Esquire's Ryan Squires and Cameron Murchison call it quits

• Ryan Squires wins Citi chef of the year
• Esquire's three-hat review

Ryan Squires and Cameron Murchison have dissolved their partnership in Esquire.

The pair, who have been friends since meeting at school in 1991, opened Esquire and Esq on Brisbane's riverfront three years ago.

The restaurant was given three hats in the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide in the venue's first year of operation and remains the city's only three-hatted restaurant. Squires was also named Citi chef of the year in the latest Brisbane Times Good Food Guide awards.

"We just have different perspectives," Squires says of the split. "I'm single and this is my career rather than just a business. I know I'm demanding and keeping up with the Jones's takes its toll."

Squires says he has "exciting plans" in the offing, which include opening a new bar in front of the restaurant.

"I'm currently talking to architects and designers to look at space. There are lots of options and I want to make sure that we make the right one. We might open it in stages so we can keep it fresh [and] look at it as a sort of permanent pop-up."

Squires also alluded to talks he's having with another "prominent hospitality professional" regarding another possible project, but is keeping it under wraps.

Murchison, meanwhile, has his own project in the pipeline - a contemporary Australian bistro in Rosalie village in the space formerly occupied by Rosa's Mexican.

"Rosalie's great - I always wanted to get in here," Murchison says. "The idea is for a casual, modern Australian bistro, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a really great bar."

The interior of the space is being gutted, with the team responsible for fit-out of The Gresham in the CBD looking after design. As yet no chef has been appointed. Murchison says he hopes to open in November.