Penelope is a stylish room. Lighting calibrated for a long evening, banquettes that invite a third drink, and a James Street crowd who came for the room as much as the menu. As an addition to Brisbane's late-night column, it's a welcome one.
We started with a pastry of goat cheese and chilli that was a smart opener: salt, fat, a little heat. A scallop with Oscietra perched on a potato scallop with chives followed, the kind of dish you photograph and like more in the photo than on the plate. Duck pâté with sour cherry and toast was the surprise win, generous and balanced.
The chicken tenders, with buttermilk ranch, hot honey and caviar, are exactly the dish you'd expect a James Street bistro to put on a menu. They're well done. They're also a wink, not a sentence.
Steak frites au poivre, a vodka pasta with smoked mozzarella, 'nduja and stracciatella, and a Sazerac built with rye and tequila to close. The pasta was the most complete dish of the night, lush without slipping into a one-note creaminess. The steak was well cooked but slightly under-sauced. The cocktail was the room talking.
Style and substance
Penelope is at its best when it leans into being a bar that cooks, not a kitchen that drinks. The food is competent but rarely ambitious; the room and the drinks are doing more of the work than the menu, which is fine for a long lunch and a late drink, but means you walk out remembering the lighting more than the lamb.
Would I go back?
Yes, for cocktails and a small plate or two, late. As a dinner destination on its own, probably not the first call.