Photo: Israel Rivera
It’s always a promising sign when a meal starts with Champagne, but what if it carried through to the finish That’s encouraged at Winnifred’s, a striking multi level venue in Fortitude Valley home to more than 14,000 bottles of Champagne from 63 different growers, small-scale producers and maisons. While selecting from the list can be daunting, the well-versed staff are more than helpful.
When I go to order a glass of Maurice Choppin Damery to go with Coffin Bay Pacific oysters, I’m steered towards a Delamotte Brut instead, whose freshness and light brioche notes are a better match. The Choppin follows, proving more powerful and layered with ginger, spice and oak; too overpowering for oysters, bbut with the hors d’oeuvres – a crisp potato rösti crowned with shaved fennel and Champagne pickled mussel, and a gougère piped with Langres cheese bechamel – it’s just right.
It’s this devotion to Champagne that’s made Winnifred’s one of Brisbane’s most ambitious openings in years, which has been buzzing since it launched in August. Founder Megan Nunn drew on her time in Champagne to bring some of the region’s finest cuvées to Brisbane, transforming a former furniture store into the three-storey French wonderland it is today.
There’s a ground-floor wine bar with a charming adjoining garden, plus a bottle shop and two upstairs private event rooms, though the centrepiece is the 60-seat bistro, Montagne de Reims. Here, the attention to detail astounds. Carefully tuned lighting illuminates each table without glare. Sleek timber chairs by Sydney designer Tom Fereday are stylish yet oh so comfortable. Even the walls, textured to echo Champagne’s terroir, are a subtle cue to the thought that has gone into this paragon of elegance.
Chef Antoine Potier (ex Restaurant Dan Arnold) heads up the open kitchen, delivering clever spins on French classics. The Jura’s classic chicken with morels in vin jaune, for instance, has inspired an entrée of quail with shiitake and silky foie gras sauce. A Stephane Fevre brut nature cuts through the richness with apple and citrus hints, and proves an equally apt match for almond-fed pork belly with parsnip, pickled apple, boudin noir and mustard jus. Come dessert, there’s ratafia de Champagne – fresh grape juice fortified into a sweet liqueur – which pairs wonderfully with a diplomat cream-filled choux pastry with almonds and tangy passionfruit sauce.
Nunn named the venue after her grandmother, who welcomed everyone through her door with great warmth and vivacity. There’s a portrait of Winnifred hanging in the venue, and no doubt she’s looking on with pride.
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