EAT > Aru Restaurant Melbourne - Brilliant Food in a Smart Room

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This super smart (two hat) restaurant is in a slightly unlikely location on little Collins Street, just behind the Bourke Street Mall, an area more associated with smart cafe’s and quick lunches than fine dining. But there is no question that Aru is fine dining. Opening in 2021 and immediately getting recognition for innovative, beautifully presented delicious food.

As you walk in, past the wood fired grill, you note that the open kitchen runs almost the length of the restaurant and you can sit and absorb the remarkable technique that goes into every dish. With use of fermentation, smoking, curing, preserving and of course grilling on the wood fire.

We started with the house bread, Forbidden Rice Sourdough, Palm Sugar and Smoked Cultured Butter ($8) which was outstanding and a really different bread offering. We progressed to the Duck Sausage Sanga, with Leatherwood Honey, Onion and Peanut Hoisin ($18) which while it looks like a bit like a Bunnings sausage in white bread it explodes with flavours and is generous and moorish. We also shared the Pate En Croute, with Flavours of Banh Mi ($34) I felt that this was more of a terrine than a pate but again the flavours popped and do absolutely make you think of eating a Banh Mi right down the pickled carrot garnish.

For our main course we share the 14 day Dry Aged Duck, with Rhubarb, Black Cabbage and Bamboo ($68) with a Green Papaya, Jalapeño Nahm Jim, Desert Lime and Blistered Tomato salad ($18). The duck was exceptional with crispy skin and perfect pink flesh and the Green Papaya salad was a lovely palate refresher.

We drank the delicious Rob Hall Harriet’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 which was a perfect compliment to the duck at ($21 per glass).

Service was impeccable, with our waiter helping with a careful wine selection and making sure we had enough but not too much food.

Aru takes asian flavours in new and exciting directions chef Khanh Nguyen and team have built on the success of Sunda and are creating a whole new set of signature dishes that you are going to love.