The door handle to Victor Churchill is a link of sausages, cast in bronze. It’s the first clue that this is no ordinary butcher shop. 

Inside lies a space so dazzlingly beautiful it could as easily be a diamond showroom as a meat market. To dispel any confusion, guests are greeted by three cylindrical wooden blocks behind a sleek glass wall where a flat-capped butcher might be frenching lamb cutlets.

Gleaming vitrines of pies and parfaits, terrines and Toulouse sausages flank the walls. Slabs of premium beef hang like artworks in the curing room, purpose-built with backlit blocks of Himalayan salt.

The opulent interior of richly veined green marble is crowned by copper piping wrought ingeniously into Gothic arches and a barrel vault that extends from the entry to the inviting horseshoe bar (more on which shortly).

The eye-catching installation references the Baroque churches of owner Anthony Puharich’s native Croatia in a flourish which, like all else here, is so flagrantly, breathtakingly extra for a butcher shop.

It’s worth recalling that when Puharich opened his first butchery in 2009 in Woollahra – the Armadale of Sydney – it won the International Interior Design Award but, more notably, was christened “the most beautiful butcher shop in the world” by the late Anthony Bourdain. The Sydney flagship is clad in white marble. Obviously they needed something a little more overstated for the Drama-dale outpost.

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The capstone of the reported $3m fit-out is the horseshoe bar, where diners assemble daily at 12 coveted olive-green leather stools for split lunch sittings. The menus echo the decadence of the surrounds. The best advice is to simply surrender to it.

Hence fellow diners are knocking back martinis and margaritas, sipping Champagne – including $90 glasses of Krug grande cuvee – or choosing from an urbane list of Burgundy chardonnays and pinots noir, and interesting varietals from here and abroad. Every plate is presented immaculately, from thick slices of Baker Bleu sourdough with salted-crusted French butter to oysters perched atop silver buckets of crushed ice.

Start with a “cigar” of marbled wagyu bresaola wrapped over grated Parmigiano Reggiano slicked with olive oil, thyme and shallot. Tiny but tremendously satisfying.

We swap notes with our next-door neighbours, a perk of dining at a communal benchtop. They love the twice-cooked gruyere soufflé special, Manjimup truffle optional.

We’re all for the chicken liver parfait amped with foie gras and flecks of fragrant black truffle, and a plate of jamon iberico de bellota, Spain’s finest ham.

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There’s grill-charred arrow squid on a creamy smudge of ajo blanco (white garlic) with espelette pepper. A half chicken from the rotisserie, the bird brined overnight and then left to stew, nice and slowly, in its own darkening juices on the Josper. There’s an entire suite of hardware here from the cult Catalan barbecue kings – grill, rotisserie, oven, stovetop, God knows what else – that I’m told cost $250,000.

That same hardware produces impeccable steaks, such as the charry Rangers Valley Black Market flank (exclusive to Victor Churchill) that’s cherry red inside and sauced with cafe de Paris butter. We have it with fries on the side, served in a silver cornet, and Paris mash, because there’s no such thing as excess here.

When staffing allows, hopefully by the end of July, Victor Churchill’s Melbourne embassy will open for dinners too, with tables under the vaulted ceiling and a slightly expanded menu featuring some pasta and vegetable dishes. “But less is better,” quips operations manager Anthony Musarra.