Hope and Anchor — Restaurant in Brisbane City

The best thing about the Hope & Anchor pub was the beef cheeks with asparagus and mash. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender. It was well complemented with crunchy, fresh asparagus and creamy mash, and smothered in a rich, hearty gravy. The brussel sprouts with bacon slices was tasty enough but the portobello mushrooms were a tad oily.

As it was a hot steamy night in mid-summer, we sat outside on rather uncomfortable wooden benches, a bit too near the road for my liking. But that seemed preferable to sitting inside, which was a tad gloomy and cramped, and also had hard seating that was equally uncomfortable.

Not the kind of place you’d want to linger too long, so fortunately, service was quick and efficient, except for the beef cheeks, which were apparently overlooked, and only came out after everyone else had finished their meals. But as I told the apologetic bartender, it was worth the wait.

No-one comes to take your order here (it took us awhile of twiddling our thumbs, before we figured that out, thanks to a hint from fellow patrons), you just go up to the bar counter and give your order to the bartender, who also happens to be the order taker, cashier and general factotum it would seem. But to his credit, and despite juggling multiple roles on a fairly busy night, he was a pretty friendly and polite guy.

The toilets are upstairs. They were reasonably clean and well provisioned and there are separate male and female ones with sufficient cubicles to ensure no waiting.

Menu was a hit tricky to read with a small font and dim lighting. Acoustics were fair, and, sitting outside, there was not much noise from the other diners. But the road noise and some hoons skateboarding down Given Terrace was a bit of a distraction.

With a small tip and after allowing for our $20 Dimmi discount voucher (it took awhile to explain that to the bartender, but luckily I had the paperwork to prove it), we paid $110 for four of us and that included a couple of refreshing pale ales, four mains and two sides of brussel sprouts. That’s reasonable value in these desperate economic times, where a humble cup of coffee sets you back $4, but overall, the lack of comfort and patchy service wouldn’t see me rushing back next time I’m...

Been here twice now, can confidently say the chef here is very talented and quite imaginative.

The specials are fairly regularly updated and price is quite reasonable.

One of the highlights we had was the pork loin special. It was served with a beetroot purée, maple, apples and roasted almonds. Each of the flavours were extremely well balanced and complimented each other perfectly. The pork itself was cooked very tender. I loved the addition of the mustard seeds to add a bit of sharpness to cut through the earthy and sweet combination of beetroot and apple.

On the other hand the duck breast probably with radicchio needs a bit more work on the concept. Radicchio is a pretty difficult ingredient to use due to its bitterness and unfortunately, all other flavours in the duck breast dish were completely overwhelmed by the purée. The duck breast itself was fairly lean which meant there wasn’t much fattiness to balance the bitterness and the citrus from the orange used was very mild. Additionally the micro greens used only served to accentuate the bitterness of the radicchio. In my opinion using more olive oil and salt as well as grilling the radicchio before pureeing may help to mellow out the bitterness. Nonetheless, I still give 5 stars as such boldness in experimenting with such flavours is rare in Brisbane restaurants and is to be appreciated.

There was a slight fly problem where we were sitting in the courtyard and ideally this is to be looked at more a more enjoyable atmosphere.

Definitely...

My fiancé and I had our birthday dinner here (as we did last year) over a week ago.

Whoever took our booking said we could book a booth upstairs and later, someone also said it was okay if we cancelled one of the preordered meals on the day because our guest was sick.

Upon arrival we found they had placed us down stairs because apparently upstairs was booked and also wanted us to pay for the meal we cancelled that morning.

We expressed our annoyance (strongly) and Ash immediately realised how upset we were and the did everything in his power to make sure we were heard and taken care of. He moved us upstairs and him and the team made every effort to ensure we had a great night!

The food was excellent as always. Not on the cheap side, I had the Lamb and it was cooked perfectly. Good potion size for me, but for a bigger guy it may not be enough. My fiancé had the Cuban which was too big for her, so I would say it was more bang for buck! Most of our guests preordered the wagyu burger but forgot to add chips (which they quickly remedied) and they all seemed satisfied with them.

All in all, we’ve always love the vibe of Hope and Anchor especially upstairs. I’ve been there multiple times (when I used to work at given kitchen and bar, when it was around) and H&A never disappoints!

The staff and even the locals are always friendly!

Thanks a lot Ash and the team for ensuring we enjoyed ourselves! Keen to be back when we’re married, maybe sooner!

Chris...