Lume mixes up the degustation formula

"Fine dining can be fun," says chef Shaun Quade, deadpan, and dressed in black. His idea of fun is the slightly subversive sort, the kind you don't necessarily see coming. What's this? Emu jerky, with red cabbage cooked in licorice. And that? Did he just say lamb's blood ganache?

These might be some of the elements on the 18-course tasting menu at Lume, the 40-seat fine diner that opens this Friday, July 3, from Quade (ex-Quay, Royal Mail), fellow chef John Paul Fiechtner (ex-sous chef at Paris' Le Chateaubriand) and sommelier Sally Humble (ex-Melbourne Pub Group, Cutler & Co).

Diners see the menu after they've eaten it. "We're trying to mix it up a bit, without being too weird," Quade says of the courses he and Fiechtner have designed to ebb and flow, rather than progress in scale from light to heavy to sweet. "We might whack in some semi-sweet things halfway through."

They have also designed the layout of the restaurant, housed in twin, thin terraces. Diners walk into the bar, managed by Nick Tesar (ex-Gin Palace) and with its own menu of oysters and charcuterie, through to the dining room and open kitchen. "It's interactive," Quade says. "Our team knows their stuff, so they may as well be able to talk about it." Further back, past the glassed walk-in wine room is an atrium, with a retractable roof and wall of edible plants.

Lume's 18-course menu takes three hours and costs $140, with matching wine add $130 a head. It's open for dinner Thursday to Saturday and Monday, and for lunch Sunday (bar menu available in the evening).

226-228 Coventry Street, South Melbourne; bookings, restaurantlume.com