Dainty Sichuan

For more than two decades this Toorak Road room has set the benchmark for Sichuan cooking in Australia, and remains the only restaurant of its kind in the country to hold a Good Food Guide hat. The kitchen works the full register of the province, from the numbing, tingling heat of mala to gentler non-spicy plates, but the reputation rests on a handful of dishes. Chongqing chicken arrives buried in a drift of dried chillies, mapo tofu comes silken in a sauce of fermented broad-bean paste, house-ground chilli and Sichuan peppercorn, and the fish-fragrant eggplant has drawn praise from visiting chefs as among the best anywhere. Nothing is dumbed down for a local palate; the seasoning is confident and the peppercorn genuinely floral, building rather than shouting. A 2024 refit added private suites for groups from a handful to fifty, though the draw has always been the food rather than the fit-out. Open daily across long lunch and dinner service, it is the sort of place regulars return to for the same three or four dishes for years, ordering by heart. Come hungry, order the classics, and let the heat gather across the meal.