The epitome of ‘immersive dining’, 70s fishing trawler-turned floating restaurant, The Prawnster, has moored permanently at Dockside, serving up the city’s freshest seafood. Dishing up a daily catch of Moreton Bay bugs, oysters, king prawns and mud crabs (when in season), The Prawnster is maybe the most charming dining experience in the city. Floating on the Brisbane River and overlooking a leafy pocket of New Farm.

Three Stokehouse alumni take on a contemporary spaghetti bar in the historic wool stores, bringing a touch of the Amalfi coast to the city fringes. Ever-changing, the menu features a handful of signature spaghetti dishes – think tiger prawns with charred spring onion and zucchini, confit duck ragu, and SA octopus with harissa and smoked macadamia – plus a few sides including fresh oysters, scallops, and delicate crostinis.

Moody Roman-style eatery down a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Valley laneway slinging traditional Italian street food into the early hours. The entire menu is an ode to traditional Roman-style dining; simple, rustic classics you’d find in any discerning Roman eatery. The menu is dotted with street-style dishes—supli, crostini, polpette, plus several charcuterie options—as well as iconic Roman pasta dishes like carbonara, cacio e pepe, and amatriciana.

A BYO neighbourhood pasta joint giving Brisbane’s top Italian kitchens a run for their money. With the menu changing daily based on what’s available at market, owners Leila Amirparviz and Darcy Adam like to keep their iteration of Italian dining simple, classic, and packed with local produce. Expect Italian paragons like pillowy gnocchi with house pomodoro and parmigiana, burrata and salsa verde, deep stuffed agnolotti, and a decadent ‘tiramisu for two’ popping up occasionally.

One of the best authentic Vietnamese restaurants outside of Fortitude Valley and Sunnybank, hit Hello Please for spicy street food in its brand spanking new venue. Having just undergone an enormous renovation, Hello Please 2:0 has retained its status as one of Brisbane’s favourite Vietnamese joints. But it wasn’t just the venue that got a glow up. Chef Jesse Stephens applied the same treatment to Hello Please’s menu, adding a host of new dishes as part of its reincarnation.

Accessed via a Valley backstreet and next to a loading dock and multi-story car park, hôntô’s humble entrance belies a moody Japanese dining room complete with elegant raw bar and underground drinking den. It’s maybe the sexiest date night you’ll go on…Bites and Raw dishes start at $6, while mains range from $30-$40. Their chef’s banquet is $75pp – a great option for indecisive eaters.

The beauty of Joy is you never quite know what you’re going to get. Owner and head chef, Sarah, gives away just enough to pique the interests of diners everywhere; that the plates are small, there will be many of them, and that they’re (kind of sort of) Japanese by design. While a dining surprise at Joy has a month-long waiting list, two hats and rave reviews can’t be wrong. Joy’s current degustation-style menu is $150 per person.

Making a strong case for curries and cocktails, Same Same’s contemporary Bangkok cuisine-meets modern Brisbane architecture is one of the city’s most anticipated restaurant openings. Snacks start at $6 and mains range from $35-$50. Their chef selection starts at $65pp + matching wine flight.

Brisbane’s answer to a high-end steak and oyster bar, acclaimed restauranteur Simon Gloftis goes full service with white linen tablecloths, caviar, and martinis. Toothfish, oysters served with champagne mignonette, lobster, caviar; if your hard-earned cash’s burning a hole in your wallet, SK will show you a good time.

The crew behind hôntô and Same Same go for the hat trick; a modern Australian eatery fuelled by woodfired cooking – and a 1500 strong wine list. Licked by flames and cooked over hot coals, Agnes’ niche dining experience gives a modern edge to share-style plates. Starters come in at $12-$30, with share plate mains starting at $50. Agnes also offers a set menu at $75pp.

Happy Boy’s younger sibling tackles share plates from China and the Chinese diaspora, pairing dishes with small-batch drops. Chinese snack food at its finest, its dumplings, buns, and skewers dominating Snack Man’s small plate menu. House specialties of Yan Su Ji crispy chicken wings, chao shou (mini wontons in chilli oil) and cha sui bao BBQ chicken buns are steamed or fried fresh to order, all washed down with the best small-batch and natural wines from around the world.

A far cry from Yiayia’s casual taverna, this is grown-up Greek in all its marbled glory. Everything from the marble bar and floor tiles, to the elegant timber seating and European-style alfresco section overlooking the hotel’s pool, oozes class. The menu is no different. Grilled saganaki with wedges of fresh lemon, plates of grilled SA octopus and veal dolmades, even the house ‘village’ bread and taramosalata dip feels authentic.

This much-loved, two-hatted fine dining Italian recently upped sticks from its CBD postcode for river and city views in South Brisbane. Think white linen tablecloths, luxurious southern Italian classics, and award-winning wine list and killer service– an overachiever in the very best way.

CBD Italian stalwart, Coppa Spuntino has resurfaced as an Amalfi-inspired dining room, breathing new life into a riverside dining precinct—and much-loved eatery. With a change of scenery comes a new menu, too. Much of the original menu is present, including Coppa’s famous meatballs and handmade gnocchi, but the pizza has been swapped out for pasta, and larger, heartier plates like roast porchetta and Bistecca alla Fiorentina have landed, levelling up to dining destination status.

A back bar filled with rare tequilas and mescals and a menu more reflective of downtown Mexico City than Brisbane’s westside, this tiny taqueria—and self-proclaimed ‘agave cathedral’—gives the city the long-awaited authentic Mexican restaurant it deserves. From the hand-pressed tortillas, house fermented tepache, and hot sauce made from bhuta, merkén and habanero chillies, everything is made in-house.