It’s Friday night and Potluck is pumping. Grown-ups are sitting at the communal table while kids bounce around waiting for dumplings. Three women share a bottle of BYO grenache: it’s perfect with the sticky, black-bean beef noodles. Owner Esther Sun is at the wok station, flames darting, steel clattering. She built this place around fond memories of family potluck dinners.

Various strands of culture and cuisine shine through her Chinese-ish menu, as does her time working in Japanese joints. Golden, crunchy prawn toast uses fluffy shokupan bread to support a prawn mousse flavoured with ginger, garlic and sesame. Esther’s mum, Rita, makes the sweet, juicy pork dumplings, pan-fried to serve potsticker-style.

A seafood dish channels old-school suburban Chinese with a gentle, gloopy sauce. These are meals to gather around and share in a moment of respite from busy lives. Jackpot.

Good to know: There’s BYO with $5 corkage but the venue serves teas, sour plum juice and alcohol-free aloe and honey highballs.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.