Next Hotel Brisbane pays homage to 70s favourite Lennon's

Iconic is a word thrown around with insouciant abandon these days but Lennon's deserves the enthusiastic descriptor. The restaurant at Lennon's Hotel on George Street was the place to meet and eat in Brisbane from the 1950s to the 1970s. In the early 1970s the bell-bottomed patrons moved to feast on steak Diane and lobster thermidor at the new Lennon's in Queen Street. And now it's back. Next Hotel has finished a multimillion dollar refurb of the former Chifley at Lennon's, and renamed the existing restaurant Lennon's Restaurant and Bar in homage.

Set to open in October on Queen Street Mall under executive chef Todd Adams (whose CV includes Stokehouse Brisbane, Urbane and The Euro), the new Lennon's menu is unlikely to feature carpetbag steaks or ambrosia pudding, but there will be a dip into nostalgia with dishes such as spag bol (albeit with a wagyu beef ragu).

There is also a wood-fired oven, Parilla grill for seafood and grass-fed, dry aged steaks, and a bar menu including wood-fired octopus, chorizo and smoked paprika, and buttermilk fried chicken with southern-style salt and blue cheese aioli.

The drinks list will feature cocktails, craft beers and "new-world artisan wines" collated by restaurant manager Michael Pyrgos, ex-Vanitas Restaurant at Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast. The hotel is also planning a "Lennons ToGo" takeaway and room service.

Lennon's Restaurant and Bar, Next Hotel Brisbane, 72 Queen Street, Brisbane, nexthotels.com/brisbane