The Brix

The Brix is a wildcard restaurant - a smart Fitzroy bistro that asks diners to commit to a five-course tasting menu without the conventional bells and whistles of 'fine dining'. It's a resolutely modern experience, from the designer fitout of macrame, wooden shingles and potted ferns to the food of Ashly Hicks, an enthusiastic exponent of the contemporary Spanish and Danish schools. The nightly set menu showcases his naturalistic cuisine, foraged ingredients, and clever plays on texture and temperature. There might be jerky-like strips of dried venison with beetroot, candied red chilli, crunchy pops of wild rice and a unifying base of goat's curd; a fat tranche of monkfish well matched to the dusky sweetness of onion, artichokes and celeriac; or sous-vide lamb loin and a confit tile of belly, with a beautifully balanced pale lamb jus, broccoli florets, raw leek, samphire and dehydrated black olive. A brief a la carte menu of French bistro classics runs alongside, but commit to the full journey for the best of the Brix.