From Ballarat’s diminutive fine-diner Underbar to Balaclava’s Pretty Little, which is just that, excellent dining increasingly comes in snack-sized form. Now Gaea on Fitzroy’s Gertrude Street is the latest to prove good things do, indeed, come in small packages.

Chef-owner Mo Zhou has taken over the site of the former Messer and split it in two; by day partner Alicia Feng runs Calere, a specialist coffee nook at the front, while Zhou serves six or eight courses of refined modern fare to a handful of diners by night.

Foraging and fermenting play a starring role across Zhou’s monthly changing menu that begins, as is the wont of the modern fine-diner, with a selection of small bites. Vinegar sprayed leaves are on dunking duty for creamy, sea-salty abalone-liver dip served in its shell and a fried pancake comes with a blitz of bitter cime di rapa. Terrifically tasty.

Mussels wrapped in sorrel leaves are finished with a mussel broth poured at the table, while crunchy and sweet kohlrabi served with its charry, smoky leaves is teamed with blackened apple purée and crushed pumpkin seeds for a knockout vegetable dish.

Both the elegantly smoked eel with a funky radish-leaf kimchi and kangaroo in braised, raw and broth form make upgrading from six to eight courses a must – and you’ll still have room for the sweet-savouriness of peas and pine needles with fresh curd that segues into a fantastically innovative coffee and carrot combo for the perfect finale.

For such artful food the menu presents good value, though the noninterventionist wine list is irritatingly obtuse and expensive and service with an air of haughty hipster cool is at odds with the warmth of the cooking. It’s early days for Zhou’s first restaurant but already this bijou fine diner is more than a little exciting.

Expect big things.