From chicken shawarma in the far-flung suburbs to Patagonian toothfish and mud crab claypot in the heart of the CBD, here are the dishes we’re still thinking about.
Of all my years as a food journalist, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten quite as well as I did in 2025.
That might be because our reporting took us to a greater variety of eateries in far-flung corners of the city, whether it was charcoal chicken shops in Upper Mount Gravatt or shawarma spots in Underwood.
So compiling a list of the best dishes of 2025 would be almost impossible. Instead, think of this simply as what still sticks in my mind as we head into the new year.
These aren’t my absolute favourite things to eat around town, regardless of age. That’s another story for another time. And they’re not all from new venues, either.
My only rule of thumb when selecting these dishes? That it had to be the first time I’d eaten them.
Queensland mud crab claypot at The Fifty Six
I ate a lot of things at The Fifty Six this year and all of them were excellent – chef Gerald Ong is the real deal when it comes to Cantonese food. Still, it’s something off his new(ish) menu that stuck with me: a Queensland mud crab claypot with vermicelli noodles and finished with chicken fat and aged shaoxing.
Vermicelli cooked in the claypot has a long history in China. Perhaps the best-known version is served with prawns, the vermicelli slowly soaking up the richness of the stock and other ingredients.
Ong, though, has given it an upgrade with a cloudy fish stock made with fishbones, ginger and spring onions – “think of it like a fish version of a tonkotsu,” he says – topping it with the rich sweetness of the mud crab and umami of the shaoxing. The result is a dish as sophisticated as it is soul warming.
Habibi butter chicken at Layla
Much was made of Layla’s habibi butter chicken on the restaurant’s opening in late March. When I first tried it, it was a touch disappointing, but I suspect a line chef maybe chucked the wrong herbs on top. Something wasn’t right.
The second time, I got what everyone was raving about – tender chicken set in a rich, deeply flavoured sauce given a brilliant kick with ras el hanout. It’s fabulous, clever cooking, and captures on a plate Layla’s intent to illustrate the subcontinent’s long influence on Middle Eastern cuisine.
Quail cotoletta at Summit Restaurant
I have a thing for cotoletta, and the best I ate in 2025 was at the rebooted Summit Restaurant atop Mount Coot-tha.
Made with quail, chef Kym Machin sourced larger birds from Coominya, deboned and crumbed them with sourdough, herbs and dried scamorza. On the plate, the dish was finished with almonds, radish, Jerusalem sage and a beurre noisette. The crumb was pretty much perfect, with the texture of the dish rounded out by the almonds, a sprinkle of capers and the velvety beurre noisette. Think of it as the ultimate comfort food.
You might’ve noticed, though, this is all written in the past tense, and that’s because it’s not currently on Summit’s menu. Bummer. But the dish was and is a good indicator of the quality of the food generally at Summit, which, given the tourist-trap location, is much, much better than it perhaps needs to be.
Chicken shawarma at Zooroona
God, I love this place. I’d heard from two different restaurant owners in a week about the shawarma at Zooroona, and when I eventually got down to Underwood to try one for myself, it didn’t disappoint.
Owner Mohamed Ghadban has hired Diab Kubahji in the kitchen. Half Syrian, half Lebanese, Kubahji had only just arrived in Australia as a refugee when he met Ghadban, but has 20 years under his belt working as a shawarma chef.
Kubahji’s beef shawarma is good, but I think the chicken is even better. Tightly wrapped in house-made, lightly toasted saj with pickled cucumber and toum, it couldn’t be simpler. Ghadban reckons the secret is the imported Lebanese lamb tail fat, which is placed atop Zooroona’s vertical spit and drips down through the protein as it slowly cooks. It gives the chicken a savoury richness that’s struck through by the pungent, zesty toum.
“Better than anything I had in Sydney,” one of those restaurant owners told me. I can’t confirm that, but it’s the best I’ve had in Brisbane.
Charcoal chicken at Sizzling Birds
When you think of charcoal chicken in Brisbane, it’s usually the shops dotted along Beaudesert Road in Acacia Ridge. But Sizzling Birds beats them all, I reckon.
Kesra Sefian uses a recipe mostly developed by his father, who owned takeaway shops in Sydney. Sefian is tight-lipped about the specifics, but he uses halal chicken from ABD Food Services that he seasons with Middle Eastern herbs, sea salt and plenty of fresh lemon. He then cooks the birds over mangrove charcoal that “gives you this nice smoky flavour and burns perfectly”.
Chicken is making a bit of a comeback on restaurant menus around Australia, but I’m not sure I’ve eaten bird as good as this – not in 2025, anyway. There’s also a very, very good halal snack pack that comes topped with toum and sliced pickles bought off the shelf at Lebanese grocer Watany Manoushi just down the road.
The beef brisket sandwich at Sarni
This is as close to the ideal sandwich as I’ve had in this town.
First, there’s the bread. Marty Coard, who co-owns Sarni on Racecourse Road with Noam Lissner, Hugo Hirst and Mat Drummond, describes it as being not quite a sourdough, although it is fermented for 72 hours. It’s pretty much the perfect sanger bread.
Then there’s the brisket, which is Angus beef brined for seven days, and smoked. They’re luscious chunks of beef with plenty of texture, but don’t stray into being dry or stringy.
The sauce is the stroke of genius. A Laotian-style jeow som chock-full of coriander and chilli, it gives the sandwich a fresh, herby note, and offsets the beef.
There’s some iceberg lettuce for texture and moisture, and a bone marrow beef fat mayo that’s packed with umami. The final element is some fried shallots for a spike of flavour and extra crunch.
The only catch? Sarni’s menu is constantly changing, and this sanger with it, but it’s just about always for the better, as Coard and co continue to refine their processes and ingredients.
In short, please eat at your earliest convenience.
Patagonian toothfish at Opa Bar and Mezze
Toothfish has become a popular addition to upmarket menus around town, but I haven’t seen it done quite as well as this.
Filleted and cooked on the grill, the buttery, meaty fish is served atop a refined take on spanakorizo given a lovely zesty touch by the addition of a ladolemono sauce. It’s a total winner, full of flavour and texture but never in danger of overwhelming its own protein (which can sometimes happen when chefs get carried away with toothfish).
Restaurateur Michael Tassis’ venues are always consistent, but they’re at their best when leveraging his long history with the region’s seafood suppliers, this dish being a prime example.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
