shu

Named after its owner and head chef, Shu restaurant provides a modern take on Sichuan cuisine and dining. Shu Liu is originally from Chengdu, the provincial capital of the Sichuan province. With a background in fashion and a love of cooking for his friends, Shu is not classically trained, but combines his adopted city's range of good quality and often organic produce with his mother's recipes and his own flair to produce exceptionally clean and fragrant flavours.

There is an à la carte menu, but much better to just go with the dégustation menu and allow Shu and the team to create a feast based on the daily procured vegetables, meat and fish. For $45, you get an array of little palate cleansers and refreshing salads and larger dishes packed full of chilli and Sichuan spice.

 Organic beef dumplings with chilli sauce.

 The above photo ended up a lot more phallic-looking than I had intended...flathead cakes with two dressings.

 Thin slices of peppered beef with kale.

 Eggplant rolls with ground cashews.

Succulent chicken wings and tiny diced vegetables with spice in an endive leaf.

And then a tofu and fresh broad bean salad.

Finally a lamb and fennel dish. Smoky and rich.

All in an industrial and psychedelically-lit space. Shu was a surprise to me, from the fit-out to the flavours. Soooo good.