There’s nothing bland about Milquetoast, the new laneway wine bar from a forward-thinking drink-savvy duo
While new openings from big restaurant groups, hatted-chef appointments and city-altering developments nab headlines, the true markings of a thriving drinking and dining scene is typically found outside of the limelight. The smaller operations – your suburban cafes, gourmet delis, neighbourhood restaurants and small bars – are often the venues where one finds the most interesting, authentic and original ideas at play.
It’s these kinds of places that most locals (and the odd well-informed traveller) seek out on a regular basis – spots where risks are taken and hearts are worn on sleeves. It’s these kind of places that George Curtis and James Horsfall believe Brisbane could use a lot more of.
“Brisbane needs more original concepts,” remarks George, and he’s one to know. His out-of-the-box cocktail and amaro bar Before + After is the kind of idea-driven haunt that discerning drinkers are crying out for. And though James works predominantly in fine-dining environments, his most recent postings – as sommelier at Elska and restaurant manager at Blume – are both smaller chef-owned and operated venues that have famously matched their big-budget peers in prestige and acclaim.
The duo has taken it upon themselves to add more essential texture to the tapestry of Brisbane’s hospitality scene with Milquetoast – a laneway wine bar and dining room that’s thumbing its nose at banality and blandness with an offering predicated on creativity, fun and passion. Though built on four key fundamental tenets of hospitality – food, cocktails, wine and service – George and James are looking to do something different with each aspect, creating an experience that purposefully belies the connotations inherent in the venue’s name.
It all starts with the space. Milquetoast inhabits a garage at the end of a nondescript laneway off Elizabeth Street – the same alleyway home to bourbon-soaked boozer, Alice. At 4:00 pm, when the roller door entry lifts, guests are greeted by a venue that has softened its gritty surrounds with character elements – a mismatched collection of pre-loved mid-century furniture, a timber bar and a streamlined kitchen setup. Pendant lights are suspended from the metal girder supports (which also double as wine display) and, at night, Milquetoast exudes a warmth that travels down the laneway. Though George and James describe Milquetoast’s build as an intense Rubik’s Cube-like problem-solving exercise, they’re both incredibly pleased with the results.
“I think the bar and kitchen looks great, especially the fact that you can see it from the street,” says George. “I’m really happy with the way the lighting turned out and the way the warmth spreads through the venue when it’s the evening. And then the furniture, to pull all of this from Facebook Marketplace was really quite fun. It’s created exactly what we wanted it to create.”
A vast portion of Milquetoast’s beverage program is dedicated to wine, with James applying his curatorial ethos to a list favouring small-scale independent producers doing interesting things. Nudging 50 bottles (including a clutch of by-the-glass options and a number of top drops available via Coravin), James applied a ‘quality first, process second’ approach that ensures the wine list is filled from top to bottom with incredibly drinkable and engaging gear from all around the globe.
“There’s a quote from Thomas Keller of French Laundry that I always bring to my lists, which is ‘local is great, but always reward quality’,” says James. “If someone is making the best of something, you need to reward those producers. That’s an ethos that I’ve taken in the past with my lists at Elska and Blume, and that’s the same here. There are skin-contact wines, natural wines, and natural wines that you wouldn’t even know are natural on there.”
Being a smaller venue with limited storage space, Milquetoast’s list will be fluid – changing and evolving daily out of necessity. But James sees this as a benefit, more than a hinderance, as this gives him the opportunity to showcase rarer drops.
On the cocktail front, George is handing over the mixology reins to venue manager Aidan Perkins (formerly of Exhibition, Hôntô and Agnes). Aidan is overseeing a list that champions seasonal ingredients and utilises contemporary techniques ranging from fermentations to house-made tinctures and sodas.
“We just wanted to be super creative – we didn’t want any boundaries to what we wanted to do,” George tells us. “There’s no set template to each drink. Of course you need balance on the menu, but we just wanted to do cool stuff.”
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Of the bar’s house signatures, standouts include the Caspar Milquetoast (a spritz-style sip that mixes Four Pillars rare dry gin, sparkling wine and vanilla with lacto-fermented rhubarb and clarified toasted milk-toast soda), the No Loitering (Batanga blanco tequila, house wasabi liqueur, elderflower and citrus) and The Big Stick (Gospel solera rye infused with cacao butter, strawberry brandy, toasted fennel, Peychaud’s and absinthe). Milquetoast is also collaborating with premium mixer brand StrangeLove to showcase an array of light and low-ABV drinks, while a dedicated martini selection features a clutch of house interpretations – all made using spirits from Adelaide Hills-based distillery Full Circle.
“People love martinis and are generally proud of the way they order a martini,” says George. “So we wanted a martini list that was super cool, and an extension of that was to do the mini versions and the highball versions of that as well.”
Milquetoast’s food menu boasts a discernible British tinge, with inspiration drawn from the provenance-driven British food revival. But, much like their approach to wine and cocktails, James and George have sought to infuse the menu with a tongue-in-cheek playfulness, recruiting head chef Solenn d’Heilly (formerly of Bennelong in Sydney) to help shape a vibrantly flavoursome menu that subverts expectations.
Appetite whetters like house pickles and Riser bread with honey butter help prime the pump for the likes of deviled eggs with bacon and leek cream and crumpets with cured fish and curry aioli. Larger plates include Urban Valley mushrooms on toast, cauliflower gnocchi with pomegranate caviar and Cumberland sausage with puy lentils and gremolata. The Milquetoast pudding – a must-try sweet finisher – boasts amaro-soaked raisins and custard.
“It’s not obviously British, and that’s where it’s really enjoyable and fun,” says George. “For example, the crumpet has essentially the flavours of fish and chips – the crumpet is the batter, the curry aioli is the curry sauce, the fish is the fish, obviously, and then you’ve got the pickles.”
Milquetoast will also be helping to fill a glaring gap in The City’s nightlife, with its kitchen open until 11:30 pm on weekends.
Overseeing Milquetoast’s front-of-house is Krysten Swann (ex-sAme sAme, Elska and Tillerman), who rounds out the venue’s elite team of senior staff.
Milquetoast is a bar that will not only go down as one of the year’s most unique arrivals, but also one of the best. What’s more, it proves that there’s a viable template for independent operators wanting to craft something with an out-of-the box edge without making it a prohibitively costly exercise.
“You don’t need luxurious fit-outs, lots of money and huge back bars,” says George. “You can do it pretty comfortably on a lower budget as long as you’re really dedicated to it, you’ve got a clear idea of what you need and you work really, really hard for it.
“We could have opened a bog-standard wine bar, sure, but there’s no fun in that and it’s not adding to the scene at all,” he adds. “The cocktails are creative and you won’t get what we do anywhere else. As for the wine, you’re getting allocation drops and access to wines that other bars don’t have. The food is nothing like anything else you see in The City and we’re trying to go above and beyond with the way we approach service. This was the bar that we wanted.”
Judging by the rapturous public response over the venue’s opening weekend, Milquetoast was the bar Brisbane wanted, too. Head to The Directory for operating hours and other important info.