Following his Southeast Asian take on Vegemite, served alongside flaky roti at Sunda, and the burrata standing in for the rice in nasi lemak at his summer pop-up Sunda EXP, the Bunnings snag and banh mi get a go at Nguyen’s fire-powered city restaurant Aru.

Here he wraps pillowy bao disguised as white bread around a duck sausage, topped with onions (of course) and peanut hoisin sauce. Pate en croute (shortcrust pastry encasing meat) mimics the flavours of the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich.

Gimickery aside, Nguyen is responsible for some seriously smart cooking – just look to his torched salmon and duck ham strands, deserving of their own deli line. Aru is a choose-your-own adventure feast, in a multi-tiered, casual dining room anchored by a kitchen with a heaving woodfire oven.

Well-drilled waiters keep the wheels in motion, satisfying your thirst with modern cocktails and smashable wines from here and abroad. Nguyen strikes a respectful balance between cultural correctness and downright deliciousness, and inspires edge-of-your-seat anticipation for his next move in the restaurant world.

Aru is one of Melbourne’s most exciting, value-for-money restaurants.

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