Taxi Dining Room

Taxi is no shrinking violet. Perched above Fed Square, the lofty dining room mixes jaw-plummeting vistas with look-at-me furnishings, including orb-like chandeliers, industrial mesh panels and daring disco lights. Tony Twitchett's menu cherry-picks flavours and techniques from Japan, China, Thailand and beyond to create bold, cutting-edge food. Chopsticks replace cutlery for starters of sake-cured tuna in punchy yuzu dressing, and tempura-prawn sushi wrapped in yuba (soy-milk skin) and served with dabs of miso mayo. Crisp-skinned barramundi partners tempura soft-shell crab, sparked up with a punchy little salad, and sriracha-chilli sauce spiked mayo; but a fragrant coconut curry might be marred by too-tough duck. Dreamy desserts, perhaps caramelised pear with delicate pear sorbet and a drizzle of Pedro Ximenez, show a return to form. Service, too, is tight and highly tuned - time is given to linger over aperitifs and wines between courses, making for a well-paced dinner even when there's a full house.