Jan ChiKorean Feast

The name translates from Korean as 'to feast', and the kitchen on Bridge Road makes good on it with a compact menu of share plates that read Korean at heart and Melbourne in execution. The chef arrived by way of New York — time on the line at the exacting Masa and at the genre-bending Momofuku Ssam — before Melbourne stints at Lucy Liu and Spice Temple, and that lineage shows in dishes that respect tradition without being bound by it. Tteokbokki turns up as chewy tubular rice cakes in gochujang with Tuscan kale, melted cheese, red chilli and crisp shallots; braised Angus flank is the plate most tables build around; salmon is cured in soju. Two set options — a shorter tasting and a longer chef's-choice feed — make ordering easy for groups, who are asked to share. The space is small and neon-lit, bar seats and communal tables encouraging the elbow-to-elbow sociability the food is built for. It has earned a following as one of the city's stronger Korean rooms, less a formal restaurant than a loud, generous table where eating and drinking double as the evening's entertainment. Open Wednesday through Sunday, dinner only.