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Brisbane’s Best New Restaurants in 2026
Gather the gang and cross our edit of the best new restaurants in Brisbane off your bucket list.
This October, Brisbane’s best new restaurants include Cantonese elegance at Pavilion Dining alongside recently opened Euro-inspired breakfast bar Bistro Tino in Fortitude Valley, Argentinian steakhouse San Telmo in Brisbane City and South Bank’s pop-up Mediterranean spot Azure. Updated monthly, this edit rounds up every new Brisbane restaurant worth booking right now.
Best New Restaurants Brisbane: October
Pavilion Dining
Fusing traditional Cantonese with old-world glamour, Pavilion Dining is the Queen’s Wharf destination we’re coveting for Sunday brunch. Here, you’re invited to relax in plush booths while sipping fizzing cocktails and nibbling tender Peking duck pancakes. Best enjoyed family-style, Pavilion specialise in wok cooking and handmade dumplings. Dine a la carte, go all in on a banquet or linger over yum cha.
Suburb: Queen’s Wharf
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Chinese
Best For: Group dining, Weekend plans, Late night
Best New Restaurants Brisbane: June
Bistro Tino
Another delight from the Mosconi team, Bistro Tino offers a new way to start the day. A coffee and breakfast bar, the brief is pared-back Euro, complete with standing espresso and a relaxed atmosphere. The handmade Tasmanian oak bar, the centrepiece of the space, reflects Bistro Tino’s air of simplicity and quality. Nostalgia and simplicity are woven throughout the menu that offers an alternative to the classic Aussie brunch staples. Think fried brioche with honey ricotta and balsamic strawberries for breaky and simmered pastina minestrone and panzanella with yesterday’s bread, cucumber, and tomato vinaigrette for lunch.
Suburb: Fortitude Valley
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Best For: Date night, Outdoor dining, Brunch, Long lunch, Locals
San Telmo
There’s no longer a need to jump on a flight if you’re craving an Argentinian fire-cooked feast! Melbourne favourite San Telmo has arrived up north, and they’ve brought their signature flan, dry-aged chamber and open Parrilla grill with them. The Asado-style dining experience takes place within a space designed as an homage to the old-world, Art Deco glamour of Buenos Aires, with a wine list of Argentinian drops to top things off.
Suburb: Brisbane City
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Best For: Special occasion, Date night, Group dining, Long lunch
Azure Mediterranean
Here for a good time and not a long time, Azure Mediterranean is the pop-up our souls have been craving. Tucked onto the riverbank, the brief is Euro summer via long lunches, sunset cocktails and share plates.
Textured, neutral interiors set the scene whilst a series of on-theme beverages enhance the fantasy. We’ve particularly got our eye on the Olio Sour, lashed with olive oil, and the dedicated spritz menu. As for eats, we recommend gathering a group as it’s a case of the more the merrier. Kick off with Moreton Bay bug rolls or a colourful seafood platter, before passing plates of lamb rump and orzo and spanner crab lasagne around the table.
Sitchu Tip: Azure is offering $50 riverside charcuterie boxes for takeaway every day between 3pm and 5pm.
Suburb: South Bank
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Best For: Weekend plans, Date night, Waterfront, Group dining, Long lunch
Need To Know: Azure is operating as a pop-up open from June 2026 to March 2027
Best New Restaurants Brisbane: May
Greenhouse Newstead
Fuelled by fire, this opening from the Rebelo Group is a welcome addition to Brissy’s dining scene. Lush greenery and river views complement a delicious feast of mouthwatering wood-fired and charcoal menus. More than a restaurant, Greenhouse is a place to gather, whether that’s with something refreshing from the gelato cart on the lawns, a set menu in the private dining space or a Sunday morning long lunch.
Menu highlights include local QLD prawns from the wood-fire grill, market fish fresh from the charcoal oven and French rotisserie chicken with 48-hour sage gravy. And to finish? Table-side tiramisu.
Suburb: Newstead
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Best For: Long lunch, Weekend plans, Families, Group dining
Best New Restaurants Brisbane: April
Ruma Rooftop
Designed with local architecture as inspiration, this exquisite rooftop kitchen and bar is set to be your new favourite place for a sunset sip.
Ruma‘s kitchen is helmed by Chef Felipe Oliveira, serving up flavours inspired by the tropics and our abundant island.
We recommend popping by on a Sunday for your first visit to make the most of Ruma’s two long lunch set menus. Start with local bakery Idle’s iconic sourdough, with black garlic butter and native pepper berry salt. From there, expect the likes of oysters with finger lime, braised pork belly and grilled prawns doused in coastal herbs.
As for the drinks? Tropical pours reign supreme. We’re channelling the coconut-washed Ketel One with pandan, banana, ginger and citrus.
Suburb: New Farm
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Best For: Long lunch, Late night, Date night, Weekend plans
Best New Restaurants Brisbane: February
NIIWA
Conveniently located in the heart of James Street. NIIWA is the name and modern Japanese garden dining is the game. Head on in for elevated late-night eats (we’re talking elite prawn toast) and jazzy Japanese-inspired cocktails, whilst soaking up the atmosphere of the curated dining room.
Suburb: Fortitude Valley
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Japanese
Best For: Late night, Date night, Cocktail lovers
Venner
Venner is the type of restaurant that will see you off with a full heart as well as a full tummy. Danish for friends, even the name of this welcoming eatery embodies the ethos of connection — from chef to supplier, guest to guest and diner to food.
Venner’s creed is ‘Australian bones, Scandinavian heart’. Distilled into a menu, this means a commitment to the Nordic philosophy of sustainability, seasonality and minimalism, via a larder of exquisite Australian produce, sourced from suppliers they know by name. Ingredients are used at their peak, whether fresh or via housemade misos and ferments. Think BBQ deer loin with warrigal green sauce and pickled rosella and kangaroo pastrami with cultured cream.
As for the space, expect a pared-back dining room, hand-thrown plates and an intimate chef’s table counter.
Suburb: West End
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Best For: Date night, Locals, Weekend plans
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Best New Restaurants Brisbane: January
Aunty
The 12th venue from The Tassis Group (Longwang, Fat Cow, Stilts), Aunty serves up elegant, considered and warm interiors, alongside a generous modern Asian menu designed to be shared.
Despite seating up to 100 guests, the space has been designed to host intimate moments, with dining areas spread across multiple levels with booths and curtains contributing to the mood.
As for the menu, you’ll find a dedicated dim sum selection, alongside signature dishes like chilli mud crab and half duck cooked two ways. A huge offering of over 250 wines complements the food offering, alongside creative Asian-inspired cocktails.
Sitchu Tip: You’ll find us at the daily happy hour (3pm to 5pm), snacking on $12 lobster rolls and spritz.
Suburb: Fortitude Valley
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Asian fusion
Best For: Group dining, Long lunch, Date night
+81 Sushi Kappo
Helmed by Tokyo-trained chef Ikuo Kobayashi, this 12-seat omakase restaurant explores a connection with the diner and the chef, with each course prepared at the counter. Across multiple courses, guests can journey through micro seasons via hyper seasonal ingredients as well as speciality ingredients imported from Japan.
The dining room complements the experience, with a minimalist and refined palette and style.
The experience is rounded out with a selection of artisanal sake, rare Japanese whiskies and a selection of premium wines.
Suburb: West End
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Japanese
Best For: Special occasion, Date night, Solo dining
FAQs
The best new restaurant in Brisbane this October is Pavilion Dining at Queen’s Wharf, a Cantonese venue known for its handmade dumplings, wok cooking, Peking duck pancakes and yum cha. Other recent openings worth booking include Bistro Tino, a Euro-style breakfast bar in Fortitude Valley; San Telmo, the Argentinian steakhouse in Brisbane City; and Azure Mediterranean, a riverside pop-up in South Bank. Earlier in 2026, Greenhouse Newstead, Ruma Rooftop in New Farm, NIIWA, Venner, Aunty and +81 Sushi Kappo also joined the city’s dining scene.
Three of Brisbane’s best new restaurants have opened in Fortitude Valley in 2026: Bistro Tino, NIIWA and Aunty. Bistro Tino, from the Mosconi team, is a pared-back Euro-style coffee and breakfast bar with standing espresso and dishes like fried brioche with honey ricotta and balsamic strawberries. NIIWA, on James Street, specialises in modern Japanese garden dining, late-night eats and Japanese-inspired cocktails. Aunty, the 12th venue from The Tassis Group, serves a shareable modern Asian menu with dim sum, plus a daily happy hour from 3pm to 5pm.
San Telmo and Pavilion Dining are the best new restaurants in and around the Brisbane CBD. San Telmo, the Melbourne favourite, has brought its Argentinian fire-cooked dining to Brisbane City, with an open parrilla grill, a dry-aged chamber, signature flan and a wine list of Argentinian drops, all in a space inspired by Art Deco Buenos Aires. At Queen’s Wharf, Pavilion Dining pairs traditional Cantonese cooking with old-world glamour, serving handmade dumplings, Peking duck pancakes and yum cha in plush booths. Both sit at the $$$ price point and suit group dining.
Ruma Rooftop in New Farm, Greenhouse Newstead and Azure Mediterranean in South Bank are the best new Brisbane restaurants with a view. Ruma is a rooftop kitchen and bar made for sunset drinks, with tropical cocktails and Sunday long lunch set menus from chef Felipe Oliveira. Greenhouse Newstead pairs river views and lush greenery with woodfired and charcoal cooking, plus a gelato cart on the lawns. Azure Mediterranean, a pop-up on the South Bank riverbank until March 2027, serves sunset cocktails, a spritz menu and Mediterranean share plates by the water.
Yes, most of Brisbane’s best new restaurants sit at the mid-range $$ price point, including Bistro Tino, Greenhouse Newstead, Ruma Rooftop, NIIWA, Venner, Aunty and Azure Mediterranean. For the best value, head to Aunty in Fortitude Valley for its daily happy hour from 3pm to 5pm, with $12 lobster rolls and spritz. Azure Mediterranean offers $50 riverside charcuterie boxes for takeaway every day between 3pm and 5pm. Bistro Tino, a Euro-style coffee and breakfast bar in Fortitude Valley, is another relaxed option for breakfast or lunch.
Keen to explore even more of Brisbane? Take a peek at our ultimate edit of Brisbane’s best restaurants.
