Mother and son to elevate “Paris end” of New Farm
By Evie Drinnan
A mother and son duo are shaping a new retail and hospitality precinct near the Moray Street roundabout, through their wine bar, Grape & Grazing.
Nineteen-year-old sommelier Oliver Summons said: “We are in the trenches for this corner. We hope to turn it into the Paris End of New Farm.”
Both Mr Summons and his mother, Rowena Wilkinson, live locally.
As Mr Summons rolled off the customers’ names, he said: “We wanted to open specifically in New Farm – we know the people well, and we know what they want.
“Our aim is simple – to be a place where people can drink and eat good food for a few hours. A place where you can stay on a table so long that you move into dinner,” Mr Summons said.
Coming from extensive backgrounds in hospitality and customer service, Ms Wilkinson and Mr Summons have the experience needed to grow their business.
Ms Wilkinson said: “We have some exciting news actually – we’ll be opening a Providore with a selection of cheeses and take-home meals within a few weeks, as well as a secondary venue nearby.”
Mr Summons said: “Hopefully we will inspire more small and diverse venues to pop up here and in Brisbane more generally.”
The bar features seventy-plus wines by the glass, more by the bottle, and top-quality food.
Mr Summons said: “I taste everything, and I only have stuff I like, it’s one-hundred-per-cent biased. But there’s diversity. Wine’s subjective. It’s okay not to like something and it’s not necessarily about the price point.”
Chef Evan White aims to highlight the wines with interesting food from across the world.
Mr White said: “I’ve spent time in Mexico, Japan, Greece and Europe, so I’ll bring those flavours together to go with the wines.
“There’ll be produce-driven share plates subject to seasonality – even I won’t know what will be on the menu week-to-week because it’ll change depending on what’s available!
“I also want to use by-catch, they’re unsung heroes and they lean more on my culinary skills,” Mr White said.
Photo caption: Evan White, Rowena Wilkinson and Oliver Summons; Photography: Evie Drinnan
