The team that brought us the off-menu Vegemite curry which had Melbourne talking – you had to know to ask for it – is bringing us a new take on Australasian cuisine.

Aru, by the Sunda Group, opens its doors in Little Collins Street on June 16, and is taking bookings from May 31.

Executive chef, Khanh Nguyen, put out a teaser on his Instagram back in March: “We will be a restaurant that loves old and new technique. Think cooking over open flames, whole animals, dry ageing, curing, fermenting and preserving all done in house. With influences and inspiration from all around Asia as well as focusing on native Australia produce,” he wrote of the restaurant which was two years in the making.

Now we know more. Aru takes its name from the group of islands on the pre-colonial Sino, Indonesian and northern Australian maritime route, which gives Nguyen lots of flavours to play with.

A wood-fired hearth dominates the kitchen, with food cooked over flame but there’s also the use of ancient techniques including fermentation, curing, smoking and preserving.

delicious.com.au had a sneak peek at the menu, which combines Australian native ingredients with Southeast Asian spices – so far, so Sunda – and influences from China and Japan which gives the menu greater leeway.

The dishes are a playful medley of Asian and Australian, dishes we know and love that are slightly subverted. Sunda’s Vegemite curry showed there’s an appetite for food that riffs on familiar flavours and Nguyen has run with it. Snack on a duck sausage sanga with leatherwood honey, onion and peanuts or the French-Indochina influenced charcuterie – our pick is the pâté en croûte with flavours of banh mi.

Char siu is done with eggplant rather than pork, rice noodles come with smoked lardo and green papaya is matched with kangaroo jerky.

The Vegemite curry didn’t make the trip from Sunda, but the babi guling did. There are only 10 portions a day of the Balinese spit-roasted pork, served with native Australian sambals, so get in early.

Desserts have a decidedly Asian bent with an Aussie twist; tapioca pudding comes with wattle honeycomb while a tofu cheesecake is served with strawberry gum.

The robust wine list is care of group beverage manager, Michael Kovatseff-Burton, while the signature cocktails are crafted by group bar manager, Darren Leaney, who has nailed the brief of weaving in native Australian and Asian flavours.

Aru’s version of a gin sour will include bird’s eye chili, passionfruit and pepperberry while the Vietnamese dessert, bánh chuối is the inspiration for a clarified milk punch, with banana, coconut, vanilla, fortified wine, rum and whiskey.

Aru
268 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
9939 8113
aru.net.au
@arurestaurant