Tucked into Woolloongabba’s antique strip, The Pearl is a chic locale looking to impress diners with its menu of tastebud-tempting eats. The restaurant quietly changed hands earlier this year in May, transforming the once French-inspired cafe into a modern Australian bistro. Continuing the eatery’s legacy of good vibes and great eats, The Pearl’s new menu spotlights seasonal dishes with a European-inspired twist, with everything made fresh using local and Australian produce. Hungry folk can roll in bright and early for their morning brew and to tuck into breakfast nosh like butter-poached Moreton Bay bug served up with XO sauce, greens and scrambled eggs or toasted cornbread dressed with tomato coriander and corn salsa, avocado, lemon-scented labna, pumpkin-seed oil and fried eggs.
Drawing in the lunch crowd is a tasty array of crowd-pleasing dishes that are sure to satiate eager tastebuds, like twice-cooked pork belly with pak choy, black vinegar reduction and pickled cucumber and the goats cheese ravioli topped with sautéed mushrooms, chopped hazelnuts and beurre noisette butter. Dinner favourites include the vodka-cured petuna ocean trout served with pickled cucumber, lemon labna and fresh dill and the chicken with confit leg, eshallot puree, charred greens and jus. Finish strong with a decadent dessert – there’s a cereal-milk panna cotta made with Cornflake milk and crumb and served with drunken strawberries or a mouth-watering chocolate brownie dished up with hokey pokey ice-cream and salted-caramel popcorn. It can all be washed down with drops from the restaurant’s extensive wine and beer list, which features the likes of Latta Wines, Unico Zelo and Vino Volta. To save you some pennies, The Pearl offers an impressive four-course dinner feast for just $65 per person – the perfect way to taste-test all of the flavoursome menu heroes.