The Dining Room at Port Office Hotel

01What to order

• Dry-aged porterhouse, 400 g / 14 ozDry-aged 45 days in house, MBS 2+, 100 days on grain, from eastern Australia, served sliced; A$75 on the spring 2026 menu.
• Wagyu rump cap, 250 g / 9 ozFull-blood, MBS 9+, 450 days on grain, from Queensland and the Northern Territory; A$90.
• Wagyu rump, 300 g / 11 ozFull-blood, MBS 8–9, 450 days on grain; A$72.
• Rib on the boneMBS 2+, 100 days on grain; A$99.
• Tomahawk, 1.6 kg / 3.5 lbMBS 2+, 200 days on grain, sliced for three or four with two sides and three sauces; A$252.
• Rib fillet, 250 g / 9 oz, grass-fedThe one grass-fed steak on the grill list, from Queensland, MBS 2+; A$56.

02The beef

The menu does not name producers, but it records three particulars for each steak: marble score, days on feed and origin. Most of the grill list is MBS 2+ and 100 days grain-fed, from Queensland or eastern Australia. A 300 g / 11 oz rib fillet at MBS 3+ is 120 days grain-fed from New South Wales. The Wagyu runs from F1 sirloin at MBS 4–5 and 200 days to full-blood rump and rump cap at MBS 8–9 and 9+ and 450 days, from Queensland and the Northern Territory; a 200 g / 7 oz Wagyu eye fillet at MBS 4–5 has 300 days. Every grill steak comes with chips, a cos salad and one sauce, from peppercorn and Café de Paris butter to port and blue cheese.

03The fire

No source describes the grill or the fuel used in the Dining Room's kitchen.

04The story

The Shamrock Hotel opened on the site in May 1864. In late 1876 it was rebuilt as a two-story masonry building with verandahs, to a design by James Cowlishaw, with Charles Midson as contractor; by 1888 it had public and private bars, a clubroom and fifteen bedrooms, and served mainly workers from the river and the port. Around 1909 the licensee John Chillan Cutbush renamed it the Port Office Hotel; the colonial Port Office nearby had been built in 1879–80 to a design by F. D. G. Stanley. In 1955 the architect F. L. Cullen removed its verandahs, lacework and chimneys. The building flooded in 1893 and 1974, was entered on the Queensland Heritage Register on Oct. 21, 1992, and reopened after a fire in January 2019 had closed it for seven months.

05The practical

40 Edward Street, Brisbane City; not to be confused with Moo Moo, which occupies the old Port Office building at 39 Edward Street. The hotel has three spaces: the Dining Room, the Public Bar and the upstairs Balcony Bar. It trades Monday to Saturday from 11 am to midnight and Sunday from 11 am to 9 pm; phone (07) 3558 3329, bookings through SevenRooms. A 15% surcharge applies on public holidays.

Address

40 Edward Street, Brisbane City QLD 4000

Phone

+61 7 3558 3329

Website

portofficehotel.com.au

Directions

Google Maps ↗

06In Brisbane’s selections