OPENINGS

Peace and quiet? In Melbourne? Miracles do happen  and they now come with a flat white. The Darling Group - the same brunch barons behind Higher Ground, Top Paddock and The Kettle Black has just unveiled The Observatory, a lush, light soaked all day dining spot nestled in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Serenity now comes with a side of heirloom tomatoes and possibly a chilled Pinot Gris.

Taking over the old Jardin Tan site, The Observatory has been reborn with polished plaster, constellation speckled terrazzo and a footprint big enough to host your next 300 closest friends. With three sides of glass and views so pretty this is the kind of venue that could make even a midweek meeting feel poetic.

There’s architectural nerdery too like the parallax etched walls nod to the Melbourne Observatory next door, while the menu delivers seasonally flexing produce in that casually luxe Darling Group way. Translation - simple food, done stupidly well.

“This part of the Gardens has always felt like a secret,” says Nick Seoud, Darling Group Director. “We just gave it a good-looking dining room and a decent wine list.”

Tarts Anon, who had been forced to vacate their Cremorne venue since 2022 will open in Richmond behind Top Paddock in mid May. Gareth Whitton and partner Catherine Way will be at 658 Church Street with the same sized space but with outdoor seating, a bigger space for eating in, and a glassed-in kitchen so customers can watch the pastry chefs at work. The Cremorne store and the CBD pop-up at Liminal staying open until the Richmond site opens, while the Collingwood outlet continnues business as usual. 

Brisbane’s most altitude-happy eatery is back  and yes, the views are still smugly spectacular. The Summit Restaurant has officially reopened atop Mt Coot-tha, and if you've ever wanted to sip local gin while pretending you're better than everyone in the valley below, well… now’s your chance.

Head Chef Kym Machin (ex-Urbane, current culinary mountain goat) is running the kitchen, turning Queensland’s finest produce, such as Daintree barramundi, Longreach lamb, and spanner crab that had better have travelled business class  into a menu that’s as expansive as the panorama.

The whole shebang is part of a multi-million-dollar Mantle Group glow up of the heritage site, complete with a brewpub style bar , a sleek dining room, and a verandah built for gloating on Instagram. It’s the kind of place that makes you want to toast the sunset with something local and smugly biodynamic.

And this is just the entrée. A boutique gin distillery, cultural centre, and two storey pavilion are all planned to roll out before Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic glow-up. The Summit is back — and it’s looking down on all of us (in the best way).

Godfrey Mantle of the Mantle Group said in a press release: "Our ambition is to make The Summit one of the most-iconic destinations in Queensland, a place that captures the natural beauty, rich history and vibrant spirit of Brisbane. The Summit Restaurant is just the beginning and we're incredibly excited about what's to come."

Josh Niland is taking his whole-fish ethos to Hamilton Island in the form of an elevated, family-friendly seafood diner. Located along Catseye Beach at new boutique hotel, The Sundays, the yet-to-be-named restaurant is set to open in April 2025.

Just months after the new era of Saint Peter opened in Paddington’s The Grand National Hotel, Niland and his wife Julie have announced their plans to open the restaurant eching the philosophy of St Peters Paddington, with the Sydney-based chef pioneering an intensely creative “scale-to-tail” approach of cooking, using almost every part of the fish.

Justin James (ex Restaurant Botanic) will open Restaurant Aptos in a 156-year-old converted church in the Adelaide Hills. .It seems all of Adelaide is excited about the venture, with just 14 seats and an immersive roving dining experience of 16 courses across three floors. American-born chef James is known for dining experiences, having catapulted Restaurant Botanic to global acclaim celebrating Australian native ingredients in a four hour dining marathon. 

The restaurant will be more like a house in an historic Gothic sandstone Stirling church formerly the home of Aptos Cruz Galleries. French-Canadian head chef Pierre Verret joins James in the venture. the two worked together at Melbourne's Vue de Monde. The restaurant will open at 147 Mt Barker Rd in Stirling. 

Farm-to-table dining isn’t going anywhere, but chef and farmer Simone Watts will up the stakes when she opens Barragunda Dining on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. A seed-to-service circular ethos will prevail through regeneratively reared and grown cattle, orchards, and vegetables.

Positioned on the rugged eastern tip of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Barragunda Estate features 1,000 acres of sprawling native bushland stretching from Green’s Bush to Bushranger’s Bay and the towering cliffs of Cape Schanck. The 40-seat restaurant is a uniquely immersive experience: an intimate dining room in unison with the thriving market garden outside, forging a deep connection between diners and the earth’s abundance.