Fortune favours the bold at Shaun Quade’s innovative, fantastical fine diner. Lûmé is different from the first interaction, from prepaying your meal when booking to the unassuming frontage opening to a deep dining room decked out in peach.

Curious diners will love Quade’s maximum-impact dishes, up to 16 in a sitting showcasing his intricate, playful and deeply imaginative cooking. The Road menu opens with the sea corn taco, its hero creamy crab custard masquerading as baby corn, and kicks on to petals of barbecued abalone with dry-aged emu in a kombu broth, and the signature “pearl on the ocean floor” evoking seaside holidays with its raw oyster, mussel foam and sea succulents. Later, chewy ‘musk sticks’ of fermented passionfruit cleanse the palate, while olive oil ice cream fills the mouth with a lush wallop.

Interesting drink matching – both boozy and not – adds dimension to each course, as does eye-catching plating and delicate cutlery. Service is charming with a confident swagger (those staff acting lessons have paid off), though more explanation of each dish would have elevated the experience even more. As for that gentle chanting from the open kitchen, that’s the chefs reciting orders in favour of a docket system.

Since the get-go, Lume has marched to its own drum. Follow its creative beat for a dining adventure embracing the road less travelled.

Must eat dish: Pearl on the ocean floor
Instagram: @restaurant_lume