Midway through the meal at Marlowe, Streets of Your Town by The Go-Betweens starts playing, and it feels as though we’ve stepped back in time. The 1988 track from the beloved Brisbane band has long been a cult favourite – and it feels perfectly at home, here. Like the song, Marlowe hums with a distinct sense of Australian nostalgia.
The latest addition to South Brisbane’s Fish Lane precinct looks back to an era when prawn cocktails and pâté were dinner party staples. Both appear here as clever snacks: a tartlet filled with plump prawns and Marie Rose sauce, and a spiced ginger waffle topped with blood-orange gel and chicken pâté.
Revisiting Australian classics can easily slip into safe territory, but Marlowe keeps things fresh. Head chef and co-owner Ollie Hansford drew inspiration from The Lost Recipes – a cookbook highlighting dishes from the Victorian era to the 1950s – but his interpretations are distinctly modern. A cheesy garlic bread is made with Lune’s buttery croissant dough, while a Wellington rests on a rich caviar cream sauce, its golden pastry encasing squid ink crêpe, seafood mousse and coral trout.
It’s cooking that speaks to the precision of British-born Hansford, who was previously head chef at Stokehouse St Kilda and Stokehouse Q. For Marlowe, he’s joined forces with the Fanda Group (Central, Southside, Norté and Rick Shores). Transforming distinctive spaces into restaurants has become a Fanda hallmark, and Marlowe might be their most impressive.
Spanning four apartments within an Art Deco building, each of the nine rooms has its own personality. Cream walls, ornate cornices, and soft lighting gives it elegance and warmth. It still feels like a home.
Marlowe’s mains centre on a custom wood-fired oven. A beautifully cooked sirloin on the bone is paired with bone marrow mash and onion gravy, while chicken breast, stuffed with leg mousse and slowly cooked over fire, is served with mushrooms and Sherry cream sauce.
The wine list includes Australian icons – Tyrrell’s, Henschke, Grosset and Penfolds – and offers a chance to splurge on back-vintages of Tolpuddle and Wendouree. Don’t miss the Deco Martini, with macadamia soaked manzanilla Sherry and served with salted macadamias.
Then there’s that killer soundtrack, toggling between the likes of The Go-Betweens, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, The Double Happiness and The Church. The mix spans decades but captures a uniquely Australian mood – proof that everything old is new again.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
