Find one of 2026’s most ambitious openings in this old West End shop

George Curtis is exhausted, but happy.

You get more experience as an up-and-coming restaurateur, you gain more confidence in your own ideas. You collaborate with other good, young operators: James Horsfall on Milquetoast, and now Horsfall and chef Jack Stuart on Venner.

And yet, Curtis says, it doesn’t necessarily get any easier opening venues. Perhaps it gets harder.

Curtis sits in the dining room of Venner, which he, Horsfall and Stuart opened in West End last week. He removes a cap and runs his hand through his hair.

“I can’t imagine doing another one right now,” he says, laughing. “The actual opening is okay, it’s just running two other venues. That’s very, very difficult … from a lifestyle point of view.”

Then again, Venner is an ambitious undertaking – an elevated diner that nods towards Nordic cuisine in a storied Queenslander-style timber shopfront, with one of the state’s best regional chefs in the kitchen.

“I probably look at it slightly differently,” Horsfall adds later, over the phone. “I’ve always wanted to open this venue.

“Milquetoast, we birthed together; this one, I had another investor and chef onboard and was driving the project, and George wasn’t really onboard at that stage, already having the two venues to look after [Milquetoast and Before + After, a cocktail bar].”

It was Horsfall who immediately called the landlord of the old Queenslander-style shopfront when he learned it had been vacated by previous tenants, Gum Bistro, in November. And it was Horsfall who reached out to Jack Stuart, who he and Curtis had been courting before opening Milquetoast. Horsfall also drove a few of the key design decisions, such as cutting a window in the kitchen’s back wall towards the rear of the dining room.

“We were sitting in Sydney after winning the [Boothby] Best Wine Bar Awards so I knew it was a good time to soften up George,” Horsfall says. “I asked if he wanted to have another baby with me, essentially, and he said, ‘Yes’.”

Tired he may be, but Curtis tours you around the venue like a proud new dad. And he should be: there would be a temptation to do both too little and too much with this space. Instead, they’ve gotten it just about right.

The banquette down the left wall has been retained, but given a handsome burgundy reupholster, and the VJ timber walls have been leant a blush of pink paint, which Curtis reckons helps the venue come alive at night.

The flourishes come in the unexpected details you notice at a second glance: that back window into the kitchen, the vibrant wall art courtesy of Amie Horsfall (James’ wife) and the wallpapered ceiling, courtesy of Becca Wang (Curtis’ partner), who oversaw the decor of the restaurant.

Stuart is addressing the Nordic theme by leaning into preserves and ferments, and utilising plenty of protein by-product. Otherwise, he says the food will feel familiar to Blume regulars.

“It’s very minimal,” Stuart says, “not very many elements on the plate, which I’m a huge advocate for. It’s not simple but it looks simple.

“Some of the best dishes build complexity through layers of flavour, through umami, through garums, preserves, and having still quite a technical dish. But very few elements: that, for me, is my idea of perfection.

Stuart’s menu will look to capture the seasons, both through fresh and preserved produce, so expect it to change frequently. For March, diners can expect dishes such as kangaroo pastrami with cultured cream and fried onions, Murray cod grilled on the hibachi and served with a lobster shell bisque and charred greens, and dry-aged pork schnitzel with green coriander seed, caper leaf and jus gras.

“People have been responding to the venison – that’s been a standout,” Stuart says. “It’s from [Wild Venison Sunshine Coast] … we’re getting whole saddles and shoulders and serving it with warrigal greens and a cavolo nero jus. It’s really simple, cooked over charcoal.

“There’s also a dark ale rye bread that I developed for the restaurant that’s been popular. It has malt flour, rye flour, treacle, rye berries. It’s a pretty serious bread, very Scandinavian, and feels key to the menu.”

The drinks list centres on aquavit, Curtis laying his hands on around 15 European imports, with a few more from Australian suppliers. For wine, Horsfall has written a 60-bottle menu that favours smaller producers, many of them with their sustainability credentials intact.

“It’s probably less classic than I intended,” he says. “But that perhaps feels better for the food we’re serving.”

It’s the kind of ambitious, inspired play we don’t see enough of in this town (and region), from three young operators who are beginning to make a habit of it. Still, Venner means “friends” and that unfussy, familial aspect is its through line, from the sympathetic fit-out designed to engage with the community outside, to the open kitchen that fronts the venue.

“The kitchen is very tight, so you need to be organised,” Stuart says. “But people watching you cook, it brings a nice atmosphere to everything. It ties the room to the kitchen to create this energy that we were striving for.”

Open Wed-Thu 4pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 4pm-11pm, Sun 11am-2pm.

237 Boundary Street, West End.

restaurantvenner.com.au