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Restaurant Amusé

When is pasta not pasta? When those fusilli-like spirals binding Ortiz anchovies, jamón and confit tomato are, in fact, dashi-poached twists of scallop “skirt”, a shellfish scrap that’s been meticulously transformed from trash to treasure. Hadleigh Troy sources and prepares unusual and native produce with a relentless, yet rarely over-sold zeal. Jewels of finger lime camouflaged among tapioca pearls set off sweet crab and sea lettuce, while the unlikely trio of roast baby beetroot, coffee soil and shards of star anise meringue shows the respect accorded to vegetarians. Playfulness permeates the meal: fairy-floss dissolves at the first drop of citrus consommé poured tableside, revealing guava bavarois beneath. There’s theatre, too, in the way the seemingly telepathic wait-staff, under direction from Carolynne Troy, run the floor, while bold wine selections match the kitchen’s ambition tit for tat.