Popular CBD French diner closes suddenly

Little Provence has closed suddenly, with the Brisbane CBD restaurant’s final service on Friday night just hours after the decision was announced on social media.

Speaking to this masthead on Monday, chef-patron Romain Maunier – who also owns Spring Hill’s La Cache a Vin – said he decided to close on Thursday night after a late disagreement with the building’s landlord on terms for a new lease.

He said what he understood was agreed in a letter of intent and then via text was not reflected in the final lease agreement.

“That had been quite a long process to get even to the letter of intent,” Maunier said. “Then there was some back and forth that there was not meant to be, to the point where I had to make a decision, and I didn’t want to be put under pressure.

“So that’s why on Thursday night, with the agreement obviously of my wife [Kat Maunier, who runs the restaurant with Romain] and talking to my solicitor, we decided not to go ahead.

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“Already we had a bit of a doubt, obviously, and as it is common knowledge, there’s a bit of tension in between the previous tenants in terms of fit-out and so on.”

His remarks were a reference to a legal dispute over the space between restaurateurs Dan Arnold and Cameron Votan. According to documents filed in the Brisbane District Court, Arnold failed to pay an agreed-upon amount when taking over the lease.

“I wanted first of all to know if I could have the lease before trying to solve an issue around that, and at the end of the day I didn’t get the lease, so it’s a problem less for me to solve.”

It means Little Provence spent just over a year in the heritage-listed 336 George Street space previously occupied by Pneuma, which Arnold co-owned with Matt Blackwell, and before that Votan’s Greenglass. Defined by its original timber floors and arched windows, it’s one of the most distinctive dining rooms in the city.

“It’s an amazing space,” Maunier says. “It’s an old building and obviously what comes with old buildings is sometimes last-minute repair and things like this, but we had such a wide range of customers coming here: lawyers and barristers, lots of locals, people coming for special occasions, wine dinners. Diners really embraced what we were doing.

“[Kat] and I were very happy with the way things were going. It felt like a slice of home – I am from Provence. I won’t say it’s emotional, but it was great to share some of my childhood and the recipes from my mum and grandma and put it on the table in one of my restaurants.”

Maunier says they are intending to reopen the restaurant, but only if the right opportunity present itself.

“I think it can be redeveloped into something else but I wouldn’t take it back to the suburbs [Little Provence first opened in Eatons Hill], just because of that proximity to La Cache a Vin – it needs to be easy for me to go from one restaurant to the other.”