Tonka

Smart and sleek, Tonka breaks new ground for Melbourne's Indian food scene with its sophisticated take on the subcontinent. A cool laneway newcomer, Tonka matches nearby sibling Coda for polish and professionalism - from the luxe minimalist fitout broken by floating white clouds of mesh, to a wine list that rises to the spice challenge. Adam D'Sylva turns Indian food into occasion dining with a refined take on street snacks such as pani puri - crisp-shelled orbs of potato and lentil with a spicy 'water' of green chilli and mango, and soft-shell crab pakora with lacy tempura batter and preserved lemon aioli. Some dishes plunder different corners of the globe - burrata with charry roti adds a curious Italian note, and the baked saffron meringue dessert is Eton mess with an Anglo-Indian accent. But sterling classics, such as finger-licking tandoori chicken, and stand-out curries - slow-cooked lamb neck with smoky black cardamom in a complex gravy - afford a new vision of Indian cuisine's manifold delights.