What: Madame Wu
Website: Click here
Where: Riparian Plaza, 71 Eagle St, Brisbane CBD
Rating: 
Why:
Sitting atop a well-regarded dining precinct with some of the most spectacular river views does not necessarily equate with excellent dining.
But sometimes it does, especially if you are at Madame Wu.
Madame Wu is a very popular and busy restaurant, which you will find at the top of a staircase located between Riparian Plaza and 111 Eagle. The entryway faces the marble reception desk where you will be greeted warmly and either ushered to your table which you had to reserve or to the well-stocked bar area behind reception if you prefer a drink or two first. Be warned, though – if you haven’t booked and it is a Friday night or other busy period, you may well be turned away.
It is most definitely worth making the booking (which is online and very easy). The atmosphere at Madame Wu is usually celebratory, although it probably doesn’t hurt that we made our booking for 8:45pm on a Friday night. That’s a good time to book, by the way, as long as you can hold out until then to eat. While the place is still brimming, things are a little less hectic then and the staff, who are excellent, can give you just that little bit of extra attention they might not have time to do a little earlier when the “straight from work” crowd is in full swing.
The menu is modern Asian cuisine in which East really does meet West and there will be something to suit most palates (but if you don’t like coriander, you’d best let them know – it may appear where you don’t expect it). The chef’s recommendations are the two banquet offerings which feature a rich mix of very tasty menu items and are very unlikely to leave you wanting.
At the time of this review, those banquets were priced respectively at $65 and $85 per head, and it is only a 2 person minimum for those. These prices are not cheap, but they are well worth the food that follows, which is beautifully prepared and presented. The $65 banquet is certainly more than enough for most people – there will almost always be food left over if you choose the $85 version, which is delicious but enormous.
The a la carte offerings are always available and reasonably priced and the wine list also covers a broad range of tastes and budgets. Most of the staff will also know which wines best match the food you ordered so unless you are an expert in that area yourself, you would be well placed to take their advice, which in our case was absolutely bang on.
The food comes out in tranches and is timely – sometimes almost too quick with the banquet, but we were hungry so that suited us perfectly.
Seating can be inside or outside – obviously outside has the better views, but inside dining is also aesthetically pleasing as a lot of work seems to have gone into the visual aspects of the premises.
We expected high quality, and we certainly got it. It’s not a place you’ll only want to visit once.
