Welcome to Sidecar No Sugar, a weekly Boothby briefing about Brisbane bars and the people, work and creativity behind them. (You can sign up to get it in your inbox each week, right here.) This week, I chatted to Aidan Perkins, bar manager of Venner, the soon-to-open neo-Nordic restaurant by the Milquetoast team.
If you have info the Brisbane bar community should know, please email me contact@beccawang.com.au or send me a message via Instagram (@supper.partying).
In this briefing:
- Becca Wang shares details on the forthcoming drinks program at Venner, which opens this Friday;
- an interview with bar manager Aidan Perkins;
- Sam Bygrave shares early details on Le Royale, the next bar opening from the Anyday group;
- what to expect from the drinks when they open on Saturday;
- and what to expect to eat.
Let’s get into it.
A brief disclaimer up top: Venner is owned by my partner George Curtis, and I designed it. I have nothing to do with the food or drinks — especially not the drinks.
Many a perception of neo-Nordic cuisine is influenced wholly by anything and everything that Noma has ever done. It’s warranted, when the most famous restaurant in the world thrusts neo-Nordic food and cooking practices – fermentation, preservation and little versions of seafood – into every corner of the culinary world (and some pop culture).
Now, there’s a second-wave of neo-Nordic cuisine, where the original ethos is taken and conceptualised for menus and palates outside of their birthplaces. Venner, a fine diner opening Friday 27 February in West End, is part of this second wave of contemporary Nordic food – something yet to be seen more across the country.