While much ado will be made about The Star Brisbane’s five-star hotel, casino floor and entertainment facilities when the Queen’s Wharf centrepiece opens next month, Brisbane foodies will likely have their attentions firmly fixed on The Star’s riverfront restaurant and retail level, The Terrace. It’s here that some of The Star’s most-anticipated dining destinations are taking shape, including previously announced concepts Black Hide Steak & Seafood by Gambaro, Cucina Regina and Azteca. Ghanem Group – the hospitality crew behind a number of Brisbane and Melbourne’s finest nosh spots – will also open Lúc Lắc alongside these anticipated venues at The Terrace in September.

Lúc Lắc is named after bo lúc lắc, or Shaking Beef – a traditional Vietnamese dish that Ghanem Group directors Adonis and Nehme Ghanem fell in love with during a recent research trip across Asia. After immersing themselves in the cuisines of Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore, Adonis and Nehme, alongside Ghanem Group executive chef Jake Nicolson are looking to showcase an assortment of flavour-packed Indochine-inspired recipes via the use of contemporary culinary techniques and top-tier Queensland produce like Fraser Isle spanner crab, King River wagyu and Moreton Bay bugs.

The a la carte menu at Lúc Lắc is expected to feature everything from snacks, salads and wok-tossed dishes to slow-braised clay-pot curries, grilled meats and seafood. Signature dishes will include kampot-peppered beef tossed with betel leaf and lemongrass, crispy snail and pork spring rolls, whole crispy spotted blue grouper with native tamarind and three-taste sauce, and Vietnamese-style baby goat yellow curry with sweet potato, coriander and Thai basil.

Ghanem Group’s beverage director Aaron Clark is overseeing Lúc Lắc’s extensive drinks offering, which will feature a number of high-concept cocktails, Asian beers and international wines. Of special mention is the No.888 Triple-Fortune Riesling, a drop crafted exclusively for the venue by Clare Valley wine maker Rieslingfreak that is inspired by 888 – an auspicious number in Chinese numerology said to represent great fortune, wealth and spiritual enlightenment (we’ll cheers to that).

Lúc Lắc will boast a striking indoor-outdoor layout and a vivid-yet-lush tropical-inspired aesthetic, with bold styling and a punchy palette of floral fabrics, animal prints and brass accents applied across the interior. Guests will be greeted by a 55-seat bar-dining space, anchored by a back-lit bar wrought from jade onyx stone slabs and illuminated by oversized custom rattan pendant lights. Further inside will sit the open-plan kitchen and main dining floor, the latter of which will accommodate a further 58 guests across a collection of booths and tables. Lúc Lắc’s tropical rainforest setting will also extend to the restaurant’s external gallery, which will have room for a further 46 seats.

Once open, Lúc Lắc will operate from lunch until late, with late-night DJ entertainment expected to keep the after-dinner ambience electric. Stay tuned for an up-close look at Lúc Lắc when it opens in September.