Agnes, a contender for Brisbane’s best restaurant, changes up its menu

The things that hold us up sometimes eventually weigh us down. It’s a truism that applies to relationships, careers, personal habits.

Also, it seems, restaurants.

“Every time I’d be catching up with people, it’s always like, ‘Oh let’s go to Agnes,’” Ben Williamson says. “And it got to the point where I’m like, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to go back to Agnes again.’ You just end up eating the same stuff.”

It might read as a startling admission, but Williamson says it matter-of-factly enough. Anyday, the powerhouse hospitality group of which he’s a co-owner and culinary director, has been on such a tear recently, it’s easy to forget that Agnes – arguably its marquee venue, and a contender for Brisbane’s best restaurant – is just six years old, and it was his first venue as chef-patron.

Williamson talks about it with that candid honesty but affection and care that you might your first child.

“There was nothing wrong with what we were doing,” he says. “Everything was going really well; there just wasn’t enough change happening – firstly for myself, but then also, I presumed, for the guests.”

Williamson, then, has rung the changes, Agnes relaunching last week with 25 new dishes. That’s more than two-thirds of the Fortitude Valley restaurant’s menu. It was significant enough for Anyday to take it to the media with a press release.

“I think that was because we hadn’t done it in so long,” Williamson says. “We just wanted to get that word out: Agnes is going back to its roots and shedding that whole, ‘we won a tonne of awards and accolades’ thing. That’s not what defines us. We want to get back to an organic changing restaurant for the public.

“It’s to get back to a neighbourhood favourite, as it was always intended, rather than being a special-occasion restaurant … I mean, Agnes trades so strongly, but this gives people more of an ability to dine the way they want to dine.”

There are other things at play here too.

Williamson, along with co-owners Frank Li, Bianca Marchi and Tyron Simon, has come off the back of four openings in the past 12 months: Idle, Golden Avenue, The French Exit, and Le Royale. Finally, he had the bandwidth to turn back to the group’s existing venues.

Williamson says to expect Agnes’ menu to more readily evolve with the seasons in the future, and that fellow Fortitude Valley restaurant Bianca is his “next stop”.

“I’ll be there in a couple of weeks after Noosa Food and Wine,” he says.

Williamson also talks about this being a chance to re-engage with Agnes’ front line. “I miss kitchens,” he says.

It got to the point where I’m like, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to go back to Agnes again.’ You just end up eating the same stuff.

Ben Williamson

“There was definitely an element of, ‘Have I still got this? Can we make this happen?’ And it was a challenge at first. But when I started getting that flow and executing, it’s been so rewarding. I did 17 double [shifts] in a row. Good to know I’ve still got that in me.

“As we grow as a group, it’s always been my fear that we corporatise too much,” Williamson says. “Hospitality is people. It’s shared experiences and stories – from the kitchen to the front of house to the bar. That’s what we should be celebrating.”

The new menu items include torched Mallorcan toast with honeycomb, fennel seeds and guindillas; chistorra (Catalan-style chorizo) roasted in farmhouse cider and lime; and coral trout pil pil with burnt lemon. There’s a distinctly Spanish influence here, but Williamson said it was more by happenstance than design.

“I tend to disregard the current menu and just brain dump a whole lot of stuff down, and then piece it together into something that has flow and cohesion,” he says. “I physically got in there and tested all the dishes, and it was a great send-off for [departing head chef] Anthony [Naylor] to be part of that process and go out on a high.

“It wasn’t until we [finished the menu] that … we picked up on that Spanish influence … Outside of Moda and a couple of other places, there’s not a tonne of it in Brisbane.”

Not that it’s all change. Key dishes such as smoked, cured tomato toast with caper leaf and olive oil, and the yellowfin tuna sourdough crumpet with creme fraiche are present and correct.

“That’s not to say some dishes won’t come back. I’m already scouring the reviews daily … so we’ll keep listening and adapting what it is we do.”