There’s nothing like having the global gastro gods paying a visit to get a few things crossed off the to-do list.

Before the World’s 50 Best juggernaut rolled into town earlier this year, a few of our best restaurants quietly visited the architect for a cheeky nip-tuck.

Among them, Andrew McConnell’s Cutler & Co, which has always been immaculately dressed in the finest designer wear, emerged from under its bandages with a dining room that’s now as darkly moody and sexy a room as Melbourne has to offer, as well as a front bar that’s been transformed into a destination in its own right.

The open kitchen, helmed by Chris Watson, provides quiet theatre to the buzzy room, while the standalone aperitif station is where you’ll see martinis stirred in vintage glassware and a range of vermouth poured over ice.

Those drinks come with a bowl of deeply smoked almonds – just one example of the sense of welcoming hospitality that’s a hallmark of the McConnell empire.

Hefty cutlery and linen napkins herald this as a bar for adults. Adults, mind you, who can’t get enough of the puffy white bread that sandwiches a katsu abalone, or doughnuts dressed with salmon roe and sour cream. All sorts of naughtiness, but oh-so right.

A glorious veal tartare is game-changingly good; the tender meat nestled on a macadamia cream bed with a blizzard of shaved macadamia atop. A DIY tzatziki of cucumber batons and yoghurt is as fun an execution as an omelette filled with black truffle is textbook perfect.

Proving you can never have too much of a good thing – McConnell opened another bar-with-food, Marion, next door last year – this new bar is somewhat of a masterstroke. And Melbourne is drinking – and eating – it up.