joy. restaurant

Husband and wife team Tim and Sarah Scott, who both previously worked at Sepia and Automata in Sydney, have returned to their hometown of Brisbane to open joy., their extremely intimate restaurant.

The restaurant seats a maximum of ten people at a marble bar overlooking the kitchen, where the duo do everything themselves. The style is Japanese and Scandinavian using fresh, local Australian ingredients.

The regularly changing menu is available as short (five dishes) or long (eight dishes), with a matching wine option. Start with corn chawanmushi, a divine blend of texture and flavour with a delicate, silky custard, quinoa, salty smoked salmon eggs, disks of pickled sour pumpkin and finely shaved scallop. Cabbage cooked in chicken fat is teamed with crispy chicken skin, pickles and fresh horseradish, topped with micro cranberry leaves – soft, crunchy, sweet and sour, it’s a perfect blend of textures. Slow-cooked black vinegar-glazed beef short rib is sweet and very tender, served with gingered cucumbers and salted daikon.

PSST! Oh – and if you are passing, you can call in during the morning for a coffee.

Reviewed for the 2020 guide