Gauge started life as a dynamic daytime destination, then morphed into an ambitious restaurant space for four nights of the week. Now the tables have turned. The elegant café fit-out remains, but brunches and lunches have been sidelined to weekends and its status as Brisbane’s poster boy for big-flavoured, inventive and intricate dining has been cemented. Staff continue to overdeliver, ditto the clipped and mainly Australian drinks list, which tilts towards the lesser-known with juicy amber wines at its heart. Snacks are stellar – freeform chicken-skin crackers with anchovy cream or fluffy sebago loaded into a crisp potato shell and topped with potent malt vinegar cream and a savoury snow of cured egg yolk. There’s a briny theme to many dishes. Mussel cream with yuzu ties together an elegant tangle of cuttlefish and kohlrabi noodles, while Spanish mackerel fillets, lightly salt-encrusted and blush-centred, are served over diced celeriac with roasted hazelnuts. Bright orange tobiko crowns a lamb tartare dotted with pale scallop, finger lime and tarragon, keeping interest levels piqued. Desserts are refined; consider the poached pear with a dulce de leche-style caramel ricotta and celeriac ice-cream. By any measure of volume for creativity and skill, this Gauge is dialled for maximum impact.
Gourmet Traveller’s restaurant guide gives a yearly snapshot at the best restaurants to eat at right now. The best-rated restaurants, as judged by the reviewers’ first-hand experience, form our national Top 50. The wine star-ratings, which range from zero to three stars are made by wine editor Max Allen on the strength of the quality of the restaurant’s wine list. View our rating key here.
