Etta

Though Etta is a wine bar at heart, this tiny neighbourhood venue has built a major reputation for its food over the years. Owner Hannah Green has a knack for catching rising culinary stars, most notably Rosheen Kaul at a pivotal moment in her career. The appointment of current head chef Lorcán Kan proves that lightning can strike twice.

Kan first met Etta owner Hannah Green when the two worked at Attica in 2011 (Kan in the kitchen and Green as assistant manager). Since then, Kan’s career has taken him to Contra in New York; Platt Fields Market Garden in the UK; and Where the Light Gets In in Stockport, England, where Kan was head of the food waste and fermentation program and helped the restaurant earn a Michelin Green Star.

All of that that experience shines on Etta’s menu. A typical meal starts with skewers of tea quail egg, prawn with lime pickle, or torched kingfish with blackened blood orange. Kan uses traditional wood like red gum in the smoker, blending Australian flavours into larger dishes like hot smoked duck leg and wood fired rare beef with sambal and toasted rice. Kan hones his fermentation expertise, making preserves like doubanjiang (Sichuan fava bean paste) and soy sauce from local ingredients. Finish with the chilli oil parfait, simultaneously frozen with some spicy heat, and served with makruit lime leaf sorbet.

Wine is an essential part of the Etta experience, and the 250-bottle list is a roving snapshot of the world’s best growing regions. You’ll find textural whites from Austria, a smattering of French varietals from Burgundy and beyond, and a healthy selection of small-scale Victorian wine-makers.

The space used to be a fish-and-chip shop and some of its past remains, including the stone floor in the front section and hardwood floorboards in the back. The bar and 80-seat dining room are separated by an open kitchen. Both rooms revolve around large and lavish Australian marble benches. The restaurant’s concrete walls are cut a few inches from the ground, exposing some of the building’s raw brick. A playful forest mural by local artist Rob Bowers stands out in the mostly austere space.