Taking over the World War II-era digs previously occupied by King Arthur Cafe, Bistro Tino is a daytime diner not quite like any other.
Mark Rotolone didn’t think he was James Street material.
“I was young and a little naive and gung ho and and I guess we came from the backstreets of New Farm … so I felt like I had something to prove,” he says, laughing.
Rotolone is talking about opening Mosconi in 2019. And it catches you off guard in 2026 because if there’s a James Street precinct restaurant everyone can agree on, it’s Mosconi, the little 100-seater set inside a World War II-era Nissen hut on Arthur Street.
For years, it was one half of a favourite neighbourhood two-hander with King Arthur Cafe next door, which was also housed in a Nissen hut with its distinctive curved ceiling.
And then King Arthur Cafe closed. And Rotolone no longer felt like an outsider. So, earlier this week, he opened Bistro Tino in the premises.
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Rotolone says there wasn’t so much a brief for Tino for designer Meredith Burke from By Burke Design. It was more just a series of spitballs over Friday lunches at Mosconi.
“I sent the first photo of the finished venue the other day and Meredith said, ‘Brief fulfilled’. But there never really was one,” he says.
“It was more an idea to transport you somewhere else. That place you stumble into on a holiday and go, ‘F—, that’s awesome.’ … That place wasn’t too orchestrated. It wasn’t perfect. They won an award and put it on the wall, and then there was a World Cup and they put a Pelé poster up. It just grew over time. It was a story of their lives.”
Brief fulfilled indeed. The 60-seat Tino is one of this city’s best-looking openings in some time, but in the most homey way possible. Small tenancies like this are a rare and precious thing in Brisbane and he and Burke have resisted the temptation to do too much with it.
Inside dining is organised around a ochre leather banquette on one side of the ground floor and a bar built from Tasmanian oak accent with brass detailing on the other. The two-tone colour palette is “mission brown” and “clotted cream”, the floors decked out in beautifully finished parquetry.
It feels so welcoming, so lived in, it takes a moment to realise the layout has changed from its King Arthur days, with the staircase moved to the back of the venue, mirroring Mosconi next door. Upstairs, the mezzanine now sits behind windows that can be left open or closed, depending on the nature of the booking.
Tino is being launched as a daytime bistro for starters, with nighttime services in the pipeline, and chef Alfie Cutler’s menu – developed under the direction of longtime Mosconi chef Catherine Anders – is an elegant, welcoming take on all-day dining.
“I didn’t want it to be built around bacon and eggs,” Rotolone says. “It’s great to have something a little different that feels very European.”
All-day dishes include Italian sausage served with silverbeet, butter beans and baguette; a potato and zucchini frittata served with blue swimmer crab and creme fraiche; and Abruzzese ham served with house pickles, soft egg, comte and seeded bread.
At midday a bunch of plates more angled for the afternoon come on-stream, including a bifana roll with pork collar, provolone and tomato relish; a cosy pastina minestrone; and market fish served with sauce vierge and green olives.
For drinks, there’s Single O espresso, Somage teas and Hunted + Gathered organic hot chocolate. Later in the day a cocktail list angled towards aperitivo comes on-stream, along with a tight, intentional wine list that favours European styles.
“I don’t want anyone thinking they have to book two weeks in advance,” Rotolone says. “You want to eat somewhere, you don’t want to get all dressed up. It’s action without thinking – ‘We’re just going to go, I might have a wine, see how I go, I don’t have to commit to three courses.’”
Open daily 6.30am-2.30pm.
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
