NUG. General Store

Brisbane’s culinary crowd quietly directs friends to a tiny dining room tucked off Bakery Lane. NUG. General Store. Chef Ben’s weekly-shifting menu—an absolute masterclass in modern Italian. Unfussy. Fiercely seasonal. Relentlessly brilliant. Fellow chefs are entirely obsessed with the insanely rich ricotta ravioli and that fatty, perfectly cured wagyu pastrami hit with fried leek. Expect plates demanding fare la scarpetta—mopping up every last drop of white bean cream beneath the artichokes or the fiery chilli oil pooling around pristine tuna carpaccio. The pasta? Unapologetically al dente. The wine list? Sharp and perfectly paced. But it’s the floor team that truly anchors the room. Ruxi’s charismatic, deeply personal hospitality brings authentic enoteca soul to the Valley. Intimate. Buzzing. Essential. Secure a table before the books fill up entirely.