Stage one of Brisbane’s iconic GPO Hotel is set to open this weekend after a mammoth $9m makeover, with more than 1000 VIP guests to be welcomed through the doors and the new restaurant completely booked out.

Artesian Hospitality Group, known for Gold Coast venues Surfers Pavilion, White Rhino and Cali Beach, is behind the dramatic transformation of the Heritage-listed, 1887-built former general post office, introducing three new venues inside the Fortitude Valley site.

Taking centre stage will be 100-seat restaurant Tama, fronted by coveted chef Richard Ousby (ex-Stokehouse), which will serve a contemporary, produce-driven menu running from caviar tarts and crab pasta to seafood platters and premium steak.

The food will be matched to an extensive 400-500-bottle wine list curated by Artesian Hospitality partner and award-winning sommelier Alan Hunter, with drops moving from the easy drinking and affordable to the extravagant such as exclusive bottles of Dom Perignon secured through an ambassador deal and $6000 bottles of 2008 Krug Clos du Mesnil.

Also opening this weekend inside the venue will be The Gatsby, a theatrical, 1920s-inspired bar on the second floor with a whopping 75-page drinks list of cocktails, wine, champagne, spirits and more; a gourmet snack menu, and a private vault with safety deposit boxes for VIP customers and guests to store their high-end wine or spirit purchases if they can’t finish them on the day.

The impressive revamp by design firm Space Cubed also includes the introduction of luxe private dining rooms, and a second public bar, due to officially open in August, called the Tax Office, complete with two bars, a DJ area, dance floor and private booths.

It’s a homecoming for Boetz, who grew up in Brisbane before moving to Sydney where he trained under Thai food expert David Thompson, and spent 14 years as executive chef at two of Australia’s best Thai restaurants: Longrain Sydney (now-closed) and its Melbourne outpost.

Once open, Boetz says the eatery will focus on simple dishes that are suitable for both sharing or enjoying on their own. Expect plates of khao man gai (braised chicken and rice); steamed duck and winter melon soup; salt and pepper cuttlefish; and fried whole fish with green chilli nam jim alongside an international-leaning wine list.

The store, which will be fitted out with dark tiles and shelving, will sell jars of house-made curry pastes, imported Thai products like fish sauce and rice, and fresh produce like snake beans, apple eggplants and Thai basil. Boetz says there will be some pre-prepared curries too, which will just need to be finished at home.

“At this point, the curries will have protein in them but they won’t have any vegetables,” he says. “[At home] you can simmer them and add your apple eggplants or whatever – we’ll help guide you to what [vegetables and herbs] would go with what [curry].”

Shortgrain by Martin Boetz, 2 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley, opens in August.

The Palaszczuk government will commit $14 billion to fund one of Australia’s most expensive renewable energy projects, the Borumba pumped hydro project in south-east Queensland.

It is one of two mega pumped hydro projects the government is relying on to enable it to shut down the state’s five coal-fired power stations by 2035.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick told AFR Weekend that the total cost for the 2 gigawatt Borumba project in the Sunshine Coast hinterland – which will be able to supply 24 hours of continuous energy into the grid – would be $14 billion.

The government will commit $6 billion in equity funding in next week’s budget, and the rest will come from borrowing from state-owned company Queensland Hydro.

Mr Dick said Queensland’s strong economic position post-pandemic had allowed the Palaszczuk government to fund cost-of-living measures, pay down debt and fund key infrastructure, such as Borumba, in next Tuesday’s budget.

“Within nine months of our [$62 billion] Energy and Jobs plan, we are making a substantial investment which we can do because of the strength of our budget and economy,” Mr Dick said.

The Borumba projects is expected to be completed by 2029, while the Pioneer-Burdekin project is not due to be operational until 2035.

Brisbane home prices have risen for a fifth straight month and are now on track to surpass their boom-time peak in just three months, according to new figures.

 

The May PropTrack Home Price Index released Thursday reveals the market rebound in the Queensland capital is continuing to gather pace, with prices rising another 0.33 per cent in May to be up nearly 2 per cent so far this year.

 

Brisbane home prices are now just 1.5 per cent off the peak they reached in April 2022, at the height of the property boom.

 

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said if Brisbane home prices continued to grow at a monthly pace of 0.47 per cent — the average pace of growth seen over the past three months — they would eclipse that peak by the end of September.

 

Compared to pre-pandemic levels in March 2020, prices are still a whopping 45 per cent higher, maintaining Brisbane’s spot as the second strongest performing capital city.

 

Every market in Brisbane rose in the past quarter, with prices in the inner-city region gaining nearly 3 per cent and Brisbane south up 2.2 per cent.

 

Ms Creagh said strong demand and low housing supply was offsetting the deterioration in affordability from rising interest rates in Queensland.

 

She said the Reserve Bank’s decision to increase the cash rate in May did not impact the rebound in home prices in the state.

 

“Supply constraints have eased slightly with respect to total stock for sale, but the flow of new listings remains soft,” Ms Creagh said.

The much loved Teneriffe Festival is making its return tomorrow, Saturday 27 May, with so much to explore and a fiesta experience that’s better than ever.

 

The event, which captures the diversity and heritage that makes Teneriffe the cultural hub it is, will run from 10am to 9pm and offers something for everyone, with tickets going for $15 or four for $50.

 

South East Queensland’s best food trucks will once again pull up on Vernon Terrace to share various global flavours and take your taste buds on a trip around the world, and you’ll also be able to indulge in your favourite local eats thanks to The Taste of Teneriffe, with the likes of Dalgety 2.0 Public House and Siffredi’s dishing up signature dishes and festival specials. And a pop-up beer garden which is being overseen by Stone & Wood

 

On the music bill, as curated by The Triffid: Boy & Bear on headliner duties, plus GANGgajang and Odette. There’s also Flowertruck, Felivand, The Moving Stills, Betty Taylor and Dizzy Days — and the list goes on.

 

The lineup will hit two main stages, plus a dedicated riverside jazz garden stage with sounds provided by the Jazz Music Institute — and the tunes will keep going via DJs and roving performers.

 

There’ll be over 100 market stalls to stroll through and community reps to have a chat to and get more involved in your local community, while a dedicated kids zone will make sure the little ones get to have just as much fun as the big kids, so this one’s for the whole family.

 

The Details

What: Teneriffe Festival

When: 10am–9pm, Saturday 27 May

Where: Vernon Terrace, Teneriffe

After the huge success of their first restaurant in Queensland, the team behind the hugely popular FishBowl in Gasworks, is opening an equally healthy fruit-based concept restaurant, FruitBowl.

 

Dubbed as “FISHBOWL BUT WITH FRUIT”, the restaurant will offer delicious acai, froyo, locally grown fruit, and a selection of toppings.

 

Founded in 2016 by mates Nathan Dalah, Nic Pestalozzi and Casper Ettelson as uni students, Fishbowl has grown to a network of 30 stores in NSW and Victoria with a cash flow-funded business model, an emphasis on sustainably sourced produce, and a care for culture that flows through community activities and a unique feel to each outlet.

 

FruitBowl is opening this Sunday 21^st May, and they are offering the first 100 customers a free bowl from 11am.

The Breakfast Creek/Newstead Raceway will be the site of a new major indoor sports centre ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the state government confirming the site, saying the venue would be a “a great new sporting facility that will service the Queensland community for decades to come”.

“The proposed new Indoor Sports Centre will be a 12-court high-performance, para-sporting Centre that will host local, national and international sporting events including basketball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, netball, volleyball and badminton,” said Deputy Premier Steven Miles.

“Work on the master plan for the mixed-use community precinct at Albion is continuing, including increasing indoor and outdoor sporting facilities, open green space and housing.”

The venue would also play host to the Olympic basketball and Paralympic wheelchair basketball at the Brisbane 2032 Games.

The new venue is one of the sporting facilities which fall under the state and federal government’s joint $1.87bn Games venue deal, which means it would be a shared cost – but the total cost of the venue has not yet been revealed.