The Top 68 Places to Eat Near Dark Shepherd
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Rank 2. Dark Shepherd
Woodfire Mediterranean
Lamb is the organizing principle at this woodfire Mediterranean restaurant inside The Star Brisbane, where the open flame does most of the talking. The menu is built for sharing, moving through premium lamb, fresh seafood, and whatever the season offers, all with that particular smokiness you only get from cooking over actual fire. The sunken dining floor adds a surprisingly theatrical quality to a room that doesn't otherwise try too hard to impress you.
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Rank 3. Pompette
French
Shimmering lights and a champagne list that takes its job seriously set the tone at this French bar and dining room inside The Star Brisbane. The menu runs the classics hard: escargot, lobster thermidor, duck à l'orange, steak au poivre. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat. The room is dressed for celebration, and the crowd tends to arrive already in the mood to have one.
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Rank 4. Sokyo Brisbane
Japanese
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Rank 5. Donna Chang
Chinese
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Rank 6. SUUM
Korean
Sixteen seats, a cave-dark room of blackened steel and raw timber, and a Korean omakase menu that changes with the seasons. SUUM is the kind of quiet, focused dining room where you arrive, accept a glass of housemade makgeolli with a snack, and hand the evening over to the kitchen. The two Chef Hat tasting menu runs a dozen or so courses, rooted in Korean tradition and clearly comfortable straying from it.
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Rank 8. Hideki
Japanese
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The Dragon King of the Sea gets a two-level laneway restaurant in Brisbane CBD, all contemporary theatre and open-air bar alongside tucked-away dining rooms. The menu runs on shared plates of modern Asian cooking, leaning hard into local seafood with flavours that don't apologize for themselves. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, if that calibrates expectations. Dress like you mean it; this place clearly does.
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The Port Office Building's sandstone bones make a fitting frame for a serious steakhouse: high ceilings, heritage detail, a wine list that takes up real estate. Moo Moo keeps up to twenty cuts on the menu at once, running from in-house dry-aged beef to Australian and international Wagyu. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, and the room draws the kind of diner who has opinions about marbling.
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Rank 11. The Brasserie at Naldham House
Modern Australian
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Rank 13. Clarence
Modern Australian
Seafood-forward in a way that feels like a point of view rather than a theme, Clarence is a relaxed brasserie on Fish Lane where the plates are generous and meant to be passed around. The room has that warm neighbourhood energy where conversation does half the work, and the cooking leans on produce the way some restaurants lean on adjectives. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat confirms the kitchen is doing more than keeping up.
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Rank 14. Firma Italian
Italian
The pasta here is made in-house, and the room takes itself seriously enough that you probably won't show up in thongs. Firma is a polished Italian restaurant inside Emporium Hotels on Grey Street, the kind of place built for a long lunch that quietly becomes dinner. The cooking runs from antipasti through to mains, with the precision you'd expect from a kitchen that holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 15. Marlowe
Modern Australian
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Rank 16. Otto Brisbane
Italian
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Rank 17. Central Restaurant
Chinese
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Rank 18. Komeyui Brisbane
Japanese
Refined Japanese dining in a Spring Hill terrace, where the kitchen treats each plate as something closer to a still life than a meal. The team brings serious international training to bear on seasonal seafood and produce, with the kind of attention to temperature and texture that suggests they'd notice if you ate in the wrong order. It holds a One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide, and the room takes the whole thing as seriously as the food does.
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Rank 19. C'est Bon
French
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Rank 20. Rich & Rare
Australian Steakhouse
Dry-aged steaks and fresh seafood in a steakhouse that somehow skips the macho-shrine decor most of the genre relies on. Rich & Rare sits in West End's West Village precinct with a mood that's more "open a good bottle" than "here's your complimentary steak knife set." The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat. Bring a group or sneak in for a solo whisky; the room handles both without making either feel wrong.
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Rank 21. Ippin Japanese Dining
Japanese
The charcoal robata grill does real work here, turning out duck breast and Wagyu alongside a raw bar stocked with kingfish and sea urchin. Ippin is a Japanese dining room inside West Village that leans into the full spread, from tempura through to sashimi to grilled mains, in surrounds that feel dressed-up without being stiff. One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide. Probably not the place for a quick midweek ramen fix.
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Rank 22. Agnes
Modern Australian
Fire is the organizing principle at this wood-grill restaurant in Fortitude Valley, not a talking point. The kitchen runs beef, seafood, and vegetables through the same charcoal logic, building depth without burying the ingredient. It's spread across three levels of a heritage building, from a main dining room to a wine bar to a terrace, and the whole thing moves with a calm, unhurried rhythm. Agnes holds a spot on the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants list.
- World's 101 Best #20 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 14/20 · Two Chef Hats
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Rank 23. Stanley
Chinese
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Rank 24. The Balfour Kitchen & Bar
Modern Australian
A restored Queenslander on a quiet New Farm street, this all-day spot shifts from a sunlit verandah breakfast to a wine bar with fairy lights in the courtyard once the evening cools. Modern Australian share plates and a thoughtfully chosen wine list fill the night hours, while mornings bring specialty coffee and brunch cocktails that suggest the kitchen doesn't take the AM too seriously. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 25. Perspective Dining
Modern Australian
Tasting menus run from three to nine courses here, plant-based or protein-led, so you can calibrate how serious an evening you want. Perspective is an intimate modern Australian fine-diner on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley, the kind of place where the kitchen leans hard into seasonal and local produce, and the room is styled to match that ambition. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it Two Chef Hats. Private dining seats up to fourteen.
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Rank 26. sAme sAme
Thai
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Rank 27. Joy Restaurant
Modern Australian
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Rank 29. Winnifred’s
French
Soft lighting, warm tones, and a menu that leans hard into classic French bistro cooking occupy a quiet stretch of Arthur Street in Fortitude Valley. Winnifred's is the kind of place where a long lunch with a decent Burgundy seems not just reasonable but necessary. Steaks get proper sauces, seafood is treated without fuss, and the room manages to feel polished without making you nervous about your shoes.
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Rank 31. Honto
Japanese
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Rank 32. Pilloni
Italian
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Rank 33. Essa Restaurant
Modern Australian
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Rank 34. Gerard's
Middle Eastern
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Rank 35. Attimi by Dario Manca
Italian
A 28-seat fine dining room on Given Terrace where the chef's Sardinian roots quietly run the kitchen, pulling contemporary Italian cooking away from white-tablecloth formality toward something warmer. Arancini shaped like mushrooms give you a sense of the playfulness on the plate. The footpath spills over into aperitivo territory when the weather cooperates. A two-hat entry in the Australian Good Food Guide for a room this small is a lot of weight for one terrace house to carry.
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Rank 36. Fatcow on James St
Steakhouse
A sleek steakhouse on one of Brisbane's better-dressed streets, where the whole point is the cut and the kitchen knows it. The room runs warm and the service is polished without being stiff, which makes it equally good for a long lunch with clients or a dinner where you're trying to impress someone. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it two Chef Hats, which tracks for a place this serious about the beef.
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Rank 40. Montrachet
French
The French wine list runs deep enough that you could spend the whole meal just reading it, which sets the tone for a French fine dining room that takes the classics seriously. The chef trained under Michelin kitchens, and the cooking shows it, seasonal and precise without tipping into the self-conscious. Bowen Hills is a quiet address for somewhere this polished, but regulars seem to prefer it that way.
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Rank 41. Restaurant Dan Arnold
Australian
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Rank 42. Layla
Middle Eastern
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Rank 43. Deer Duck Bistro
Modern Australian
Fine dining in a suburb you'd never expect it, inside a room dressed in French Renaissance furniture, antique paintings, and crystal decanters that look borrowed from a minor aristocrat's estate sale. Deer Duck Bistro runs a degustation menu threading Modern Australian cooking through European technique, and the Australian Good Food Guide awarded it Two Chef Hats. The candles and old silver do a lot of work, but the kitchen keeps up.
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Rank 44. e'cco bistro
Modern Australian
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Rank 45. Rogue Bistro
Modern Australian
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Rank 46. Bosco
Mediterranean
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Rank 47. Melrose Restaurant and Rooftop Bar
Pan-Asian Thai
A rooftop bar and Pan-Asian restaurant at the quiet river end of Oxford Street, Melrose is the kind of place where the open sky does half the work. The menu runs through Southeast Asian technique with locally sourced produce, built for sharing, and the cocktail list is matched to the food rather than bolted on as an afterthought. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 48. Herve's Restaurant and Bar
Modern French
Classic French technique with a Queensland pantry underneath it is the organizing idea at this modern French restaurant in Albion. The room reads sophisticated without being stiff, and the menu moves through French foundations with quiet Basque touches and local produce doing the heavy lifting. A tasting menu is available for the full commitment crowd. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 49. Ramona Trattoria
Italian
The focaccia and pizza dough ferments for at least 48 days before it ever sees an oven, which tells you most of what you need to know about this Coorparoo trattoria. Pasta is hand-shaped daily with local organic eggs, each shape matched to its sauce with the seriousness of a structural engineer. The room runs on the kind of unhurried Italian hospitality that makes you feel like you were expected.
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Rank 50. Sono Portside
Japanese
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Rank 51. Ach Wine Bar & Bistro
Middle Eastern
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Rank 52. SK Steak & Oyster
Modern Australian Steakhouse
Marble surfaces, pale timber, and enough natural light to make Brisbane's notorious heat feel intentional set the tone at this modern Australian steakhouse inside The Calile Hotel. The wood-fired grill handles both dry- and wet-aged beef with restraint, while oysters and seafood sit alongside the meat as equals rather than afterthoughts. It ranked 77th on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which gives you a sense of the room's ambitions.
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Rank 53. Homage Restaurant
Modern Australian
Set on a vast cattle station an hour from Brisbane, this fine dining room draws almost everything on the plate from its own market garden, orchard, beehives, and free-range farm, or from producers just down the road. Fire, smoke, coal pits, and a fermentation room full of pickled jars do the heavy lifting in the kitchen. The Australian Good Food Guide awards it Two Chef Hats, and the menu shifts whenever the land says so.
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Rank 54. Blume
Modern Australian
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Rank 55. Palette
Modern Australian
Inside the HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast, Palette is a fine dining restaurant where the art on the walls is not entirely incidental to what arrives on the plate. The room is built for celebration: private dining, long evenings, the kind of occasion that calls for a cocktail first. The kitchen earns three Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide, and the cooking runs to lobster soufflé and Wagyu with foie gras.
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Rank 56. Citrique
Modern Australian
The dessert buffet alone has its own dedicated zone, which tells you something about priorities here. Citrique is a Modern Australian restaurant inside the JW Marriott on the Gold Coast, built around interactive dining stations that drift from fresh sushi and seafood through Asian curries and satays to European plates. The Australian Good Food Guide gives it Two Chef Hats, and the à la carte menu leans into local sourcing.
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Rank 57. Yamagen
Japanese
Glossy black finishes and low lighting set the mood at this contemporary Japanese restaurant inside Surfers Paradise's QT Hotel. The menu runs the izakaya staples: sashimi, sushi, and kushiyaki from the grill, all built for sharing. A focused list of Japanese whisky, sake, and cocktails keeps pace with the food. The Gold Coast isn't the first place you'd expect a moody Tokyo-ish dining room, which is sort of the point.
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Rank 58. Bar Leo Food & Wine
Mediterranean
Alfresco tables catch the Gold Coast sun at this Mediterranean share-plate bar on Panitz Street, where the wine list is tightly edited and the menu is built for grazing rather than deliberating. Small plates lean coastal, raw fish and fried seafood sit alongside grilled skewers and a shareable T-bone, with Basque cheesecake to close. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 59. Kiyomi
Japanese
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Rank 60. T'ang Court
Contemporary Cantonese
The dining room inside The Langham takes its name from a Chinese dynasty, which sets the tone pretty clearly. T'ang Court is a formal contemporary Cantonese restaurant where the kitchen works through roasted meats, dim sum, and Southern Chinese classics with careful technique. The setting is polished enough that you'll want to dress for it, and the service follows suit. One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide.
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Rank 62. Nineteen at The Star
Modern Australian
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Rank 63. Moo Moo The Wine Bar + Grill Gold Coast
Modern Australian Steakhouse
The menu tells you the breed, age, diet, and size of each cut before you order, which sets the tone for how seriously this steak restaurant and wine bar takes its beef. Set in Broadbeach overlooking Victoria Park, Moo Moo trades the dark-wood masculinity of the classic steakhouse for curved lines and natural stone. Wagyu is the headline act, with a roast carved tableside for full theatre.
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Rank 64. Kost
Modern Australian
The open-fire grill running on charcoal and ironbark wood is the organizing principle at Kost, a coastal bar and grill on Broadbeach's Oracle Boulevard where the menu leans Mediterranean and everything worth ordering has some smoke on it. The room is polished but relaxed, the kind of place where sharing plates and a decent wine list make a long lunch feel inevitable. An Australian Good Food Guide One Chef Hat.
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Rank 65. BLOWFISH Ocean Grill + Bar
Modern Australian Seafood
A two-level seafood restaurant on Broadbeach's main strip, BLOWFISH pulls a crowd that dresses up a little and stays for rounds. The team behind Moo Moo runs this one, and the formula is similar: big room, confident cooking, a wine list with ambition. Moreton Bay bug rolls and grilled WA rock lobster do most of the heavy lifting on a menu that mixes surf and turf without apology. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat.
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Rank 67. Social Eating House & Bar
Modern Australian
A lively modern Australian restaurant on Oracle Boulevard where the room is styled for lingering, not rushing. The menu leans contemporary and social, built around dishes meant to be shared around a well-set table. It holds a Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide, which signals serious cooking without the stiff-backed formality that usually comes with it. Broadbeach's Gold Coast crowd fills it out nicely.
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Rank 68. Anekawa
Japanese