Moreton Bay bug is the sweet slipper-lobster pulled from the bay east of Brisbane. Halved, grilled or steamed, the tail meat is a Queensland fine-dining anchor.
Moreton Bay bug (Thenus orientalis), also called the Bay lobster or flathead lobster, has been caught by Queensland fishers since the colonial period. The species takes its English name from Moreton Bay, the body of water immediately east of Brisbane that runs north-south behind North and South Stradbroke islands. Local Indigenous Quandamooka people fished bugs long before European arrival. Commercial trawl fishing established in the 1950s made the bug ubiquitous on Brisbane menus, particularly through the seafood-restaurant boom of the 1970s and 1980s. Today bugs appear on every serious Brisbane fine-dining menu, almost always halved and grilled with garlic butter or split and chilled in a seafood platter.
2 editor picks for Moreton Bay Bug in Brisbane, ranked by editorial score. All Brisbane signature dishes · Moreton Bay Bug across every city.
Stanley Restaurant ★ 4.6
howard-smith-wharves · 5 Boundary Street, Brisbane City QLD 4000
Stanley is a two-level waterfront Cantonese room at Howard Smith Wharves. Yum cha at lunch, Peking duck carved tableside, river-side tables to book.
Blackbird Bar & Grill ★ 4.4
cbd · 123 Eagle Street, Brisbane City QLD 4000
Blackbird occupies the riverfront level of the Riverside Centre at 123 Eagle Street. Dry-aged steaks, Queensland seafood, sweeping Story Bridge views.