The anticipation for Tom Sarafian’s debut restaurant as owner-chef is over. This Smith Street shopfront bursts with energy: from the diverse crowd to the cooks working the fire in the open kitchen to the vinyl-only soundtrack that goes heavy on Armenian funk spun through Pitt & Giblin speakers.

The menu is also a boogie-like riff on Sarafian’s heritage, short and smart enough that every dish might be a signature. That hummus, topped with a decadent slurry of spanner crab and king prawns, is as delicious as it sounds. An impossibly juicy chicken kebab loaded with toum and fenugreek is partnered by herb salad studded with pickled green chillies.

And bastourma toasts, tall with cured meat arranged like spiced roses, are unimpeachable. Zareh modernises and uplifts Armenian and Lebanese cuisine in ways that are heartfelt, thoughtful, and, above all, extremely fun.

Must order: Hummus with spanner crab and prawns, and a glass of something Armenian.

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