Now Open: Lamb-Loving Mediterranean Restaurant Dark Shepherd Is Your Next Queen's Wharf Eatery to Flock To
If you haven't yet tried the "wagyu of lamb", aka White Pyrenees Lamb from Victoria, this is your chance.
Steak might be the star at both Fatcow on James and Rich & Rare, and seafood at Fosh Bar & Restaurant; however, Tassis Group is celebrating a different source of protein at Dark Shepherd. The second of the hospitality group's eateries at Brisbane's Queen's Wharf precinct — the first: the French-themed Pompette — this 120-seater loves lamb so much that Victoria's White Pyrenees Lamb is its hero ingredient. It's been dubbed the "wagyu of lamb", and it's served here slow-cooked in a woodfired oven, as available as full and half shoulders, plus in tomahawk cutlets.
It's been a big year or so for Dark Shepherd's parent company, thanks not only to Fatcow on James and Pompette opening, but Longwang on Edward Street and Mulga Bill's at the foot of the new Kangaroo Point Bridge doing the same as well. As with Yamas Greek + Drink and Opa Bar + Mezze, Mediterranean cuisine is also in the spotlight at the lamb-centric restaurant. And, as pops up across the group's venues, seafood is no stranger, either.
For most choices from the menu, your food will come fresh from the 1.5-metre-wide woodfired oven, which features an internal rotating steel plate and reaches a temperature of 280-plus degrees Celsius inside. Meat and seafood options aren't the only choices putting the restaurant's key appliance to good use, though. Everything from pillow bread (in either thyme and olive oil; feta, olives and capers; or sand crab, feta and capsicum varieties), scallops (with tyrokafteri butter) and octopus (with olive oil and fava) to beets (with feta cream and lemon), sprouts (with orange, honey, garlic and leek) and cabbage (with garlic, tahini and pistachio) is also cooked in the oven — as is the signature cheesecake, which comes served with soft apple, cinnamon and ice cream.
Among the fellow dishes certain to tempt tastebuds, standouts include wagyu souvlaki; pastitsio bites made with wagyu lamb, pasta and bechamel; prawns saganaki; slow-cooked lamb ribs; Moreton Bay bug pasta; beef-stuffed capsicum; and the lamb and lobster pairing. Dessert choices also span galaktoboureko, baklava Biscoff, and a white chocolate Greek filo pastry cone with custard and soft meringue.
Yiros are available at lunch, too, as is a $54-per-person banquet — with the latter one of several bigger feasts, including a Sunday-only feast for $68 a head, plus others seven days a week ranging from $88–180.
To sip, you've got more than 140 wines to select from, alongside beer, cider, non-alcoholic drinks and specialty cocktails. The Notorious F.I.G. will get you enjoying caramel and vanilla flavours — and pear as well — while the Adriatic sour is made with yuzu gin and pomegranate liqueur, for instance. Or, go with the Achilles, which blends milk-washed rye, apricot liqueur, and almond and macadamia liqueur.
With Allo Creative and Clui Design on decor duties, the venue opens from a curved entryway into the dining room. Among the booths and marbled tables beneath mirrored ceilings, Dark Shepherd also features a sunken area, ten-seat private dining room and a dry-ageing lamb cabinet.
Find Dark Shepherd at The Star Brisbane, Queen's Wharf Road, Brisbane — open from 11am–late daily. Head to the restaurant's website for more details.
Images: Markus Ravik.
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