Urbane

Ph: 3229 2271; 179 Mary St, BRISBANE 4000 www.urbanerestaurant.com

Modern Australian, $$$, ** for Food & Ambience
Open Lunch Mon-Fri noon-3pm dinner Mon-Sat 6-10pm; Licensed, BYO; AE MC V EFT
Chef Kym Machin (27-12-07) Owner Drew Patten & Andrew Buchanan (27-12-07)

Mietta's Review
Handsome room with prices a couple of dollars more than its competition which is enough to provide cool darkened peace during lunch - it's a pleasant dining experience at this end of town. The food looks beautiful and has been taken to another level by chef, Kim Machin. At the end of 05 Machin was replaced by Ryan Squires a Brisbane boy with excellent with some of America's superstars. The food remains excellent.

Other published opinions

Brisbane Times Score: 16/20 "When the amuse bouche is more thoughtful and polished than many elsewhere, you know you're in for a spectacular meal. Urbane's creative crucible, Kym Machin, offers an ethereal version of pea and ham soup - a consomme with a ravioli of pea and crunchy bacon shards - that wouldn't go astray at Spain's El Bulli"

Courier Mail Alison Walsh, 09-2-2008 Score: 17 "IF ever a restaurant had me at the hello stage, it's Urbane. Well, if not hello, at least at the amuse bouche, which in restaurant language is pretty much the same thing. Basil and corn soup doesn't sound like something to lose your head over, but it was creamy and lovely and when interspersed with tastes of the accompanying prawn beignet, which lay with its batter-encased head dipped in a tiny pond of basil oil, frankly I felt I was well on the way to a long-term relationship"

Courier Mail food and wine guide Queensland 2008 Score: 17.5/20 "This chic little sanctuary in the city inspires fierce passions. There are many who laud the kitchen's innovative approach, its elegant presentation and the floor staff's assiduous service"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "Chef Kym Machin can't shake Urbane - this is his second stint heading the kitchen. He hasn't missed a beat"

Courier Mail Lizzie Loel, 01-5-2007 "Machin's food is the best it has been. It is poised, elegant and beautifully executed. Now with the ramped-up wine list matching the imaginative menu, this is one of the hottest dining tickets in town.

Brisbane News Dining Out Guide 2007 "One of Brisbane's favourite chef's Kym Machin has returned to Urbane and remains at the top of his game"

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "In this era of molecular gastronomy, menus are full of deconstructions and reinventions, peppered with inverted commas. Ambition unchecked? For some. Ryan Squires, however, is the real deal. The local boy developed a healthy regard for the new and unusual while working in the US with French Laundry's Thomas Keller, and brought a degustation-like menu to Urbane."

Brisbane News Tony Harper, 19-7-2006 Food 9 Wine 7 Service 9 Ambience 8 "You see, Urbane is about exciting and challenging its diners, not about comforting and satisfying them. The food Ryan Squires sends out of his kitchen (which is neater and more hygienically spotless than your average operating theatre) tends to be in small portions, and really small if you want a 10- or 11-course degustation. But small is good, because the usual entree, main and dessert principle doesn't apply here. Instead, the menu, which changes daily, is divided into a number of courses - starter ($15), pasta ($15), fish (market price), meat and poultry ($25), fromage ($15) and dessert ($10-$12) - each of which contains two or three options. Diners are encouraged to eat a number of these courses, and the portion size decreases accordingly. It's a great way to dine if you are seriously into food."

Courier-Mail GoodLife Restaurant Lizzie Loel 13/12/05 score Food: 18 Wine: 16 Service: 17 Ambience: 17 "Originally from Brisbane, Squires left for America and landed a job opening the New York celebrity haunt, Per Se, the world's most expensive restaurant fit-out, costing $21 million. ... Today Squires is cooking at Urbane, the small, chic little corridor in Mary St with owners Drew Patten and Andrew Buchanan, replacing Kym Machin."

Courier-Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guide 2006 ** "This is an intimate little space with a warm golden glow in the long galley-style dining room accented by a large artwork at the end of the room. The bar is a massive curve of carved wood and this fills up at cocktail hour"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "The venerable Cheong Liew's influence on Kym Machins food is apparent the moment you browse the menu. A comfortably chic inner-city restaurant, Urbane has all the trappings of its larger competition, but with the intimacy"

Brisbane News Eating Out Guide 2006 "The understated interior, with long banquette seating, and professional service beckon city suits and those seeking an intimate dinner."

Courier-Mail GoodLife Restaurant Lizzie Loel 13/9/05 score Food: 17 Wine: 16 Service: 17 Ambience: 17 "ANDREW Buchanan and Drew Patten have run Urbane, a chic little CBD diner, for the past four years but it has been in the past two, with the addition of chef Kym Machin, that it has moved up another culinary notch. Machin worked for Cheong Liew and Tetsuya Wakuda before returning to Brisbane where he did a brief stint at Anise, then moved on to Urbane."

Courier-Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guide 05 ** "The quiet, professional ambience makes it popular for business lunches, while at night things relax a little more and the curved wooden bar that divides the room buzzes with life, as does the front section of the long, narrow space."

Courier-Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guide 05 Best business lunches "Quiet, chic and discreet, with impeccable service and food"

Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide 2005 * "The aptly named Urbane is a venue perfectly suited to its environment. Small, intimate and elegant with clipped, polished service, it offers a cleverly put together, but not cumbersome wine list and exquisite food in the heart of the CBD."

SMH Good Food Guide & Age GFG 2005 "While it's not new, it's hot now that a chef from Adelaide's Grange has hit the pans."