Cuisines collide at Azteca, The Star Brisbane’s colourful new Latin American and Asian-inspired restaurant
If there is any hospitality group seasoned enough to maximise an opportunity like the one afforded by The Star Brisbane, it’s Potentia Solutions Leisure. The proof is in the portfolio, which includes concepts like Lina Rooftop and Soko Rooftop – two top-flight sky-high venues known as much for their electric atmosphere as they are for their jaw-dropping locales. Azteca, the group’s newest endeavour, looks to bring the same crackling energy to The Star’s Brisbane River-facing dining hub The Terrace.
The restaurant officially opened to the public last week, joining the likes of Gambaro’s Black Hide Steak & Seafood and Ghanem Group’s Lúc Lắc as part of The Terrace’s culinary vanguard. Described by the Potentia team as ‘bridge between continents’, Azteca is marrying the cuisines of Latin America and Asia – pushing further the ambitious art of flavour-packed fusion the group first attempted at Soko. But where Soko blends Japanese and Peruvian tastes, Azteca is expanding its scope and drawing upon a broader range of geographical influences.
Fusion is tricky, however – a steady hand is required at the helm to deftly amalgamate flavours. Enter Zac Sykes, Azteca’s executive chef and chief architect of the restaurant’s debut menu. The accomplished chef, whose extensive resume boasts stints with Merivale, Rockpool and Ghanem Group, was persuaded to join Potentia by the group’s founder and managing director Ross Ledingham, who promised Zac the freedom to experiment and play in order to bring two disparate worlds into one.
“He said to me, ‘It’s going to be Latin American with Asian influences – the rest is up to you,’” say Zac. “That was probably one of the biggest selling points.”
Once in charge, he took it upon himself to explore every facet of Latin American cuisine – a mind-bogglingly large umbrella that encompasses everything from Peru and Argentina to Cuba and Mexico. So, what was the starting point?
You might like
“I bought a lot of Latin American cookbooks,” says Zac, with a chuckle. “It was mainly about getting a bunch of ideas and making them my own. As we evolve, it’ll become more influenced by Latin America, but at the moment it’s leaning more towards Asian, because that’s what I’ve got more experience in. But as my team grows and as the venue grows, the food will evolve.”
Zac found early success by going back to basics, reaffirming his knowledge of the universal qualities of food and the core tenets of cooking to find balance and harmony between Latin American and Asian flavour profiles.
“If you’ve got something fatty, you need some acid to cut it,” says Zac. “I just use that same mentality – when I’m making dishes up, that’s how I do it. So if I’ve got a bit of protein there that’s quite rich, we need something sweet or acidic to balance that.”
Additionally, Zac is also sourcing as much high-quality local produce as possible, applying a range of techniques to bring the best out of his larder. “We buy all our fish in whole with guts and scales on, and we process it ourselves. We’re dry-aging whole cuts of beef and processing it ourselves. It’s all about starting with beautiful produce and just working from there,” he adds.
Subscribe for updates
Guests at Azteca can begin their dining journey with snacks like yellowfin tuna taco with kimchi, carrot and Yarra Valley salmon roe, truffle churros topped with chicken liver parfait, agave and pickled shallot, and yuca and potato yakitori with koji plant cream and kombu. From there, entrees including bone marrow with braised kangaroo tail, yuca hash brown and shiso chimichurri, coral trout ceviche with buttermilk, cucumber and lemon and yuzu puree, and corn bread with Fraser Isle spanner crab, avocado, sour cream and caviar are a neat stepping stone towards Azteca’s larger plates.
Individuals can go to town on dry-aged Gooralie free-range pork chop with grilled pineapple and fermented jalapeno, or a 24-hour S. Kidman & Co F1 premium wagyu short rib, while groups can carve up share-style portions of dry-aged half Peking duck with blood plum sauce and arepas, butterflied Rocky Point blue speckled grouper, and pot-roasted South Australian lobster with chipotle, lime and coriander.
Interactivity is key to Azteca’s menu, and while the offering is set to evolve as Zac and his team further incorporate Latin American influences, the menu’s engaging nature will remain.
“I think the food is fun,” says Zac. “There’s a lot of interactive eating – you pick a bit of protein, you wrap it in a leaf and you eat it. It’s not your standard knife-and-fork thing. I like to have a bit of fun when I’m eating and I love eating with my hands, personally.”
Overseeing Azteca’s beverage program is Potentia’s Queen’s Wharf operations manager Jared Thibault (previously of Talisman Group), who is funnelling his understanding of South American spirits and products to fashion a drinks list that underscores the restaurant’s fun nature.
“I was just trying to look at what can we do that has a point of difference – that no one else is really doing,” explains Jared. “I love a good caipirinha. It’s a large part of Brazilian culture, but it’s not something that we’ve really seen in Brisbane. I think once the Aussie market understands what it is, it will work really well.”
Taking a similar appraoch to Soko’s build-your-own pisco sour offering, Azteca is giving guests the chance to customise their own caipirinha by selecting a cachaca (a Brazilian distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice) and flavour blend (including pomegranate hibiscus, lychee dragonfruit and watermelon jalapeno). There’s also a range of refreshing tropical-inspired signature cocktails to choose from, including the Guacho Julep (bourbon, fresh huayaca, house-made lemon myrtle cordial, agua and peach bitters) and the Violeta Fizz (orange blossom gin, lime, lemon, orgeat, creme de violette, egg white, sparkling water and nigella flower). Dennis Roman of Senses at Wine has consulted on Azteca’s wine list, helping the team source a large contingent of South American wines.
Azteca’s lively approach to dining is also reflected in its interiors, with Blackbox Design Co. conjuring an aesthetic rich in detail, texture and colour via water features in-built into the walls, mosaic tiles, live greenery, opulent fabrics and custom ceramics. In addition to a sizeable alfresco area on The Terrace, the restaurant boasts a secret 14-seat private-dining room hidden behind an Aztec-inspired wooden door.
“It’s a little bit darker, a bit more moody,” Zac says of the space. “We want guests to have fun in here, so we’ve got DJs playing at nighttime. We’re not going for stuffy fine dining – we want to deliver upmarket food with great service.”