Lumiere Events & Culinary Studio
It’s set to be a big year for Shannon Kellam. The award-winning chef behind Montrachet and King Street Bakery and his wife Clare, who have over time brought together and nurtured an award-winning team of hospitality professionals, are now expanding the family-owned business. Their latest project is a multifaceted culinary offering at the new Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Centre – the luxury riverside hub that also serves as the home for LSH Auto Australia’s Mercedes-Benz Brisbane dealership and Queensland’s Sotheby’s International Realty. The first part of their exciting venture is Lumiere Events & Culinary Studio, which includes a state-of-the-art cooking school, an education hub and an event space that will equip home cooks and professionals with essential know-how across baking, pastry, butchery and saucier skills. Lumiere will officially open to the public in April, with classes already available to book online now. Participants will be allocated their own cooking station, each of which comes fully equipped with Miele ovens and top-tier accessories. Upcoming classes will take in a broad array of cooking techniques, ranging from French cooking at home and the art of sous vide, to making macarons and how to whip up the perfect pavlova, and even some specialty Easter classes catering to the whole family. The events side of Lumiere Events & Culinary Studio is already up and running, as is a separate purpose-built wholesale commercial kitchen. The Kneadery executive chef Jamie Pearce, head pastry chef Julien Sion from Paris and head artisan baker Benjamin Vitale will be preparing culinary delights for the precinct’s food concepts, events within the Lifestyle Centre, Shannon’s Bowen Hills restaurant Montrachet and King Street Bakery, as well as selected restaurants, cafes and hotels. The next phase of the project will include the arrival of casual riverside eatery MICA and construction of a yet-to-be named rooftop premium event space, the latter of which is slated to open in the second half of 2020. We’ll have more information soon – stay tuned!

The Jam Pantry
If you are a fan of The Jam Pantry’s famed brunch, you officially have just under a month to savour it before it’s gone. Last week, Naomi ‘Nims’ Zavackas announced that The Jam Pantry would cease trading after last service on Sunday March 29, marking the end of the cafe’s five-year run in Greenslopes. Nims has also revealed that she is taking on a new role as chef-in-residence at food incubator Wandering Cooks, signing on to help streamline the venue’s kitchen and further the hub’s sustainability processes. Seeking a way to level up her skills and shake things up with a new adventure, Nims approached Wandering Cooks head honcho Angela Hirst last year with the idea of coming on board to mentor the incubator’s makers, bringing them together and teaching them to operate in one kitchen. Nims has already been busy working one-on-one with the makers, implementing new practices and formulating menus out of sustainable ingredients (all of which are vetted and sourced directly from farmers by incubation coordinator Billy Bellingham), with plans in the works for farmers markets, no-waste workshops and cooking classes covering fundamental basics. Until then, Nims will be clearing out the pantry, opening The Jam Pantry seven days a week until the end of the month to showcase a rotating collection of beloved dishes from the cafe’s hyper-seasonal back catalogue. Keep your eye on The Jam Pantry’s Instagram for announcements on the dishes that will be making a quick comeback. As for the future of The Jam Pantry space, Nims has told us there are a number of parties interested in taking over the spot, increasing the likelihood Greenslopes locals will still have a community hub to enjoy ongoing.

Denim Co. late-night dessert menu
We usually take any excuse to treat ourselves to something sweet, but South Bank’s Denim Co. is putting together a giveaway that we simply can’t ignore. To celebrate the launch of its new late-night dessert menu, the Little Stanley Street cafe is giving away 100 free deluxe brownies from 5:00 pm this Friday March 6. What makes these brownies so special? Well, aside from the irresistibly chocolatey centre, this bad boy is also topped with creamy vanilla ice-cream, hot chocolate fudge and roasted pistachios (yum). That’s not all – Denim Co. is also giving one lucky customer the chance to win free dessert for a year this weekend. Simply take to Instagram, post a picture of your favourite dessert from the new menu (which also includes a deconstructed pavlova, sticky-date pudding, indulgent lava cakes and the Banana Bread Sammy), then tag #denimcodoesdessert to go in the draw to win.

Das Brunch at Munich Brauhaus
If the thought of pretzels still warm from the oven, platters brimming with a bounty of cheese, schnittys as big as your head and käsespätzle – a tasty variation of macaroni cheese, grilled bacon, hash browns, creamy mashed potato and sauerkraut – has you salivating, go ahead and clear your calendar on March 22 for the inaugural Das Brunch at Munich Brauhaus. Das Brunch is a new monthly all-you-can-eat mega-brunch series that kicks off with an autumn-inspired menu featuring all of your favourite hot dishes alongside sensational salads and decadent desserts for just $65 per person. Partial to a little hair of the dog? For an extra $34 per person, you can add a two-hour drinks package featuring Chandon, Chandon Rosé, house beer, wine and spirits – prost! Das Brunch runs from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm and features a different theme each month, so if you’re up for a smorgasbord of (family-friendly) Sunday session-style revelry, get along to Munich Brauhaus in South Bank.

House Party at Perch’d
If you missed the announcement last week, then you almost missed an invite to the coolest party in town. Coorparoo fish and chipper Perch’d will be hosting the first of its forthcoming House Party series on Monday March 9, serving organic cask wine, chippy sangas and laid-back party vibes from 4:00–8:00 pm. Jilly Wines is contributing a bunch of its famed Miami bagged wines (both white and red varieties), while local beers will be available off tap and in tins. The kitchen is assembling a tailored snack menu boasting a simplified take on classics, while Brisbane selector Respect Guy will be spinning a curated playlist of tunes. Don’t miss out!

Other news bites
The past week has brought with it news of some more closures around Brisbane. Alfred Street boutique wine store and watering hole The Valley Wine Bar has ceased trading at the base of the FV Gurner building after two-and-a-half years, leaving a sizeable hole in the heart of Fortitude Valley’s vino scene. Over in Upper Mount Gravatt, Sydney-born cafe concept Devon Cafe has also announced its closure, marking the end of the eatery’s one-year lifespan at Westfield Garden City. In a relief for lovers of yum cha, Fortitude Valley icon King of Kings Seafood Restaurant was thought to have closed after a decades-spanning run in Chinatown. Thankfully that is not the case, with King of Kings ownership taking to Facebook last week to announce that the venue was merely closed for renovations, and is due to reopen in May.

If you’ve heard something that’s worth mentioning in The Weekend Edition’s Pavement Whispers, email [email protected].