket feeding the flurry of hungry pelicans, which all seemed to have been anticipating this moment to come. It was entertaining for both diners and for the weekenders taking an afternoon stroll. I reckon some families go there around this time especially to see the feeding of the pelicans, which must happen regularly.

By the time we had finished eating, it was 3pm, so we had been sitting there for 3 hours! It was time to take our leave of this comfortable restaurant. My friend had a 'buy 1, get 1 main free' offer for Bretts Wharf from the Brisbane Entertainment Book, so with that, the total bill came to $158, which wasn't too bad, given that we did have a 3 course meal. I think the price of the entrées and mains is set a bit higher than at a lot of other fine-dining restaurants, but I guess the portion sizes are quite generous. While I appreciate the concept of presenting fresh food at its simple best, at this price point, I do generally expect the presentation to be a bit more creative. I enjoyed the food, but it lacked the 'wow' factor for me. However, with all that said, dining out is about the overall experience, and for me, the comfortable setting, the view, the extremely fresh oysters and the amazing service made for a fantastic dining experience, and made it worth the money and the travel distance. My experience would have been all the better if Alastair McLeod was there, but unfortuntely, he was at his other Brisbane restaurant, Tank, that day.

Oh, and this is not food related, but I just wanted to mention their nifty restrooms - there are two toilets in the female restrooms, both of which are in totally self-contained (all walls intact from floor to ceiling) cubicles with their own air vents. I don't think you can get any more privacy than that!

If you haven't been to Bretts Wharf before, I would recommend coming here for a lovely, casual dining experience, before they close down on the 2nd September. I am actually sick with a pretty bad cough at the moment, and was sick yesterday, but decided to go anyway, armed with a Ventolin inhaler and various cough lozenges, because my friend would not be free again until well and truly after the restaurant closes its doors for good. I'm glad I did, because the food and fresh air made me feel a lot better that day, and I didn't even cough at all at the restaurant! Let your partners know that fine dining is the sure-fire way to recovery ;)

Before I sign off, here's a picture of the outfit I wore on that bright, sunny afternoon, laced with a cool Winter breeze:

Outside the doors of Bretts Wharf for the first and last time, wearing: Alannah Hill 'Candlelight Crisis' cardigan, Kitten D'Amour 'Windy Day' skirt, Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Classic Q Natasha' bag in Meteorite Blue, Wittner 'Oria' mid-heel Mary Janes in buttermilk.

 

More pelicans along the Brisbane River!

I would also recommend taking a lazy afternoon stroll on the boardwalk after your meal to aid digestion. Following your lead, Mr Pelican!