To understand Flights Bar & Grill’s conception story, you must first learn more about Church Mouse Cheese. The brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Belinda and Greg Haines, and hospitality gun Khali Reardon, Church Mouse Cheese started production in the midst of the pandemic, boasting an offering of monthly taste boxes filled with artisanal cheeses and bespoke cheese-tower catering services that turophile’s immediately fell in love with. From there came more and more opportunities for the team to host wine and cheese, whiskey and cheese and gin and cheese tasting events. “Our engagement was becoming quite focused on the pairing of cheese and alcohol,” says Belinda. “When we were working out of a catering kitchen, we had no voice, we weren’t able to do the events how we wanted to as we didn’t have our own liquor licence and we were working out of someone else’s venue.” It was out of this challenge that Flights Bar & Grill was born. “We thought if we could find a venue with a great private event space then we would snap it up.” That space turned out to be the heritage-listed McDonald’s Bakery building on St. Paul’s Terrace. Featuring a 60-seat private dining room, as well as a large space for casual dining, the site allows the Church Mouse crew to host its hugely popular epicurean experiences in a space that’s all their own.

Among Flights Bar & Grill’s offering is, of course, the flights. Defined as a group of drinks carefully curated to take you on a journey, pair a flight with a spectacular selection of cheese from the Church Mouse team and you’ve got a pretty drool-worthy concept, if you ask us. Fancy a trip to France without coughing up the price of a plane ticket? Flights can take you on a culinary journey through French-inspired cheese and wine, no passport needed. The Flights Bar & Grill menu highlights national and international wine, gin, whiskey, a range of classic and experimental cocktails and of course, cheese, creating the perfect pairing to take you taste buds on an unforgettable trip. While the Church Mouse team like to push the boundaries when it comes to pairing, there are a few general rules they tend to abide by. “You have to understand where the product comes from, and you want to try and pair flavours that are similar,” says Belinda. “For example if you’ve got a juniper berry in a gin, then you may want to look at cheeses where the animals feed from juniper berries, because the flavour will come out in the milk.”

While the flights have a cheese focus (no complaints here), the restaurant also offers a mouth-watering menu of beautifully prepared, traditional food that focuses on quality produce. The menu features a sublime selection of small share plates, grazing boards, mains, sides and steaks off the grill. Small dishes include wagyu tataki, truffle arancini, glazed pork belly bites and Moreton Bay bug with garlic and herb butter. Onto the mains, diners can dig their forks into the likes of sweet potato gnocchi with garlic cream sauce, Maryland duck confit with carrot puree and pomegranate jus, or lamb forequarter with mint tzatziki and red-wine jus. The menu also puts the building’s century-old oven to great use, dishing out a wonderful selection of woodfired plates. The best part? Each month Flights Bar & Grill hosts three pairing events, ensuring there is always a fresh epicurean experience on offer for all wine, gin, whiskey and cheese enthusiasts. There are also plans for a dine with the wine-maker or distiller event to start in the very near future.

Flights Bar & Grill is now open. A grand opening night is planned for Friday June 16. Head to our Stumble Guide for operating hours and other details. 

This article was written by Bryanna Rossow from The Weekend Edition.