A local’s guide to Brisbane: ‘what do you want? Because it’s all here’ |

Food

Brisbane is this really tight, convenient food city. If I have friends visiting from Sydney or Los Angeles, I just ask, “What do you want? Because it’s all here.”

There’s really great Korean along Elizabeth Street in the CBD; Taiwanese and Chinese down in Sunnybank; Vietnamese in Inala, 30 minutes out of the city; and there are world-class restaurants along James Street.

A favourite is La Lupa, this Italian restaurant that flies under the radar slightly in West End. The owners Valentina Vigni and Andrea Contin are Italian, the food is Italian, and Andrea has a wine-import business, so you get some brilliant bottles there.

Otto down on the river is a great spot also, with a menu that leans into local seafood. Sitting there, grazing on champagne lobster spaghettini and beef carpaccio is a quintessentially Brisbane experience.

For breakfast, I love sending people to Florence in Camp Hill. It’s this renovated old corner store in a really leafy suburb, where it’s just street after street of beautiful Queenslander houses. It’s a real local’s spot.

Further out, besides being a hub for mainland Chinese cuisine, Sunnybank is home to the largest Taiwanese ex-pat community in Australia and has a bunch of great Taiwanese-style restaurants. My favourite is Glamorous Wok – it has super fresh flavours; I order the cold crystal chicken salad and hot and spicy pig’s ear.

Inspiration

Visitors maybe know Goma for its blockbuster shows but it’s worth visiting any time of the year – its collection of art from Asia and the Pacific is one of the best in the world, and there’s usually a tightly curated exhibition in one of the smaller galleries.

Brisbane Powerhouse down on the river in New Farm is also really great, either for smaller exhibitions, or for stand-up comedy and live music.

Neighbourhood

I love those nitty-gritty spots of Inala, Sunnybank and West End, but if I’m just out with my daughters, I’ll take them down to James Street. There’s nothing else like it – this leafy precinct full of great architecture, boutiques and some of the best restaurants in town. But like all of Brisbane, it’s super approachable. We’ll grab a coffee or Lebanese breakfast from The Green, gelato from Messina, or go to Bianca to sit out front, eat pasta and watch the world go by.

Green space

Brisbane is made for the outdoors, but hands-down my favourite spot is the City Botanic Gardens. It’s so well connected with bike paths and a bridge over the river to South Bank. I take the girls and they’re just amazed by these enormous palms or the figs, or the rainforest and ferns.