A Banquet Menu Under $100 for Every Occasion You May Encounter This Winter

Nestled underneath the Story Bridge in the recently revitalised Howard Smith Wharves, Greca is one of the newest kids on the block in Brisbane. Specialising in contemporary Greek food and welcoming Mediterranean hospitality, the taverna is the perfect place to get together with old friends and reminisce about that Euro trip you all took when you were 19.

The banquets here cater for a variety of budgets, with $60, $75 and $95 options. Whichever you select, you’ll dine on saganaki cheese with honey and oregano, baked lamb shoulder with roast potatoes and katoumari, a smashed filo, walnuts and semolina cream dessert. But if you opt for the $75 or $95 options, you’ll get more dishes like the split pea dip, grilled prawns with herb dressing, a chocolate metaxa pudding, plus watermelon, ouzo and lime to help wash it all down.

Image: Nikki To.

After working in Michelin-star restaurants across France, the internationally renowned Dan Arnold returned home to Brisbane in 2018 to open his namesake restaurant. Since then he and his team have been serving up some of the city’s best French-inspired cuisine from the restaurant inside the Alex Perry Hotel and Apartments. Surprisingly, you can experience five or more French-Australian dishes for under $100 thanks to the set menus — making it an ideal date night rendezvous, particularly if you’re out to impress.

The menu changes with the seasons and what produce is available, with $72 and $98 options — plus the option of matching wines and French cheese. Dishes can range from Borrowdale pork loin with roasted pumpkin, black garlic puree and young leek and the classic apple tarte tatin to Little Acre mushroom and organic pearl barley with preserved lemon and comté cheese fondue and Maremma free-range duck with date and nasturtium salad. You may not be able to woo them with a trip to Paris, but this could be the next best thing.

Got family coming to town but no idea what to do to keep them all happy? Libertine will satisfy everyone in the family (even Dad’s picky tastes) with its French-influenced Vietnamese street food. It’s a stunning venue with dark wood interiors and low-hanging dim chandeliers, so you can show Mum your very grown-up décor tastes. The menu here is made for sharing (make sure you sit on the other side of the table from your little brother).

Just say “I’m hungry” and you’ll get seven courses for $65 a head or ten courses for $85 a head — with matching wines for an additional $33 per person. With either menu, a chef’s selection of dishes will make its way to your table, so expect to dig into dishes like Vietnamese fried chicken, Victorian scallops baked with mushroom pâté and gruyere in a vermouth cream sauce or a mushroom, leek and butternut squash pithivier with comté cheese. This is one that’ll impress — especially if you happen to be entertaining your partner’s parents, too.

Image: Anwyn Howarth.

When it’s your turn to take the team out for lunch — be it colleagues or your social netball team — Madame Wu will sort the whole crew out for just $40 each. So much so that you’ll unintentionally end up in a team building exercise of rolling each other home. Grab a seat outside with views out toward the Story Bridge, and enjoy the likes of lamb dumplings with eggplant and sichuan sauce, steamed duck buns and beef cheeks braised in rock sugar and soy black bean chilli sauce. Not only is it a great way to boost team morale, but it presents a cheaper way to sample the menu that generally clocks in with dumplings and entrees at $15–20 and mains at $35–40.

Another relatively new dining spot located in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley is the stylish Little Valley. Considered a ‘neo-Chinese’ dining hall, the venue is excellent for date nights when your appetites are as voracious as your love for each other. Sate your food lust with either the $59 or $79 Feed Me menu — with matching wines for an additional $35.

In the kitchen, chef Jake Pregnall draws upon his study tour of China to create regionally inspired dishes. Either menu will deliver cured scallop with spiced pumpkin seeds and chilli oil and pepper beef tongue and cheek steamed buns. But deciding which menu to order will be a tricky one. One offers chinese bolognese with nduja XO sauce and prawn floss and mandarin custard steamed buns for dessert, while the other brings out xinjiang spice lamb tartare with smoked yoghurt, lobster and chive har gow and chocolate parfait, tea tree mushroom and mushroom cocoa pops to finish. Hopefully, you and your partner can compromise. Who knows, maybe this decision will help you make the next big one?