Fish Lane to welcome Japanese restaurant, but not as you know it

The Clarence team is looking to eschew your high-end sushi spots and izakayas to create something that’s dark, moody and, most importantly, uniquely Brisbane.What should a Japanese restaurant look like in Brisbane in 2026? Because Ben McShane and Matt Kuhnemann have a few ideas on what it shouldn’t.“It’s not spins on Nobu recipes from the early 1990s,” McShane says. “You’re in Brisbane 30 years later. Something needs to be different.”Max Burns, venue manager Sam Tansiri, Ben McShane and Matt Kuhnemann inside the Nito premises on Fish Lane.Markus RavikMcShane developed strong ideas about Japanese cooking when he worked at Kiyomi on the Gold Coast, and after that Umu in London when it held two Michelin stars. More recently he quietly did a stint working alongside Alex Yu at Sokyo Brisbane when that restaurant first opened in 2024.“I was in Paris recently and went to this Mexican restaurant,” McShane explains. “They’re doing aguachile with cherries and corn, there were apricots in the mole. You’re eating Mexican food in Paris but it still captures this sense of place and season. That’s what we’re trying to do: what makes sense as a Japanese restaurant in Brisbane today?”McShane and Kuhnemann’s response is Nito, a 70-seat Japanese restaurant that will open in November a couple of doors along Fish Lane from Clarence, their popular produce-driven bistro.Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.Sign upThe menu is yet to be finalised but will be split into raw dishes, snack-sized plates and then larger format meat dishes, with much of the cooking anchored by a binchotan-powered charcoal grill. Draft dishes include a half lamb shoulder with bottarga and pickled wasabi, and grilled whole Murray cod served with Japanese sauces.“Lamb shoulder is a very Australian thing, but here it’ll be served with bottarga and pickled wasabi,” McShane says. “It’s creating things that still have flavours of Japanese food but in the context of Brisbane.”Overseeing the kitchen will be Max Burns, who worked with McShane at Stokehouse Q, and then Kuhnemann and Clarence venue manager Zoe O’Mahoney at Two Lights in London soon after McShane had left that restaurant. For drinks, expect a tighter wine list than Clarence, but one that still focuses on Australian producers. There will also be a sake menu and a “pretty highball-heavy” cocktail list.Nito will open just a few doors down from Clarence on Fish Lane.Markus RavikThe digs themselves are being designed by Sunshine Coast-based Studio Hillier. Diners can expect something dark and moody, with a very different vibe to Clarence.“Studio Hillier came down and wanted to walk through the space immediately,” Kuhnemann says. “They wanted to talk through what we were feeling, and they really got it. They’ve been excellent.”“It naturally has a mood to it, in a way,” McShane adds. “There are services running out of the ceiling, which is relatively low. And the back corner has this slant. It feels like the perfect spot for this concept.”From our partners