Terrific pan-fried cumin lamb buns with a fiery chilli dipping sauce or sesame-studded scampi toast topped with drops of seaweed mayo and scampi caviar are among the potential starters at this CBD newcomer beautifully fashioned from a heritage-listed, 1920s-built bank.

The room is double-height, with chandeliers, ornate plasterwork ceilings and opulent pastel-coloured seating at marble tables. Private dining rooms line the mezzanine level and the loos are in the former bank’s vaults.

The menu is extensive and makes its way through raw items, starters such as Sichuan salt and pepper school prawns, dim sum, live seafood including whole Queensland grouper wood-roasted in paperbark, wood-fired dishes and inventive mains like twice-cooked black silky chicken; cobia fillets blanketed in black bean and salted olive; or roast duck with Davidson plum sauce.

Desserts are inventive and could include a Hong Kong-style milk tea and wattleseed crepe cake with milk ice cream or the sweet-sour winner that is strawberry and hibiscus “bubble tea” with young soy curd, Sichuan pepper and yoghurt sorbet. Alternatively, a steamed passionfruit custard bun is a small, sweet finale.

Must-eat dish: Cumin lamb buns