Central, the forthcoming restaurant from the hospo hit-makers behind Burleigh’s Rick Shores and Fish Lane favourite Southside, is an amalgam of eras.

The subterranean space the restaurant will soon occupy was once home to Peter Hackworth’s famed coffee lounge Primitif Cafe, which opened in the basement of Piccadilly Arcade on Queen Street way back in 1957. In addition to being the first spot in Brisbane to boast a real espresso machine, The Prim was also a seminal hub for the city’s nascent jazz scene, becoming a happening haven for young musicians, poets and bohemians.

The one-of-a-kind space, which has sat unoccupied since Primitif Cafe closed in the mid-1970s, will soon be reborn as a dumpling bar inspired by the heaving melting pot that was central Hong Kong’s restaurant and nightclub scene, circa the 80s and 90s – a stretch of time that Southside’s executive chef Benny Lam firmly believes was one of the most exciting periods in the city’s culinary history.

“Hong Kong in the 80s and 90s is regarded as sort of a golden era,” says Benny. “It’s was very colourful and there was heaps happening under the British, especially in food. It had a bit of a Western influence, but it was still based on the traditional Cantonese style.”

Benny and fellow Central co-owners David Flynn and Maui Manu have long tossed around the idea of opening an inner-city dumpling bar in Brisbane, but it wasn’t until the gang immersed themselves in Hong Kong’s contemporary dining scene that the notion to infuse their still-gestating concept with a dash of the city’s uptempo energy really coalesced.

“We love our dumpling offering at Southside – it’s something that I think that we do really well,” says David. “We felt like it could translate really well to a venue that was much more focused just on the dumpling and the dim sum offering.

“We were looking for a basement space in the CBD because there’s a strong association with Hong Kong – central Hong Kong is full of these cool little nooks and crannies that are all subterranean. We just kept our ear to the ground for a couple of years, waiting for the right thing to pop up. And then about a year or so ago it did.”

So, what shape will Central take? Works converting the subterranean space are well underway, with Jared Webb of J.AR OFFICE overseeing the design aspect and Lowry Group handling the fit-out. Aesthetically, the crew is leaning into the venue’s underground digs, with mood-setting lights illuminating the venue’s original exposed-brick walls and Central’s granite and timber fixtures.

Central’s kitchen and bar area will serve as the venue’s buzzing focal point, with countertop seats ringing one axis of this nexus, while banquettes will line the wall on the opposite flank. The rest of the restaurant’s dining space will occupy a raised tier, with booths and banquettes boasting sight lines into the kitchen.

“There’s obviously a bit of an industrial feel to the fit-out, but it will still be quite luxe and quite comfortable,” David informs us. “The idea is that the kitchen is centre stage and then all of the other activity is ringed around that. It will feel quite connected – whilst it is still one space, it won’t feel like one big room or one flat plane.”

But what about the vibe? What kind of atmosphere can we expect?

“Immersive, I think in a word,” says David. “We’re trying to make the most of the beautiful character that existed in the space. Whilst we’re not directly referencing Primitif, we want to maintain a feeling of the subterranean aspect. And we definitely wanted it to feel like it is in a basement – some of the great experiences that we’ve had [in Hong Kong] have been in little nondescript basement restaurants and bars.”