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Good Food hatGood Food hatGood Food hat18/20Critics' Pick

Yiaga

Updated ,first published

The caviar coconut dish is a beguiling mix of creaminess, soft saline, and nutty umami.
1 / 11The caviar coconut dish is a beguiling mix of creaminess, soft saline, and nutty umami.Chris Hopkins
The strikingly handsome open kitchen.
2 / 11The strikingly handsome open kitchen. Kristoffer Paulsen
East Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens are part of the room at Yiaga.
3 / 11East Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens are part of the room at Yiaga.Chris Hopkins
Hugh Allen (right) with head chef Michael McAulay.
4 / 11Hugh Allen (right) with head chef Michael McAulay.Chris Hopkins
Squid, sliced into tender slivers, is bathed in a delicate broth of Thai basil and desert lime.
5 / 11Squid, sliced into tender slivers, is bathed in a delicate broth of Thai basil and desert lime.Chris Hopkins
School prawns are served raw and topped with fronds of floral torch ginger.
6 / 11School prawns are served raw and topped with fronds of floral torch ginger.Chris Hopkins
Sea parsley, finger lime and olive oil sorbet.
7 / 11Sea parsley, finger lime and olive oil sorbet.Chris Hopkins
The Tasmanian blackwood, brass and moulded leather chairs at Yiaga, designed by John Goulder.
8 / 11The Tasmanian blackwood, brass and moulded leather chairs at Yiaga, designed by John Goulder.Chris Hopkins
The dining room is surrounded by garden.
9 / 11The dining room is surrounded by garden.Chris Hopkins
Crisp-skinned coral trout served with “bawdily ripe” mango and blood lime.
10 / 11Crisp-skinned coral trout served with “bawdily ripe” mango and blood lime.Chris Hopkins
The Banksia Pop dessert.
11 / 11The Banksia Pop dessert.Chris Hopkins
Good Food hatGood Food hatGood Food hat18/20Critics' Pick

Yiaga

Contemporary$$$$

Luxury through a pointedly Australian perspective.

You could spend a whole review rhapsodising about the chairs, the terracotta tiles, the ceramics. They speak to the obsessive level of detail in every aspect of Yiaga, one of the most ambitious restaurants Australia has ever seen.

Wunderkind chef Hugh Allen, who took the reins at Vue du Monde at just 23, oversees a 12-course menu beginning with cool green sorbet of sea parsley, finger lime and olive oil. A pitch-perfect procession of sunshine and seafoam follows: squid sliced into tender slivers is bathed in a delicate broth of Thai basil and desert lime; school prawns are served raw and topped with fronds of uniquely floral torch ginger.

At some point during your meal, a staff member will offer a private tour of the building, before returning you to your seat for a signature sendoff: a frozen treat of dark chocolate, chocolate caramel and sesame caramel formed in the likeness of a banksia husk. Yiaga is exceptional. Nothing is unconsidered. Beauty is the underlying philosophy. Australia, its landscapes and ingredients and culture, is the muse.

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

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Default avatarBesha Rodell is the chief restaurant critic for The Age and Good Weekend.

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