You know the feeling? The one where you want to savour every last minute of something till its inevitable demise? You know, when each simple pleasure that you derive from the moment is also tinged with the exact same amount of regret because by the simple act of enjoying the moment, you are also hastening its end? No? Well, you need to visit the Aria restaurant in Brisbane to know exactly what I am talking about.
Aria is celebrity chef Matt Moran’s foray into Brisbane and is a sibling to the original Aria in Sydney. The fact that he opened a sister restaurant in Brisbane instead of Melbourne speaks volume about the sophistication of the average Brisbane foodie and how highly Brisbane is regarded now compared to its southern sisters.
We were there to celebrate a special occasion and loved every minute of it. Shellie and I were greeted at the front door, asked to wait for a few minutes in the bar area because our table wasn’t ready. We started enjoying the complimentary olives and lightly spiced almonds and gazed at the beautiful Storey Bridge. It was just before dusk and we could just barely make out the climbers on top of the bridge. No sooner had we finished half the olives and the almonds, we were whisked away to our table with a view (but not before I could get the details of those lovely almonds from the maître-de).
We small talked with the Maître-de about the devastating effect the recent floods had had on the restaurant business in Eagle Street pier, of which the Aria is a signature restaurant. We were quite surprised to learn that in spite of the floods having destroyed most of the basement of the pier (which housed their refrigeration and power units), Aria itself was back up and running within 2 weeks.
The menu at Aria is not extensive. There are there fish dishes, a rabbit, a lamb and a veal dish. A vegetarian Mozzarella dish rounds it up for a total of 7 items. But what it lacks in range, it makes it up in the quality.
We decided to forego entrées in favour of desert at the end. We did not regret this decision as you will see later. Shellie picked the King Salmon ($46), while I had the Veal ($45).
Before the mains arrived, we were given complimentary soup and bread. The soup was in a short glass, and combined a delicious blend of white bean and mushroom. For bread, there was a choice of sour dough or plain white.
We also ordered a side of truffle mash to go with our mains ($9). Although slightly oily, It was one of the best mash I have ever tasted.
The mains themselves were a work of art. Both in taste and style. With each tasty morsel we took pleasure in the fine balance between the different textures and styles that the expert chefs under Matt had created. The salmon and the veal were expertly cooked, with the veal especially melting in the mouth. Each other item on the plater was perfectly presented and each one had a raison-d’etre. I knew that we had arrived at our favourite restaurant in Brisbane when I noticed Shellie also taking in each bite slowly and purposefully, not wanting the meal to end.
Even though we were pretty full from the mains (and the soup/bread earlier), we wanted to keep our promise and decided to look at the desert menu. Again, there were 7 dishes on offer each under $22 (selection of cheeses is at $26). I opted for the Banoffee while Shellie decided to go for the pistachio cake.
One bite of our deserts (and each others) and we decided to switch. The Banoffee brûlée’s texture was not to my taste while Shellie wasn’t too keen on the Pistachio ice-cream that accompanied her cake. Although we both quite enjoyed the deserts, it wasn’t near the perfection that had been attained by the main meals.
After the meals were finished, we had what we call in our household “a Sizzler belly”. (Sizzler is a chain of restaurants in Queensland and New South Wales and serves a “all you can eat” buffet. Most people try and prove the point and hence the term – Sizzler Belly). So we were happy that we hadn’t ordered the entrée as well. It would have been impossible to eat a three course meal. It works out well if you are on a budget as well.
If you are on an even tighter budget, you can skip the desert as well as you will get complimentary petits fours brought to your table even if you don’t order tea or coffee. However these were the weakest part of the meal for us. We were thinking that we were going to finish the night on a low after such a great meal.
But the good folks at the restaurant weren’t finished with us. While we were leaving, our waiter was waiting with a small box of (again complimentary) macaroons to take home. Ahh! Bliss. It reminded us why we had made the decision to go to the Aria in the first place, and why we will keep going back.
In a nutshell
The good: Top of the line restaurant with main meals to die for. Perfect location, perfect service.
The not so good: The ambience – the music needs an upgrade. Too loud at times and sounds like elevator music.
Where: 1 Eagle Street, Eagle Street Pier, Brisbane, Qld 4000.
Open: Lunch M -F (12 – 2:30). Dinner: All Week