amaru

amazing fine dining experience! i was here for my birthday dinner, seated at the chefs table. the service was outstanding. we were served with little delicious snacks followed by a 9 course meal. ambience was equally sophisticated and welcoming and interior was very modern and clean. everydishthat came out was delightful and well thought out. perfectly balanced and interesting flavours. would highly recommend! ❤️

i need to start off by complimenting the restaurant manager hee won. he’s an absolute delight who made our night so much more enjoyable. he was so lovely and very engaging. the atmosphere and design of the restaurant is so sophisticated but reminds of me home – very cozy. it’s a small quaint low-key restaurant. however, the food was delicious. ex vue-de-monde sous chef clinton mciver is not about the theatrics in his food but the simplicity and beautiful flavours. every singledishwas amazing. very thankful they were able to change up the chocolate dessert due to my dislike. will definitely be back and will definitely recommend it to everyone.

best degustation in melbourne/victoria. impeccable service.

was impressed by creativity and passion. we had an amazing array of dishes, flavours and textures which showcased victoria’s finest produce. eachdishwas proudly presented by its chef. they also managed to make my pesceterian dishes look the same as ‘normal.’

i have nothing but praise for amaru. from the professional and outgoing floor staff to the talented team in the kitchen producing the most exciting dishes, everything was perfect. the fit out is elegant and laid back with a variety of seating options available. every singledishwas so well executed and i couldn’t fault anything. the depths of flavors and contrasts in every plate were impressive. my favorites were the onion and garfish snack, the mussels with charred broccoli and lettuce, the quail with pineapple and the shiitake sundae. thank you amaru, the experience was my favorite in melbourne to date.

let me start by saying the food at amaru is sensational. the way in which the chef plays with textures and flavours is quite wonderful. food doesn't burst with powerful flavours, but there is a subtle balance that's brings eachdishtogether that just works. no menu for the degustation you are in the hands of the very talented chefs and boy do they deliver!

highlight dishes were the mud crab, the celeriac and the buffalo mozzarella ice cream!

decor is fantastic.

the only letdown of sorts would be the service. not that it was terrible it wasn't at all. but it just wasn't as professional as what you'd expect from a fine dining restaurant at $170 per head. the staff were young and a tad lacking in attentiveness. perhaps it will change as they gain more experience and it certainly won't stop me from returning, just something for them to work on i guess.

one of the best dining experiences in melbourne. really intimate setting and the service is great. eachdishwas incredible and delicious.

wow, amaru has absolutely delicious and sophisticated food and such a lovely, intimate ambience. i’ve been to quite a lot of degustation restaurants in melbourne and this is by far the best. can’t even choose my favouritedishout of the eight course sensory experience i enjoyed; so worth it and just a beautiful meal and place to come to overall.

amaru means beautiful and that truly describes everything about the restaurant!

beautiful ambiance, excellent service and such sophisticated flavour combinations. loved everything about amaru. my favouritedishhad to be their take on the dim sum, so divine!

this place takes fine dining to another level. you are greeted with a stark, clean and modern interior and very pleasant, informative and tentative waiters.

but the real focus here is on the food. you follow an 8 or so course set menu of well-portioned dishes that leave you satisfied but not stuffed. eachdishis a unique, new flavourful discovery. my personal favourites were the desserts (pictured), especially the mushroom and black truffle soft serve!

i highly recommend to anyone looking for a dinner to remember!

amaru deserves every star available, as the posse both, front of house and in the kitchen, are absolute rockstars 🌟 what a night indeed! everydishon the sensory menu was impressively, thoughtfully and beautifully pieced and plated together from mind to matter. it’s not often that i feel like i can taste the spirit and emotion that went into adishbut this experience certainly delivered on that level. it was lovely to have met and chatted with the whole “behind the dish” crew from the kitchen to the table as the service was very warm, friendly and left a familiar feeling on my departure. it wasn’t just a sensory experience in the dishes but also inclusive of the attentive service and the decor in choice of lighting, colours, furnishings and placements.

you won’t understand what my review means until you’ve come to check it out for yourself. be prepared to have your senses delightfully stirred and awakened! thank you amaru squad for a memorable and altogether lovely night out. much love and appreciation to you and the food babies you created and delivered.

ok, i don’t know whether this is an unpopular opinion or one of those unspoken ones. probably it’s just our luck but let just say we were disappointed with our experience at amaru. i’ve always wanted to come here after hearing so many ‘food critics’ rave about it, so we were so excited to come here to celebrate a special occasion. we got the sensory menu which includes all of their signature dishes.
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let’s start on a positive note, staff were presentable and deserve applause for friendly and efficient service. we received our starter not long after ordering, it was actually served very quickly, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in fine dining as you don’t have to wait half an hour for a single dish. my favourite starter was the smoked duck ham, love that subtle smokey flavour. smoked eel was slightly crisp and creamy with the eel’s seafoodness. i found the dim sim quite ordinary, and the garfish a bit salty. they didn't get off to a strong start for us.
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here comes the disaster, the mussels with charred broccoli & grilled lettuce was extremely salty 🤢, even my partner with savoury tongue could not handle it, turns out they did over-season the soup. we get it, chefs make mistakes too. but it really left a persistent salty taste for us. mud crab 🦀 with iced apple did help wash out that salty taste on our tongue, it was refreshing and had a decent amount of crab meats. right after that, their sourdough with tasmanian goat butter if i recall correctly and balsamic honey. the crust of my sourdough was a bit too hard and thick for my liking, the butter was nice but not the best one i’ve had. the pastrami brined quail with dried peach, again a bit salty. maybe that’s what it supposed to taste like 🤷🏻‍♂️!? no real wow factor. lamb sweetbreads & sweetcorn with freshly shaved italian truffle ($45 extra over two dishes) the broth was clean and tasty, generously covered with truffle, makes it extra fragrance. the stand out savourydishhas to be the red kangaroo, cooked perfectly between rare to medium rare.
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their desserts are winners to me, start with strawberry sorbet 🍓was delightful, you can taste there were real strawberries in it. mixed it with citrus curd and frozen pistachio marshmallow, mmmmm it was so good! the otway shiitake ice cream 🍄 with shiso and cacao, topped with fresh truffle was absolutely to die for. that’s the wow factor i was looking for, one of the best ice cream i’ve ever had 😋. last but not least, the exquisite salted woodside goat curd🐐🧀 was actually a golden goat’s cheese cheesecake. the presentation was stylish and instagramable. flavors were distinct and creamy, with a soft, almost spreadable texture. my absolute favourite of the night.
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we ended our meal with olive oil pastille & pumpkin caramel which were quite a unique treat. overall i would give this place 3.5 ratings, it just didn’t meet my sky-high expectations (rated 4.9/5 on zomato). you would expect an incredibly innovative meal from an ex vue de monde sous chef but it was just satisfactory. if i am paying $195 for a meal, i expect the food to be perfect and unforgettable. such a shame as i really wanted to love this place, lovely staff but unfortunately we’re very unlikely to come back.

woke up on the afl grand final saturday and felt we haven’t tried a new place for ages. started flicking through zomato and amaru popped up in the fine dining category. i was able to book on line for lunch. so by noon ish, we ended up at amaru.

when we got there, there was only one other guest seated on a stool in the bar seating area.

half way through our degustation course, i figured, there was prob no other guests turning up. it was just me, hubby and the guy at the bar. everyone was prob at the games.

i say to hubby “this is prob what the rich and famous do. reserve a whole restaurant and have a body guard ”.. 😂 this certainly wasn’t any experience i’ve had before. rather unique.
now that i’ve tried it, its enough. definitely would prefer to have other people at the restaurant. gives it a buzz.

food and service was nice. i’m not a cheese person, so couldn’t really taste/enjoy the signature dessert which was cream/cheese base. they offered anotherdishto replace, but i was already so full. the degustation course will definitely fill the tummy.

my only regret is the fact that i decided to go fine dining on the day. i missed out on the element of waiting and looking forward to the event.

staff were extraordinary and were very polite. with each course came an introduction of the adventurousdishbeing served. it was a great way to learn of thedishitself and also to get to know each staff member. no menu was provided at the beginning so each course was a surprised. a very delicious surprise! the atmosphere of the restaurant was quite, elegant and modern. it was an open plan with an exposed kitchen with mirrors which showcased the inner workings of the amazing menu. thank you to the amaru team for making our six year anniversary one to always remember! we will definitely be back!

ambience: 5
staff: 5
food: 4.8
beverage: 5
beautiful dining experience on our wedding anniversary. very happy with our choice. 
for drinks, i ordered the lemon flower with cucumber, very refreshing drink in a warm night. husband had a japanese beer, he said that was a great beer too. 
we had the sensory menu, among the four starters, the duck ham was my favourite. my favourite main was the mud crab and rock oyster with iced apple. i can still feel the refreshing taste on the tip of my tongue just thinking about the dish. thedishhad so many different layers of flavours and texture, it was definitely the highlight of the night for me. my second top pick would be the hapukadishcame with consume, if it was appropriate, i would pick up the plate and lick every single bit on it, no joke. for desert, when the lovely lady presented us the shitake mushroom ice cream, the first reaction in my head was: what? for real? but you know what? it worked really well and i loved it. this is the kind ofdishthat does a trick in your head, in a good way. the most photographeddishhas to go to the meredith cheesecake. loved the texture, as well as the acidity the blood orange sorbet brings, well balanced flavours. the petite four, bergamot/rhubarb/barley, it was hard to bite off, but then you don't have too, it's bite-size itself. wait till it melt in your mouth, omg, layers of flavours exploded. what a good note to end the evening.  i didn't rate the food 5 out of 5 because of the kangaroo dish. the meat was cooked beautifully. however, the liquorice didn't quite work for me. maybe this would be an acquired taste in the future. 
my opinion on this place? shut up and take my money! i will return any day of the week, any week of the month.

absolutely amazing dining experience from start to end. 

the moment you enter the restaurant you just know you are in for a treat. the layout of the restaurant is fairly intimate with an open kitchen visible for every diner, as well as the option of seating at the chef's bar with a closer view of the kitchen.  

the theme of the menu was to engage and indulge your senses and taste buds, which they definitely do.  no menu is provided as they keep you guessing what the nextdishwill be while also promising for some surprises. without giving too much away, our favouritedishfor the night was definitely the pork but the entire menu was exceptionally wonderful. 

the service and wait staff were all extremely friendly, attentive and sociable without being intrusive. being able to relate with them made for a more natural but also private dining experience.

definitely a must try restaurant and i would happily return for another wonderful experience run by head chef clinton mciver.