2021 Gallery
Winner: Best Restaurant Design
Amok for Agnes
22 Agnes Street
Fortitude Valley, QLD
Humbly situated on an unassuming street in Fortitude Valley, Agnes is a contemporary restaurant specialising in the ancient art of wood-fire cooking. Housed within a once dilapidated warehouse, the interior experience winds through 4 unique levels, with an evocative wood-fire kitchen serving as the heart and soul of the venue.
Jury Citation
In a city relatively short on heritage buildings, Agnes makes the most of a late-nineteenth-century warehouse on the edge of Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, transforming it into a temple of woodfired food. The jury noted how the design draws on the history of the premises, using a refined palette that sits in harmony with the beauty of existing features such as raw brickwork, concrete and render. Elsewhere, challenges have been treated as opportunities, a structural steel framework acting as a spine for the building, encouraging exploration of an upstairs rooftop terrace and an adjacent private dining area, and a downstairs bar. A low-benched kitchen is perhaps the venue’s defining feature: from the moment guests walk through the door, it allows an open view of the hearth, grill and woodfire oven, welcoming diners into the space and allowing them to share in an ancient and communal style of cooking.
