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Just Open: Ricky and Pinky, Fitzroy

Gemima Cody
Gemima Cody

Andrew McConnell's new Chinese restaurant Ricky and Pinky started UberEats deliveries this week in Melbourne, with the chef hoping for a dozen deliveries each night.
Andrew McConnell's new Chinese restaurant Ricky and Pinky started UberEats deliveries this week in Melbourne, with the chef hoping for a dozen deliveries each night. Kristoffer Paulsen

A quick recap: Andrew "Cutler and Co, Cumulus, and Marion" McConnell announced just two months ago that he'd be closing Moon Under Water, the fine-dining portion of the Builders Arms pub.

The plan: unite the space with the bistro to create a modern Chinese gaff that feels like the glory years of Chinese dining (behold three luminous Tin and Ed portraits celebrating the likes of the napkin swan) but tastes mostly like 2016, if you discount the Japanese Slipper, Melbourne's Midori-fuelled cocktail legacy.

The transformation has been swift but effective, pulled off between Studio Round, Sibling and Tin and Ed. It's a big open space now, with a kitchen to the rear of the dining room framed in gold pipes, a curvy blue banquette in the mid-section and lazy susans throughout.

Inside Ricky and Pinky, Andrew McConnell's new Chinese restaurant.
Inside Ricky and Pinky, Andrew McConnell's new Chinese restaurant.Kristoffer Paulsen
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A fish tank is ready for pippies (for XO saucing and Chinese doughnut accompaniment) and abalone for a double-boiled soup.

We elbowed in for a sneak peek this week. Things look good. Here's your mapo tofu, steak with pepper sauce classics butting up against the veg-friendly, like cold marinated eggplant, fluffy kale and mushroom bao, cold noodle salads and smashed cucumbers with lots of chili.

You'll also be able to drop big dollars on dry-aged rib-eyes and wines with pedigree and skin contact grip. The banquets ($65 for eight share courses) should launch a few days in.

Drunken chicken.
Drunken chicken.Kristoffer Paulsen
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The front bar remains a pubby front bar, reopening from today replete with its trademark cod roe dip and a burger, so everybody be cool. Brace for the buzz.

Ricky and Pinky opens Monday, August 29, 211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy 03 9417 7700 buildersarmshotel.com.au/introducing-ricky-pinky

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Gemima CodyGemima Cody is former chief restaurant critic for The Age and Good Food.

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