The design was driven by the client’s desire to revive the spirit of escapism once associated with the space, which formerly housed the Primitif Café, a celebrated jazz bar and coffee lounge that animated Brisbane’s nightlife throughout the 1950s and 60s. This reputation for transporting patrons away from the city’s everyday rhythms provided a compelling starting point for the project, as did the building itself. Originally constructed in the 1890s, the building had recently undergone a major refurbishment which uncovered long-concealed architectural layers, most notably the original Brisbane-Tuff stone walls.

Formed from volcanic rock historically quarried at nearby Kangaroo Point, this type of masonry was widely used in many of the city’s early civic structures. Rather than concealing these rugged surfaces, the architects chose to foreground them, allowing the weathered masonry to anchor the restaurant’s contemporary interventions. Fusing brutalist and industrial sensibilities together, J.AR OFFICE’s scheme now leans into the constraints typical of a basement setting—namely low ceilings, no natural light and complex ventilation requirements—imbuing the space with a moody, subterranean atmosphere that conjures Hong Kong’s urban grit. At the same time, stainless steel surfaces and large salt-and-pepper granite blocks inspired by the gleaming interiors of 1980s corporate lobbies introduce a sleek, metropolitan edge.