Queensland Archives - Hamilton Today

OKO OKO has opened at Eat Street Northshore on MacArthur Avenue in Hamilton, debuting what its founders describe as the world’s first wagyu kare pan: a deep-fried Japanese curry bun built around Darling Downs wagyu, eighteen months in the making.

The kare pan, Japan’s beloved panko-crusted curry bun invented in Tokyo in 1927, has never been built around wagyu until now.

OKO OKO’s version is filled with Queensland wagyu sourced from Sandalwood Feedlot on the Darling Downs, one of Australia’s oldest and most awarded producers, combined with a cheesy curry filling, panko-crusted and fried to order behind a Shinjuku-styled pagoda facade unlike anything else in the precinct.

Founder Michael Otway says the dish took six months of development on its own. “The dough, the curry, the wagyu, the cheese, the fry,” he said. “Queensland wagyu changes the dish. No kitchen in Japan or anywhere else has done it this way. What comes out of the fryer at OKO OKO is something Brisbane hasn’t tasted before.”

A dish with a serious backstory

Kare pan has a devoted following in Japan, with its own annual national grand prix and a 50,000-member association. It is one of Japan’s most loved everyday foods, widely available from bakeries across the country. What no kitchen in Japan or anywhere else had done, according to OKO OKO, was make wagyu the centrepiece.

The chef behind the menu brings serious credentials to that claim. OKO OKO’s global head chef previously worked at Nobu London and Yoko Brisbane. The full OKO OKO menu extends well beyond the kare pan into okonomiyaki, yakisoba, yakisoba pan and other Japanese street food classics, all built to the same elevated standard.

The Shinjuku-styled pagoda that frames OKO OKO’s space at Eat Street is described by the founders as a physical expression of the menu itself: respected traditions, modern elevation.

Getting to Eat Street Northshore

Eat Street Northshore at 221D MacArthur Avenue, Hamilton is open Friday and Saturday from 4pm to 10pm and Sunday from 4pm to 9pm. Entry is $6 per person. The precinct is accessible by CityCat to the Northshore Hamilton terminal, a 250-metre walk from the entrance, or by car with 1,400-plus free parks on site.

Published 12-June-2026

Hamilton-based clinical-stage biotech company Vaxxas has won a phase one tender from the European Health and Digital Executive Agency to advance its needle-free vaccine patch technology as part of the EU-backed global pandemic influenza preparedness programme.

The tender was awarded on behalf of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority under the EU 2024 EU4Health Work Programme, which allocates up to $250 million across three competitive sequential phases. The phase one allocation of approximately $22 million will fund a clinical study combining Vaxxas’ high-density microarray patch technology with South Korean company SK bioscience’s seasonal influenza vaccine. The Consortium also includes European-based IDT Biologika, a contract developer and manufacturer of vaccines, gene and immune therapeutics with more than 100 years of operating history. IDT Biologika led the Consortium submission.

What the HD-MAP Technology Does

Vaxxas’ HD-MAP is a small patch containing thousands of microprojections approximately 0.25 millimetres in length, fabricated by injection moulding. The patch delivers vaccine to the high-density populations of immune cells directly beneath the surface of the skin, with the microprojections triggering immune responses that rapidly traffic vaccine components to lymph nodes. The coated patch sits inside a single-use applicator and administers the vaccine in a matter of seconds.

The technology carries several practical advantages over traditional needle-and-syringe delivery. The dried form of the vaccine is more stable at higher temperatures than vaccines in liquid formulations, and HD-MAPs have proven safe and tolerable in hundreds of trial participants, inducing equal or greater immune responses to injected vaccines at lower doses. The platform also has the potential to eliminate end-to-end refrigeration requirements, reducing the cold-chain logistics burden that slows vaccination rates in both routine and emergency settings. The core technology was originally developed at the University of Queensland, and Vaxxas was established to commercialise it.

What Phase One Will Deliver

The phase one programme has two parallel workstreams. The first is a clinical study advancing Vaxxas’ HD-MAP technology in conjunction with SK bioscience’s seasonal influenza vaccine. The second is a pre-clinical development programme producing a clinic-ready HD-MAP for a pre-pandemic influenza vaccine.

All clinical products for phase one will be manufactured using Vaxxas’ proprietary sterile automated manufacturing lines at its Hamilton biomedical facility. Vaxxas is simultaneously completing a separate and largest-to-date phase one clinical study of its HD-MAP with a pre-pandemic influenza vaccine, supported by the US Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

The Consortium Partners

IDT Biologika, which led the Consortium submission, brings more than a century of vaccine development and manufacturing experience to the programme. SK bioscience, a South Korean vaccine company with a longstanding collaboration with Vaxxas, will supply vaccine antigens for both the seasonal and pandemic influenza studies across the programme.

Vaxxas chief executive David Peacock said the tender reflected a shared ambition across the Consortium and the European Union to invest in alternative vaccine technologies, and that the recognition of HD-MAP by governments worldwide confirmed its role as a component of future public health preparedness.

What Comes Next

If the Consortium successfully completes phase one, it becomes eligible to tender for subsequent phases covering late-stage clinical trials, application for marketing authorisation in Europe, and the establishment of a sovereign EU manufacturing capability.

Further information about Vaxxas and its HD-MAP technology is available at vaxxas.com. The company’s Hamilton biomedical facility is located at 240 MacArthur Avenue, Hamilton QLD 4007, within the Northshore Hamilton river precinct.

Published 3-March-2026.

Tag: Queensland

Would You Try a Wagyu Curry Bun? Brisbane’s Newest Food Stall Thinks You Should