Eat Street Northshore: The most fun place to eat in Brisbane?

If you want a fun place to eat in Brisbane, then the first choice should be Eat Street Northshore, where hundreds of food stalls gather in shipping containers. Alternatively, head to Fish Lane restaurant incubator Wandering Cooks, for options such as Aburi Boi Street Food.

Fine dining it is not, but Eat Street Northshore is a spectacular triumph. Approached on the City Cat ferry along the Brisbane River, past the Kangaroo Point rock-climbers, this looks like a jumble of brightly-painted shipping containers. And that’s exactly what it is. But what has been done with them is remarkable.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, Eat Street has become Brisbane‘s place to go to for a cheap feed. But, more than that, it has become a superb entertainment venue too.

The shipping containers at Eat Street Northshore are given over to specialist food stalls. These serve up everything from pork belly burgers to Peruvian paella and teriyaki chicken to octopus tentacle on a stick. The options span the globe, from Mexico to the Philippines via India and Brazil.

Eat Street Northshore bars

There are also bars set up inside other containers – one rather dangerously concentrating on whiskey cocktails. Plus cakes and desserts are available elsewhere. There are 100 stalls marked on the map, with dishes rarely costing more than $15.

This would be fantastic as a mere food court, but it is turned into a proper experience by having several craft stalls around the edges. These offer everything from clothes for dogs to henna tattoos and make-your-own candles. And dotted around liberally are stages, where local musicians break out reggae covers or their own singer-songwriter acoustic compositions.

The effect is to make you want to linger, mooch around and take it all in with a schooner of beer or three. It’s a classic example of what happens when a good idea is nurtured and given chance to turn into something big.

Fish Lane restaurants in Brisbane

Fish Lane, which connects the South Bank to the West End, is also fantastic. Here, the street has blue bubble paint patterns on it to make it look like a stream.

Several bars and restaurants have moved in, including authenticity-driven Julius Pizzeria, creating something of a trend-setting focal point. But perhaps the most interesting innovation comes further down the lane, where Wandering Cooks tries something a little different. It works as an incubator. Several would-be restaurateurs to try out their offerings using shared kitchen facilities and communal tables in a hangar-like space. It’s more than a food court, but not quite a restaurant. Within it, East by Middle East sells beautifully-seasoned Afghan and Persian dished, Aburi Boi tries out Cambodian street food and a bar concentrates on cocktails and Australian craft beers.

It’s a lovely concept – and one that you instinctively want to work out for all concerned in a city that does modernity better than history. It also hits at what’s at the heart of Brisbane’s emerging cool – a willingness to take a risk and try something different.

More fun places to eat in Australia

Ponyfish Island and Pastuso Peruvian restaurant in Melbourne.

Peel Street in Adelaide.

Spice Alley in Chippendale, Sydney.

The Murray Farm Gate Trail in Victoria.

Chin Chin in Surry Hills, Sydney.