Ruyi

Sometimes one word overwhelms all others when seeking a descriptor. In the case of year-old Chinese restaurant Ruyi, that word is "gracious" and it applies to the decor, the food and the service. The dining room is elegant and calm with a refined sensibility that leaves little doubt this is a Chinese restaurant, while making it quite clear we're not in a Chinatown dumpling factory.

The food is delicate, taking traditional dishes from regional cuisines and rethinking them with premium produce and contemporary presentation. Service is solicitous, and if there was an over-eager emphasis on Ruyi's uniqueness, I'm happy to put it down to the fervor that can spring from pride.

Ruyi's chefs combine nostalgia and a nimble modern sensibility from their experience in kitchens that include an upscale Shanghai club and local flavour palace Chin Chin. I loved the silky, beguiling pot of soup with fresh, sweet rockling and broccoli, and the crunchy wok-fried vegetables gleaming with soy lime sauce.

Many dishes are influenced by spice-saturated Sichuan but punches are pulled and flavours lean to the mellow: fried tofu is squiggled with tingly mayo, eggplant batons are finagled into sticky crisp-then-fluffy chips. The spice dial is turned up for the garlicky cumin-doused pork ribs: they push graciousness aside for fatty, fiery delight.

There's more emphasis on dessert than at many Chinese restaurants (sago pudding with pistachio ice-cream, for example), plus frisky cocktails and a sensitive wine list which balances food friendliness with vinous interest.

Ruyi is among a wave of local eateries wrestling their way out of ethnic strictures to prompt new culinary paradigms. I'd rank it alongside places like Elyros (Cretan), The Last Jar (Irish), Northern Git (English), Tonka (Indian) and Lee Ho Fook (Chinese) that suggest Melbourne isn't just a great place to eat, it's a city where cuisine is the vanguard of living, thriving cultures. 

Three and a half stars (out of five)