It’s had more changes than a Lady Gaga show, but the current incarnation of the restaurant deep inside Sydney’s Botanic Garden – now called Botanic House – deserves more than a round of applause.

Owner the Trippas White Group has nabbed the consulting services of chef, restaurateur, TV personality and all round nice guy Luke Nguyen (of Red Lantern and Fat Noodle) to wave his South East Asian wand over the kitchen.

It’s a venue that’s often forgotten, perhaps because it’s only open for lunch and requires one to leg it through the park for a few minutes, but it’s worth it. The conservatory-like room is a lovely  setting with a leafy aspect of the harbour and city skyline.

With his Vietnamese heritage, Nguyen’s understanding of the cuisines of South East Asia is well tuned and evident here on a menu that’s largely Vietnamese, and cleverly traverses the flavours of neighbouring cuisines.

Generous tempura-battered batons of eggplant are sprinkled in goji berries and offered with a sweet plum sauce. A delightfully light, crisp turmeric rice crêpe swaddles tiger prawns, chorizo and bean sprouts, set to be sliced and rolled up with lettuce and floral herbs.

Seared barramundi, meanwhile, lolls in lemon myrtle-infused coconut milk accented with sawtooth coriander and chilli. Lap cheong (Chinese sausage) and egg fried rice is nice, but more pleasing still with the much-maligned suburban staple sweet and sour pork – a dish that never tickled my fancy, until now. Leaning more sour than sweet, here capsicum and pineapple combine with Berkshire pork in a satisfying dish.

A dense Vietnamese coffee tres leches with miso caramel and a subtle soy sauce ice cream is a fitting finale.

The portions are large and while it’s a safe menu given the pungency and depth Nguyen is capable of producing, it’s beautifully executed and worth a detour from the throng of CBD eateries.