Just like its menu, Esquire’s interior design – a series of spatially diverse and connected rooms – offers an experience for everyone to enjoy.

Transformed from a large commercial space into a series of intimate dining areas, guests can stop in for lunch, take pleasure in the restaurant’s fine dining menu or enjoy a drink at the bar. An array of large columns – support structures from the original building – have been integrated into a series of partially enclosed, freestanding kitchens to ensure discreet pockets are achieved in an otherwise open space.

Striking a careful balance between loft and luxury, ceiling-high windows elegantly frame Brisbane’s Story Bridge, while the open plan kitchens put diners in direct contact with the chefs as they prepare and plate each dish.

Through the design, Hassell’s team set out to complement the artistic presentation of the food by award-winning chef Ryan Squires. Traditional approaches have been reinterpreted into a design that emphasises natural materials and concise detailing.

The elevated private dining room features a long wall layered with heritage timber mouldings, which are washed with light and cast into deep, textural relief.

Blown glass ball lights are suspended from Esquire’s ceiling, which rises and falls in accordance with each dining space to produce a subtle but tangible variation in size and ambience.

Set on the river in Brisbane’s premier dining precinct, Esquire merges old and new to create a unique dining experience with an atmosphere to be savoured by day or night.