Brisbane Phoenix

When it came time to open Phoenix Group’s fifth yum cha restaurant, expanding to Brisbane seemed like an obvious step for co-owner Anita Fung. After 20 years of business in four successful venues across Sydney, Fung was eager to reach a new audience.

Fung explains that despite being the smallest Phoenix restaurant in the group so far, the Brisbane venue comes with a wider purview than its Sydney cousins, designed to suit an array of diners. There are 180 seats and three private dining rooms.

The yum cha selection is as extensive as at the Sydney restaurants and includes crowd favourites such as the fresh crab meat xiao long bao, black pepper beef shumai, and prawn and kimchi dumplings. On the a la carte menu there’s fragrant pipa duck, Peking duck served at the table, Wagyu beef with sesame sauce and lobster tail with garlic butter.

The food is backed by an imaginative drinks list of Australian and Chinese wines, beers and a cocktail list that mixes classics with eccentric contemporary inventions such as the Phoenix Red Chilli built on chilli, lychee and vodka.