It's taken more than a year of planning and four months of building, but on Wednesday the doors are expected to swing open on chef-restaurateur Andrew McConnell's latest dining space, Supernormal.
A pop-up Supernormal canteen in Fitzroy over summer allowed the team to make a transition from St Kilda's Golden Fields (which will reopen next month as Euro wine bar Luxembourg) to the new 130-seat dining room, opposite the Adelphi in Flinders Lane.
Three Golden Fields signature dishes - lobster roll, duck bao and peanut butter parfait - have survived the journey to the CBD. But otherwise it's a new menu in broad Asian strokes - rolled pork belly with white kimchi, a ''raw bar'' serving oysters and sea urchin, and, at lunch, ramen in a light broth, and crumbed pork chops with cabbage salad.
Collaborating with restaurant design heavyweights Projects of Imagination, the chef has created a large space with a long bar. Cube-shaped lamps light each place setting at the bar, and fibreglass banquettes provide much of the seating. Setting up in a new building (BHP's global headquarters) means McConnell has been able to purpose-build features such as a dumpling room and hidden kitchen for noisy equipment. A spiral staircase leads down to a karaoke room/private dining room. It's open daily from 11am and will take bookings for lunch and for larger tables at dinner.
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