Vincent a sleek, cool destination in the triangle

Vincent opened with a sophisticated, grown-up aura, a place where the staff wear beards and black T-shirts, but you could shimmy into the darkness in a silk jumpsuit and feel right at home. It is so black, black like you would recoil in a bachelor pad, but black like it works surprisingly well in a little wine bar. Roughly polished dark concrete floor, black walls and ceiling, black chairs, save for the blond wood frames, sleek black tables which are all one with the bar.

The tables are elevated, as are the chairs. But not uncomfortably or ridiculously so, and you don't feel uncomfortable like you can at so many eat-at-the-bar places. The tables are a good height, kind of three-quarter, and the chairs are comfortable with proper backs. The lights are cool and low, and the music is Norah Jones. Gosh, they might well have been playing Norah Jones on our last visit nearly three years ago. It all feels rather similar. Although it seems the large square bar set-up - customers around the outside like spokes on a wheel, staff on the inside - has been replaced with a more loose arrangement, which feels good.

The menu is as sleek and unadorned as the set-up. It's brief; just five entrees and five mains, described as succinctly as imaginable.

Heirloom cauliflower with labneh, cranberry, pepita, Dutch carrots ($19) is a loose dish of cauliflower done two ways, including really good little florets that taste sweet and nutty, with pickled carrot for acid, cranberries for sweetness, and creamy labneh to tie it together. Sweet, nutty, acidic, it's a decent dish, combining some luxury with a kind of worthiness.

Peking duck with orange, chilli, coriander, cashews ($21) is a stack made up of fried wonton squares sandwiched with a duck medley. The mix is hot, crunchy and satisfying. We deconstruct it and treat each piece of fried wonton as a one-hand pizza square, topped with its duck mix. It's weird to see two perfect raspberries on the plate but the combination tastes more sensible than odd.

Gnocchi with pear, pumpkin, goat's cheese ($26) is just that, all of the aforementioned on the plate. It's a dish you see many places and sometimes can be mouth-sticking delicious. Here, the gnocchi itself is substantial and hearty and the dish is not over-complicated, but nor does it feel properly integrated. The butter doesn't taste as lovely as butter can and the pumpkin isn't well caramelised.

The lamb with date chutney, Persian fetta and eggplant ($35), though, is excellent. It's a big price for what is essentially four chunks of lamb, but it is our favourite dish. The meat has a beautiful salty caramelised crust over tender meat, with the base of chutney and fetta really good underneath. We can't find the eggplant, but we're happy with this nevertheless.

We like the wine list, which, like the menu, is short and interesting. There are only half a dozen whites and about nine reds, but all are offered by the glass - which, if it can be sustained by sufficient turnover, is a great thing. The aim looks to be keeping bottles below $80, and aiming for lesser known wines, with a good geographic spread. You'll find France, Greece, Argentina, Spain, the United States and Australia represented among this short, well-pitched list.

Lemon curd with candied orange, cocoa butter, meringue and shortbread ($15) sounds the goods, but doesn't really deliver on taste. The shortbread biscuit is crumbly and good, but the curd itself is not highly appealing and the curd should be the main game.

Passionfruit bavarois with caramel, toffee banana and white chocolate pearls ($15) is, though, very good. It's creamy and rich, with plenty of passionfruit, a caramelised layer, and tiny little chocolate balls. We polish this one off.

In sum, Vincent has many things right and serves a need here in the parliamentary triangle. While we're left feeling that things need to be tightened up and some of the dishes need better execution, we love the focus, the brevity of menu and wine list and the cool set-up.