A game-changing regional restaurant is coming to the CBD this weekend

One of Queensland’s best regional restaurants is coming to Brisbane this weekend, taking over the kitchen at Bar Miette in the CBD.

This Sunday lunch, Mapleton Public House chef Cameron Matthews will bring his skill with fresh produce sourced from the pub’s own The Falls Farm to the riverside venue.

According to Matthews and Bar Miette executive chef Jason Barratt, the event has been at least a year in the making, although it was only finalised during winter.

“It was maybe 12 or 18 months ago when we said, ‘Hey, let’s do a collab’, but chefs send these messages to each other all the time, right?” Matthews says, laughing. “But it’s been on our minds for a while to bring the farm down to the city and show people what we do at the pub, because it’s very different, very unique.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand that yet, so the best way to do that is to bring it to them. It’s about sharing what we’re actually doing, which is the whole point of the pub – to be able to say to people, ‘You can have these beautiful, amazing, regenerative foods … in Queensland.’”

Husband-and-wife team Ben Johnston and Jessica Huddart bought Mapleton Public House in 2022. Together with Matthews, they went about turning the handsome old pint-pouring weatherboard pub into the ultimate paddock-to-plate restaurant, utilising produce from The Falls Farm (which supplies specialist produce to heavyweight Brisbane restaurants such as Essa, Supernormal and Agnes). In the process, it’s become a star of a new wave of refined eateries in south-east Queensland.

Matthews is a long-term regional specialist – he cut his teeth at Simone’s in Victoria’s Bright and later led that kitchen – but he nominates his first 18 months at Mapleton Public House as the toughest of his career.

“People wanted to fight me over chips,” he says. “I had plates of calamari thrown back at me. People were harsh. It was a really humbling experience, realising that it’s more than just a place of food and drink. It’s about bringing people together and community, and giving them a sense of place.

“That’s what we want to illustrate at Bar Miette.”

This is a takeover rather than a pop-up, with Matthews being given full control of the menu. Expect dishes such as a chicken parmy toast; goddess-brined cos, flowers and pickles; beef intercostal skewers with Diane sauce; potted smoked fish with potato chips and horseradish; and Condabilla Murray cod served with the pub’s own take on Cafe de Paris butter.

“It’s a small kitchen at Bar Miette, but we’re used to that at the pub, with our heads bumping on the ceiling of what we can actually do,” Matthew says.

“But all of our team has had input on this menu, and that’s exciting. It’s never been just about me.”

Melbourne-born chef Jason Barratt has extensive experience cooking in the regions, heading up the kitchen at Rae’s at Wategos in Byron Bay and Paper Daisy at Halcyon House, before moving north to take on the executive chef position at Supernormal and Bar Miette.

“I really do think we’re coming into a [new era] of regional restaurants, and I think there’s so much more room for it to grow in south-east Queensland,” he says. “The more events like this we have, and the more restaurants popping up in these regional areas, the stronger it will get.”

While Matthews says there have always been great regional restaurants, “they’ve been a bit few and far between, but I also don’t think they’ve ever received the recognition”.

“Now people are looking and thinking, ‘There’s some great food in south-east Queensland. Great produce, great producers, great restaurants.’”

Mapleton Public House takes over Bar Miette this Sunday, November 16.