Do you approve of your bird? A mahogany coloured duck crown is placed on your table mid-meal. Then it’s whisked away. It returns carved into slices with skin like toffee apple,thanks to a honey glaze that mingles gently with the meat’s gamey flavour.

Steak tartare is mixed before your eyes,splashes of tomato capsicum vinaigrette bringing an electric current to the buttery wagyu. Showy flourishes such as these are expected in a room of mirrored ceiling panels,caramel leather banquettes and green marble bar tops.

More modest moments include a petite scotch egg swaddled in chunky pork-espelette coating,and frangipane tart lifted by rounds of blood orange and its bitter syrup. But among the razzle-dazzle of cheese trolleys,fat steaks and bartenders with tricks for days,it’s best to embrace the excess.

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Melbourne’s Southern Suburbs

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