I'd been waiting on a Fifty Six booking for a while, and Chef Project Enoki's room inside Naldham House was worth every reschedule. There's a riverside calm to the dining room, a serious nod to Brisbane's Chinese heritage in the design, and a kitchen that knows exactly which traditions it's holding to and which ones it's nudging.
We opened with a quail tea egg sat under avruga and a generous spoon of Oscietra, an opening that announces the night's intentions. Moo shu duck pancakes with house hoi sin came next, and I was already glad I'd cleared the calendar. Raw Hiramasa kingfish dressed in ginger, green chilli and finger lime: clean, bright, exact. A scallop and prawn siu mai that I'd order three serves of.
The steamed Murray cod, in fragrant soy with ginger and scallions, did the thing the best Cantonese fish does, which is taste more like itself than the fish ever expected to taste. The table went quiet.
Sticky cumin Margra lamb riblets followed, then eggplant that earned the riblets' company. Two desserts: a white chocolate, matcha and mandarine, then the deep-fried toffee ice cream with char siu caramel, which is a sentence that doesn't quite prepare you for the dish. Both were the kind of finish that makes you say one more drink, then another.
Mastery and the room
Mastery here is in the restraint. Each dish is technically clean, the saucing decisive, the temperatures and textures considered, and the menu structured so that the meal builds rather than just lengthens. Service was attentive without being formal, and François ran the floor like a dance.
Would I go back?
The next reschedulable evening I have. Bring a table of four, work your way through the menu, leave time for the deep-fried ice cream.