The first incarnation of Hello Please opened in 2016 in a car park beneath a South Brisbane rail overpass. In true Vietnamese street food spirit, the setup was temporary, with the food coming out of a shipping container to picnic tables scattered under yellow and white striped umbrellas and a giant mural of Muhammad Ali.

As the Fish Lane food precinct continued to develop, the opportunity arose for the restaurant to move into a more permanent location in 2019. This new tenancy, conveniently located across the lane, consisted of two distinct spaces; an outdoor space with a similar under-rail setting as the original pop-up, and a narrow internal space with a prominent frontage to Fish Lane.

As nimble as a Vietnamese hawker, the shipping container kitchen and picnic tables have been picked up and relocated to the outdoor space, building upon the grungy street market feel of the OG Hello Please. In contrast, the cocktail bar inside, offers a more relaxed setting and the perfect vantage point to soak up the vibrancy of Fish Lane. Here, the glow of lanterns throw soft pink light onto a minimal palette of white plaster, birch plywood, and polished concrete.

While Hello Please 2.0 offers a more elevated dining experience, the quirky signatures of the beloved pop-up remain. The yellow and white umbrellas have been immortalized in the ten-meter-long street awning, while a new mural of an opportunistic octopus is providing an Instagram worthy backdrop to rival even the greatest boxer of all time.

Completed: 2019

Builder: Woodsters
Mural: Fuzeillear