Huxtable

With its picture window framing the Smith Street pageant, Huxtable hums to a mix-tape tune that remakes '80s hits as reggae, and fuses cheesy with funky to awesome effect. A brown-brick bar, bentwood chairs, high-backed banquette and open kitchen underpin the mix-it-up aesthetic that has savvy sneaker-shod staff delivering wine in Riedel stems, plus a sharing menu that darts from Mexico to France, stopping in Asia along the way. If you can resist cheese-jalapeno croquettes, perhaps start with satin-textured tiles of steamed tofu topped with black bean, chilli and ginger; or foie gras parfait with toasted brioche and petals of coffee-cured duck breast. Snapper or barramundi might come atop pickled clams and heirloom tomatoes, and a soy-spiked duck leg with a crunchy salad of shaved coconut and pomelo. Desserts take the dude route with doughnuts or go classic with coconut parfait. Huxtable's philosophy is 'all the things that work and none of the things that don't'. Amen to that.