The Rickshaw

Where and what

After a decade as the reliable Indian Tandoori Times, one of Gertrude Street's earliest restaurants has had a makeover, reinventing itself as The Rickshaw, serving pan-Asian street food.

Owner Amit Tuteja has teamed up with hospitality consultant Satish Panjala (formerly of Crown restaurants Nobu, Silk's and Koko's) to create a menu of contemporary food inspired by the hawker stalls and food courts in Singapore, Malaysia and India.

The interior has had a modern refit - complete with the front half of an authentic tuk-tuk, the three-wheeled motorcycles popular through Asia - in the entrance.

Where to sit

There are bar seats in the window or tables outside for eat-street people-watching, as well as a large table at the front of the dining room and two and four-seaters. All offer a good view of punters invariably unable to resist honking the tuk-tuk's over-sized horn as they leave.

Drink

Go authentic with an Asian beer - Kingfisher, Tsingtao, Robot Ninja Sorachi (rice lager) - or the well-crafted wine list. There's also a small selection of sake, in keeping with the pan-Asian theme.

Then there's the Rickshaw Drivers' Tea and Coffee - the Copper Pot, high-altitude-grown Arabica coffee from Guatemala and Columbia brewed in Persian cafe styles, served with a jug of hot milk ($5 and makes two cups), or pots of loose leaf peppermint, Oolong, Japanese green, Indian chai or Thai teas ($6 for two cups).

Eat

Start with the small plate menu. Chicken 65, fried with curry leaves, green chillies and spicy yoghurt sauce ($13) is a must-try, as is the Penang bowl, a peanut allergy sufferer's dream dish - it's a twist on traditional satay with ground chicken, made without nuts ($9.50). The Pani Puri - mini puff pastries stuffed with potato, chickpeas, pomegranate and tamarind sauce - are served with a small jug of spicy water that you pour into the pastry ($5.50), and are a tasty mouthful best quaffed in one go.

The bigger Rickshaw Plates range across the continent from kim chi in chicken broth with tiger prawns, tamarind, button mushrooms and white fungi ($16) to Bak Kut Teh, slow-cooked pork neck with goji berry, garlic and Chinese angelice (Dang gui) for $19. But it's hard to go past the drunken noodles, stir-fried with chicken, green peppercorns, wild ginger and Yamazaki whiskey ($15) and the meltingly tender black cod, marinated for 48 hours in Saikyo miso ($38) giving the famous Nobu dish a run for its money.

Desserts include a traditional palate-cleansing coconut sago pudding ($10) and an Asian twist on creme brulee, buttery and light and flavoured with lemongrass ($11).

Who's there

A mixed crowd - it is as good for hawker-style snacks to accompany drinks as it is for a full-on feast.

Why bother

Super-friendly service and surely the most affordable quality wine list on Gertrude Street.