Just Open: Amaru, Armadale

He set tongues wagging serving highfalutin degustation menus at a suburban bowlo. Now, 16 months after ending that wildly successful stint at the Clayton Bowls Club, former Vue de Monde alumnus Clinton McIver has opened his dream restaurant in Armadale.

The intimate 34-seat Amaru, with a moody smoke-grey-and-mirrors fitout, has eight well-spaced tables. "I really want people to feel like they're being welcomed into my living room," says McIver.

The $120-a-head contemporary Australian tasting menu offers snacks followed by larger sharing dishes and accompaniments, rather than an endless parade of small plates.

The opening menu includes wallaby-tail dumpling with saltbush butter, heritage tomatoes with freshwater crayfish and muntries​, and trumpeter with seaweed and pig's ear, all served on handmade ceramics McIver had commissioned.

There's a cheaper lunch menu at $49 a head.

Open Tue-Sat (sittings at 6.15pm and 8.45pm; Thu-Sat noon-3pm).

1121 High Street, Armadale, 03 9822 0144, amarumelbourne.com.au