Food Trails, Modern Dance, Pride and Prejudice: 17 Essential Events Happening in Brisbane This Month

July in Brisbane is for food lovers. Sure, there are plays, musicals – and plenty of great art exhibitions to see, but this month is really all about food. Get ready for ramen specials, the return of Night Feast and this year’s James Street Food and Wine Trail.

Here are the 17 best things to do in Queensland this month – and all the food news you need to know.

Jump to:

• Festivals and events

• Theatre

• Art

• Food news and new openings

Festivals and events in July 2026

It’s a bumper year for events. Head here to check out our 2026 festival and events wrap – or keep reading to find out about this month’s best.

• Pride and Prejudice Regency Cocktail Trail, July 10 to July 26: Queensland Theatre’s Pride and Prejudice is returning to the stage this month. To celebrate, five Fish Lane venues – including Midtown, Southside and Marlowe – have unveiled Regency-era inspired cocktails as a nod to the Austen story. Try all five drinks and you can go into the draw to win a dinner in Fish Lane.

• National Ramen Day at Motto Motto, July 11: It’s soup weather – and, luckily, it’s also national ramen day. Motto Motto is offering a bowl of classic ramen with a drink for just $7.11.

• Wynnum Fringe, June 25 – July 12: More than 200 performances will ignite the bayside festival hub during the Wynnum Fringe festival. Everything including comedy, music, circus and cabaret will be represented. Headliners include Matt Okine, Mel Buttle, Arj Barker and Luke McGregor.

• Three by Australasian Dance Collective, July 15 to July 18: A compelling new triple bill from choreographers Amber McCartney, Joel Bray and Harrison Ritchie-Jones who have put together high-octane feats of versatility and physicality. It’s running over four days at the Brisbane Powerhouse.

• QAGOMA’s Winter Design Market, July 25 to July 26: Ceramics, jewellery, homewares will be on offer as the QAGOMA forecourt welcomes stalls from local artisans and makers. It’s the perfect excuse to stock up on gifts – or buy something to treat yourself.

• James Street Food and Wine Trail, 10am to 4pm, July 26: James Street Food and Wine Trail has returned for its biggest year yet. This year, the festival is stretching out over 13,752 square metres with 25 resident venues and 35 market stalls sure to draw a crowd. Expect one-off treats including churros with Thai tea dulce de leche from Los, and the return of Jocelyn Provisions’ much-loved hundreds and thousands lamington. There will be cooking demonstrations, live music and even discounted rates at The Calile if you want to make it a sleepover.

• Night Feast, July 29 to August 23: Since its first edition in 2023, Night Feast has established itself as one of the major culinary events in Brisbane. It’s a cross between a food festival and a night market, which sees a string of food stalls set up in the Powerhouse forecourt. These aren’t your typical market food stands, though – they’re pop-ups by some of the city’s most beloved restaurants, serving a mix of favourite dishes and exclusive menu items. This year stalls will come from Night Feast newbies like Ruby, My Dear and Norté, as well as returning favourites like Donna Chang, Gelato Messina and Hoy Pinoy.

• Fried Chicken Tuesdays at Supernormal: Winter calls for comfort food. Enter Supernormal’s Korean fried chicken which is fried to perfection and served crisp and golden with house ferments and sauces including green chilli ranch and kombu hot sauce.

• +81 Sushi Kappo, one of Broadsheet’s best new openings of the year so far, has just introduced a lunch service. You can now experience the venue’s omakase menu at lunch on Thursday and Friday.

• Wednesday Steak Nights at Marlowe: The team at Marlowe has introduced a new midweek special. Each Wednesday, the menu now features a 220-gram Rivervine sirloin with skin-on fries for $38. There’s the option to include a paired wine or beer with your steak for $49 – or if you’re going all out for hump day, you can turn the whole thing into a surf and turf. Reservations are available online.

• Supernormal Weekday Ramen Special: Summer is over, which means we’re slowly sliding towards ramen weather. Supernormal is welcoming the cooler weather with a new menu item: ramen. On weekdays from 11.30am, the riverside restaurant will serve a rich double chicken stock, which slowly simmers overnight and is then infused with dried shiitake, kombu and white miso to create a rich and layered flavour. Piping hot broth is then poured over noodles. The ramen is topped with grilled chicken, dumplings, and a soy-marinated egg.

Theatre in July 2026

Brisbane’s 2026 theatre calendar is packed with musicals, adaptations and Australian premieres. Here’s what to catch this month.

•Pride & Prejudice: Queensland Theatre Company’s retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice is returning for a second season. Elizabeth Bennet is once again at odds with her husband-hunting sisters and dithery mother as she seeks to find her own path in life. The talented Queensland cast includes Gael Ballantyne, Maddison Burridge, William Carseldine, Courtney Cavallaro, Daphne Chenl, Chenoa Deemal and more. The creative team – co-adaptors Wendy Mocke and Lewis Treston and co-directors Bridget Boyle and Daniel Evans – had the audience on their feet in 2025, and their second time around is set to be just as good.

Pride & Prejudice runs from July 10 to 26 at Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

• Heathers The Musical: Heathers walked so that Clueless and Mean Girls could run. If you haven’t seen the 1988 film, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, the dark comedy satirises teen movies of the time. The off-Broadway version, which debuted in 2014, has been touring for over a decade with minor tweaks. It has a pop-rock score by screenwriter Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, behind the music of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Veronica Sawyer is played by newcomer Emma Caporaso, and New Zealand-born Calista Nelmes – who was a finalist on The Voice – is queen bee Heather Chandler.

Heathers The Musical runs from July 30 to August 9 at Hota, Gold Coast. Tickets are on sale now.

Art exhibitions in July 2026

Art lovers must be exhausted. This year is jam-packed with exhibitions. Here are four you can see this month.

• Olafur Eliasson: Presence, QAGOMA: Icelandic Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is known for his installations that draw on elements of water, light and air temperature to transport viewers to a new realm. This Brisbane-exclusive exhibition delivers a multi-sensory journey that celebrates his three-decade career. Visit to see, feel, hear and touch two much-loved QAGOMA works, including Riverbed – wear comfortable shoes to explore the rocky landscape and running water – and The Cubic Structural Evolution Project, an all-white Lego city perpetually built and rebuilt by visitors. Until July 12, 2026. $14 to $33.

• Stories You Wear: Magpie Goose, Museum of Brisbane: Aboriginal-owned and -led fashion and social enterprise Magpie Goose has teamed up with the Museum of Brisbane to celebrate its ongoing collaborations with First Nations artists and designers. Directed by co-owners Amanda Hayman (Wakka Wakka and Kalkadoon) and Troy Casey (Kamilaroi), this exhibition sees clothing used as a canvas for storytelling – and a vehicle for conversations. There’s a particular focus on works from the South East Queensland communities of Jinibara and Quandamooka, including senior artists Sonja Carmichael and Belinda Close. Visit and explore the creativity, innovation and cultural expression that goes into each piece of the Magpie Goose collection. Until October 5, 2026. Free

• This Moment: Highlights from the White Rabbit Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art, Hota: White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney showcases the private collection of philanthropist Judith Neilson, whose focus is experimental and political art from 21st-century China. Neilson’s collection rarely travels beyond Sydney – until now. In a Queensland-exclusive, visitors to Hota will get to see 40 artworks from White Rabbit, including some by ceramicist Geng Xue, multimedia artist Xu Zhen and video and installation artist Zhang Peili. Expect mind-bending pieces such as a 3D-printed Noah’s Ark, twisted and appearing to melt to the ground; neon and LED sculptures; and a haunting chorus of wooden chairs with mechanical arms. Until October 11. Free.

• Archie Moore kith and kin, QAGOMA: Awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, Archie Moore’s kith and kin is a powerful and contemplative work that charts the artist’s family tree over 65,000 years. The hand-drawn chart is written in chalk on blackboard, and includes animals, plants and waterways – proving not only that Aboriginal people have the oldest continuous living culture but also that all living things are connected. A reflective pool sits in the middle as a memorial to First Nations people who died during incarceration. There are also floating pages of coronial inquests detailing Indigenous deaths in custody. It’s a stark reminder of the ongoing over-representation of First Nations people in Australia’s criminal justice system. This exhibition marks the first time kith and kin has been shown anywhere outside of Venice. Until October 18. Free.

Food news and new openings

What we’ve covered recently:

• Here’s our take on the 10 best new openings across the state this year so far.

• Our team is lucky to spend a lot of time eating and drinking. Here are the best dishes and drinks we’ve tried this year so far.

• Beloved Argentinian grill San Telmo opened its first Brisbane location with empanadas, serious steaks and flatbreads.

You might have missed:

• Ex-Otto chef Will Cowper will open Pici, a casual pasta spot in New Farm, later this year.

Reporting by Alice Jeffrey, Emma Joyce and Kit Kriewaldt.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 12, 2026. It is updated every month with new events and inclusions. The most recent update was July 7, 2026