Alt Pasta Bar in Melbourne CBD zigs where others zag

There are plenty of clues that new CBD pasta restaurant Alt does things a little differently, starting with the name and culminating in bowls like seaweed and abalone pappardelle, or risotto topped with daikon. But the most radical move by owner-chef Mino Han might be ditching salt altogether for his pasta.

Instead, he uses 80 kilograms of chicken bones each week to make stock, which each portion of pasta is swished through before reaching its final destination: in a carbonara, perhaps, or a spanner crab and bisque sauce.

Han opened his laneway restaurant in January after 12 years in professional kitchens, mostly in wine country fine-diners, including Appellation in the Barossa Valley. The Korean-born chef was always drawn to pasta but knew that his own spot would never be traditional.

"I wanted to take a different pathway, because I can't compete with traditional Italian."

Apart from the more obvious signs of that, such as seaweed-tossed pappardelle, Han also serves hollandaise shot through with miso to accompany an octopus entree, prepares a white ragu (that is, sans tomato) for his beef lasagne and then finishes the layered pasta with pickled walnuts.

Cooking with the seasons has been drilled into him by his regional career, so expect dishes to change frequently, even on the dessert list. Right now, he's finishing sweetcorn ice-cream with basil oil.

Alt has moved into the former Restaurant Shik space, maintaining the moody lighting but moving the kitchen to the front, where the bar formerly sat, to put Han's pasta-making front and centre. There are about 45 seats and lots of bar stools for quick pasta pitstops.

Open Tue-Sat 5pm-11pm.

30 Niagara Lane, Melbourne, 0402 220 614, altpastabar.com.au