David's

Where and what

Shanghai-born tea importer David Zhou opened his flagship Prahran restaurant in 1989; the re-imagined warehouse just off Chapel Street has had a makeover recently, thanks to design mavens Hecker Guthrie, and a menu rejig that embraces the share-plates hegemony to offer a range of Shanghai-leaning dishes in smaller sizes.

Where to sit

It's styled, so they say, like a Shanghai river house - all white-painted timber, vaguely nautical-looking lights, and wooden seats that aren't half as uncomfortable as they look. The overall effect looks fresh yet lived-in, and the redesign makes the second, raised tier a far more enticing prospect than it was previously.

When to go

Monday-Wednesday noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm; Thursday noon-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm; Friday noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm; Saturday 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-11pm; Sunday 11.30am-4pm, 6pm-10.30pm.

Drink

The wine list will dazzle with its high-end name-dropping but has a decent showing around the middle tier of its mostly Australian choices. There's a good range by the glass and you can BYO (not Friday and Saturday) with corkage $10 a bottle. Or hit the tea selection, including the house-blended herbals.

Eat

Dim sum remains David's calling card. Eleven choices include the sweet and delicately herby minced chicken in golden-hued wrappings. Newly added to the roster are the bao, the soft, steamed pockets of bread gaining traction across the city. We tried a ginger-dominant shredded Peking duck with julienned carrot and shoots, and pork belly with swatches of fresh cucumber. A cold dish of thin, textured slices of braised beef in sweet vinegar dressing is representative of the ''new David's'' with swatches of pickled radish and cucumber; lamb is sizzled with its natural bedfellow, cumin, with the fresh-giving additions of lettuce, spring onion and chilli; flash-fried school prawns are designed to eat whole, in a sweet sticky soy; or, under ''something different'', the Grandma's 8 is a wok-cooked tumble of chicken, scallop, pork, tiny shrimp, chestnut, cashews, bamboo and mushrooms in a tangy dark sauce. Desserts go backpacker with some wonderfully crisp banana fritters or the chewily gelatinous wonders of white chocolate glutinous rice balls with peanut and coconut praline.

Who's there

Family groups make up an important part of the clientele but it also attracts its fair share of child-free people dressed up for a night out.

Why bother?

A new life for an old stager.