Moonhouse

A restored Art Deco building on the Carlisle Street corner sets the tone: two storeys, good bones, and a kitchen that treats Chinese cooking as a living tradition rather than a museum piece. The menu is rooted in Cantonese technique but ranges freely across Hong Kong, Hainan, Canton and Taiwan, delivered by a serious line-up drawn from some of Melbourne's better rooms, executive chef Anthony Choi, formerly of Cumulus Inc and Firebird, alongside Shirley Summakwan. Familiar dishes arrive with a wink: sesame-crusted prawn toast with a prawn-bisque dip, a Hainanese chicken club sandwich that reads like a late-night joke told by people who can actually cook. Weekend lunches turn the room over to yum cha, while the upstairs bar handles the later, looser end of the evening. Part of a well-drilled southside hospitality group, it carries the polish you would expect, sharp service, a considered wine list, interiors that photograph as well as they feel, without tipping into stiffness. This is contemporary Chinese dining pitched at a neighbourhood that has come to expect ambition: playful on the plate, grown-up in the room, and confident enough to riff on the classics without losing sight of why they endure.