Expect to wile away plenty of weekends in this open-air diner perched atop a flash new precinct, with views across the surrounding Queenslanders.
Ruma is not a rooftop bar. Yes, it’s on a rooftop, and yes it comes from Daniel Tuivaiti and Katrina Mead, who own Sunsets Rooftop at Kangaroo Point, but this is a long way removed from that heaving post-game, pre-dinner spot.
“People relate a rooftop to drinking,” head chef Felipe Oliveira (ex-Tassis Group) says. “The first couple of nights earlier this month were odd. We had a very young crowd come in who wanted to party. I thought, ‘This isn’t good,’ but after that I think people started to understand.”
Ruma is very much a restaurant first, hence Oliveira’s prominence on the venue’s website and social channels. But the Brazilian-born chef fits in another sense: Ruma means “home” in the coastal Papua New Guinean language of Mead’s mother.
“My first job in Australia was washing dishes. That’s the first time I felt accepted here,” Oliveira says. “As a migrant, you come from nowhere – no money, no family, no English. It’s really hard. But once I stepped into the kitchen, there’s that culture – it’s the first time I felt accepted here.
“Daniel and Katrina have a mixed background and are very family people. And that’s what I was looking for – I just couldn’t find it around.”
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Occupying the open upper floor of the Little Lane precinct in New Farm, Ruma is the latest in a series of openings that includes Idle, Johnny Gio’s and Luna Gelato. And like those venues, it feels precisely pitched for the surrounding suburb.
Brisbane-based designer Alkot has lent the open-air space a restrained tropical vibe with terracotta tiling, imposing marble counters, rattan chairs, and a row of spacious, patterned semicircular booths, the whole thing framed by stacks of greenery.
Oliveira describes the food as modern Australian.
“It’s about taking techniques from across a bunch of different cuisines, as long as we’re focusing on Australian produce,” he says.
There are a bunch of snacks and raw bar items such as potato pave with whipped feta, tonburi and fried saltbush; a scallop brioche with chorizo and wasabi mayo; a “Kokoda” ceviche with coconut-cured fish, chilli and compressed cucumber with a sesame crisp; and both baeri and oscietra caviar.
Small share plates include a wagyu beef tartare with yuzu kosho, chives and shoestring fries; grilled local prawns with a grapefruit vinaigrette and lemon foam; and a baby beetroot and compressed plum salad with macadamia cream and pickled beetroot ribbons.
Among the larger plates is charcoal chicken with yoghurt, a herb salad and lemon myrtle dressing; a nine-score Stone Axe full-blood wagyu with shoestring fries and a beef jus; a crumbed pork cutlet with cabbage salad and house condiments; and a mushroom pappardelle with mushroom sauce and pecorino.
For drinks, there are cocktails and venue manager Jordan Noble has compiled a relatively tight 50-ish bottle wine list that prioritises small Australian producers, with a handful of Italian, French and New Zealand drops thrown into the mix.
“People have responded to it really well, and at nighttime too. We have 100 booked for tonight [a Wednesday],” Oliveira says. “That’s really encouraging because it becomes a different venue at night with the lights and decorations. The place really pops.”
Open Wed-Fri midday-10pm, Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 11am-10pm
Level 1, 84 Merthyr Road New Farm, 0467 951 948
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
