First Look: OTIS Lounge

Posted on 11 June, 2024

Plush, moody, stylish. That was the idea behind the newest addition to fine-dining darling OTIS Dining Hall.

And with pre-and post-dinner drinks and snacks on the menu (as well as some special weekend lunches), it seems that OTIS Lounge will quickly become the go-to location for those looking for an elegant escape from the Canberra cold.

Especially as Owner and Executive Chef Damian Brabender makes his way back into the kitchen.

Transforming the front of the restaurant into a lounge area (seeing the dining hall shrink by about a third) OTIS Lounge is a small, intimate space bringing some serious snacks and sips to Kingston. Also available to be booked as a private dining space, it’s ideal for groups and events but – as Damian says – even better for late nights.

Especially as he serves comforting cuisine and cocktails for those with a slightly more elegant taste.

“We had so many guests coming in wanting a private dining space and we had so many guests coming in who just wanted one plate of food or just wanted to have some wine or dessert…I didn’t want to be saying no to people because not everyone can afford to go out and spend $200 on dinner every week,” says Damian.

“We decided to split the room into a small lounge area where people can catch up with a couple of friends instead of going to a pub to have a few nice drinks. People are going out drinking more quality than quantity…so they can come in and splash out on one nice glass of wine and two small plates of food and still drive home.”

Offering everything from the beloved pre-batched OTIS negroni to mouth-watering charcuterie, the OTIS Lounge menu is as distinguished as the fit-out, seeing Damian’s deft flavour combinations pack their punch in the form of little bites and sharing plates.

Some of the mouth-watering morsels available.

From fresh oysters to bite-sized pieces of cheese presented on perfect little square charcoal cheese biscuits that come from Bath in England (which Damian calls a “no fuss, no cutlery” approach to eating cheese and is a bit like “a private canapé party for yourself”), the OTIS Lounge menu will depend entirely on what’s available at the markets and from artisan suppliers.

“It’s all going to be about the best, fresh or cured produce available, and that small plates menu will change a lot,” says Damian.

“We have people who have very small, artisan set-ups who will reach out to us, but they never have enough that we can put on the menu. But they do have enough that we can put it on the menu for two weeks until it’s all gone.”

But there are a few notable menu highlights.

Fans of the OTIS Pepper Steak will be able to order a plate for themselves to enjoy with a glass of red in the ambient lounge, and all of the OTIS desserts will be available until late in the evening – including the mouth-watering crème caramel with French vanilla, Armagnac prunes, and jersey cream.

OTIS’ Pepper Steak. Credit: Tim Bean Photography.

“I want to get back to what real dining is and that’s no smoke and mirrors…I want something where customers can come in and have a steak, a side, and a glass of wine and have change out of $100 and still have it at the top level instead of having to remortgage a home to buy a T-bone steak somewhere,” says Damian.

“I also love the idea of guests being able to experience the other fantastic restaurants in the area and then coming to OTIS for a crème caramel, some cheese, and a dessert wine. And bring back all those things that have almost become movie terms! Where do people go for a nightcap these days?”

Hopefully, OTIS Lounge will soon be the answer. But that’s not the only big thing happening.

“I’m now the only chef in the kitchen,” explains Damian.

“We wanted to turn the dining hall to be more focused on dining and more focused on that set menu, a chef-driven experience where you trust the person in the kitchen to make sure what you’re going to get is good.”

His hope? To refocus OTIS as a prime location for tasting menu dining and elevated Australian French bistro fare.

“We want this to be the place for people to go for special occasion dining and the lounge to be the place to go for a steak and a glass of wine,” he explains.

“The á la carte options will still be there; at the moment we have about 10 dishes available for the three-course offering. However, we are looking at pricing the Chef’s Menu to be as affordable as the á la carte.”

“You can pay the same amount for either option, but the Chef’s Menu is essentially the full á la carte – just with half portions of everything. We’re going back to what tasting menus were meant to be, and that was tasting everything on the Chef’s Menu, including all the desserts.”

The crème caramel with French vanilla, Armagnac prunes, and jersey cream.

Bringing back the elegance of dining out without the price tag, with Damian back in the kitchen full-time making bread and whipping butter, OTIS will also be going back to what it was known for when it first opened – including some of its more iconic and classic dishes.

“I’m more in love with being in the kitchen than I’ve ever been before,” he explains.

“We’re going to be bringing back a lot of the classic dishes like the Magnum Meringue Ice-cream with a little bit of a tweak with some yuzu and sake added to it as well as our Salted Wallaby in Vine Leaf dish that we had on for a couple of years,”

And – keeping with the theme of bringing back classics – OTIS is once again offering its truffle menu from Wednesday 11 June to showcase Damian’s irresistible paddock-to-plate creations, infused with the delicious fungus.

“I think out of all restaurants in Canberra, we’re known for truffles more than any other,” says Damian.

“And we will have truffle cheese and truffle butter in the lounge as well. For people who want to get a late-night truffle fix, we’ll be here.”

Open with limited seating available Thursday to Friday from 4 pm and on weekends from noon, to make a booking for OTIS Lounge call (02) 6260 6066.