Just Open: Malt Pier, Newstead

Malt Pier opened on Wednesday on the ground floor of an exclusive waterfront development at Newstead in inner Brisbane. The "cafe-bistro" is the fifth venue for restaurateur Nick Pinn, co-owner of Aquitaine at South Bank, Malt Dining, and two Malt Traders outlets (in the CBD and in the Emporium, Fortitude Valley).

"I live in this area and love it," Pinn says. "Newstead is really moving forward as a suburb and this location overlooking the river is beautiful. It's one of the most high-end residential blocks in the city."

Malt Pier is on the ground floor of the Mirvac's Pier Waterfront South development where apartments cost between $2.5 and $15 million. So with a captive audience of wealthy clients, why not open a high-end diner like the original Malt Dining in Market Street, which has been awarded a hat in the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide for the past three years?

"I did think about it and had some big discussions around it, but in the end I decided to provide a good quality offering at a medium price. I'd prefer to see people for breakfast or lunch two or three times a week than once a month, and I wanted to do something a bit more relaxed. Despite that, the menu really is beyond what we originally envisaged – it's more than cafe food," Pinn says.

Malt Pier will only open for breakfast and lunch due to body corporate constraints, Pinn says.

As well as dine-in, they're offering what is essentially an "in house" delivery service to the apartment residents.

Chef Cian Mackay, former sous chef at Malt Dining, has moved over to head the Malt Pier kitchen. The short menu includes lighter dishes such as grilled scallops with pea puree, sumac, baby vegetable salad and chorizo oil; and roasted harissa-spiced cauliflower salad with smoked almonds, raisins, and chimmichurri. Mains include fish of the day, or pork shoulder and loin served with thyme pea mash, baby carrots and sage oil.

Fans of Malt's famous brownie will be happy to know it features on the dessert menu. Malt Pier's clipped wine list may be supplemented with stock from Malt Traders, Pinn's upmarket bottle shop and deli, that opened a fortnight ago a couple of hundred metres away at Emporium.

Malt Pier seats 35 and is open Tue-Sun 7am-6pm.

Shop 1, Pier Waterfront South, 1 Newstead Terrace, Newstead, (07) 3236 4855.