Taking over from a Bourke Street Bakery can be a tough gig. There are few snacks that outrank a pork and fennel sausage roll, but the crackled orange skin of Korean fried chicken? That will do it, especially if it’s made by Ben Sears, Eun Hee An and Ned Brooks, the power trio behind beloved ex-restaurant Moon Park.

However, there’s more to Paper Bird’s modern Korean menu than juicy chook joints. There’s prawn toast, a crunchy crouton sandwich of minced prawn flesh meshed with green chilli slaw. Purple Goolwa pipis in XO broth come with a deep-fried dough stick for disposing of the salty wok-tossed broth, and shallot pancakes are heaped with silky furls of jamon in place of spicy Korean pork.

Much like the food menu, desserts take inspiration from across the watery straits. An almost airborne Japanese cheesecake boasts a moist and milky texture, the vanilla sweetness offset by a puckering row of cumquats. For something a little less grown up, there’s an amber tablet of stratified confit apple, submerged in sake custard and refreshed with ginger jelly squares. It’s not hard to see why children adore this sweet trio so much.   

Housed beneath a row of shops, Paper Bird embraces its bunker-like setting with poured concrete floors and an aquamarine tint to keep the space feeling cheery.

Sommelier Ned Brooks has curated a wine list that’s in sync with the kitchen, with over 80 boutique bottles and 12 by the glass. However, it’s the specialty sakes that really make the eyes shine, especially the floral and honeyed, brown and red rice varieties. It’s just one more reason why you need to swoop in.

Must eat dish: Menbosha: a prawn toast and cabbage sandwich