ARU Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

A beautifully curated menu, suited well to a palette that prefers sweetness and bitterness.

Please note that my personal palette is salty and sour, so while my partner enjoyed most dishes, I enjoyed maybe half of them. I would still recommend that anyone who values complex flavours and a thoughtful dining experience come here anyway to see how you fare.

We celebrated a birthday here, and the waitstaff were lovely at the start of the night. We were sat in a great spot, and the restaurant grew quite busy as soon as the doors opened.

We ordered the $120PP set menu, which featured an array of modern Asian flavours, some of which were phenomenal, and some of which I would probably pass on if I were to order alacarte. They took into account our dietary requirement and made an appropriate substitute that we greatly appreciated.

I’m not a personal fan of high levels of dimness in restaurants, but if you’re after a romantic, fine-dining vibe, this is what you’d get here. Waitstaff are attentive in asking how your meal is going and topping up your water, which is great.

The yellowfin in the first course was simply perfect. The fish was fresh and paired with gorgeous flavours, including tangy radish and a crunchy vermicelli cracker-like item.

As for the kingfish, again, the quality was excellent. The black sesame left a slightly bitter aftertaste, and the thai basil oil didn’t sing as strongly as I would’ve liked. The caviar (added for $10 and not included at base price) was an excellent addition, giving it bursts of saltiness that my palette so desperately craves.

The sourdough with palm sugar glaze was not for me. The sugar made the crust quite rigid and tough to bite through. As I’ve said, I’m not in love with my savoury foods tasting overly sweet, and unfortunately this dish tipped too far into the sweet zone. The cultured butter simply wasn’t salted enough to combat it, and the sourdough just wasn’t for me.

The eggplant and whipped ricotta was not bad. I could’ve done without the chilli oil, as it did leave a fatty feeling in the mouth. But the eggplant was very tasty, and worked well with the coolness of the ricotta and the crunch of those chickpeas.

Mains came up at the perfect time, as the first four dishes will whet your appetite.

The claypot rice is not as good as their sister restaurant, Sunda. I couldn’t find a single crunchy bit of rice that gives claypot rice that beautiful homestyle quality, and it felt more like a standard fried rice than claypot rice. The moreton bay bug was unfortunately overcooked.

The papaya salad was excellent. Perfectly herbaceous, and great to cut through the fat of the duck. It was exactly the freshness I was seeking for the last three savoury dishes.

The duck was cooked well, and it was a good amount for two people. I avoided the cabbage and muntries to keep it more savoury, but my partner enjoyed everything on the plate.

The dessert was fabulous! The combination of chocolate and coconut was sublime, and the passionfruit’s acidity was a lovely touch to balance the meal. The standout was the tuile one top. It had a flawless crack when you touched it with your fork, and added a much needed textural element for a relatively smooth dish. Cool desserts are always better than hot ones for me, so this ticked all the boxes for flavour, texture, and temperature.

Overall, my highlights of the set menu were the yellowfin tuna, the papaya salad, the duck, and that wonderful dessert.

The menu is incredibly complex, and I’d love to next time sit in front of the chefs as they prepare and run those beautiful dishes up the pass.

Even though not every single one of the dishes blew my mind, I recommend this to anyone who wants to try a modern, thoughtful degustation experience that highlights the flavours of South-East Asia and puts a creative spin on absolutely everything they put on the plate. This could easily be 5-stars for people who prefer the flavours and layers that are present on this menu, and I would come back here again to try some new stuff when...

First dining at Aru，also Aru‘s first day. I was going to give a 3 stars review on the food and experience, but the service was really disappointed for a high expectation customer tonight.

As a big fan of Sunda, I always told my friend that Sunda is my favourite restaurant in CBD. I was imprrssive about either the food or the special cocktails there. They were full of creativity and sincerity！

So I booked Aru as soon as I could.

Here are the cons tonight：

1，I left a note when I booked：tonight is graduation celebrity. I got a congratulation at the reception，then nothing. I saw somone on the other table got a small dessert with lightning candle for her birthday celebrity. I was not that eager for the dessert but I was disappointed about no expression for mine.

2，There was a paper inside my parfait（ice cream sandwich）as it showed in the last photo which I uploaded. I would not return this dish only because this，but I felt unbelievable when the waitress came to take the plate and noticed the paper just said surprise and sorry then nothing. This paper made me think how no sincerity no matter when the chef designed the dessert menu（its too commercial，its basically just b ought sth then put on the plate）or the service quality this restaurant requested.

3，When we left，the manager came to say hi and mentioned what I ordered tonight and asked my feedback. Actually I have many thoughts and suggestions about the food tonight，but I mentioned the paper issue first. I said I did not mean to tell u this so that to ask a doscount or sth，but it did ruin part of my experience tonight. what made me shocked again was she asked that did the waitress noticed it？ I said yes，she said sorry. Then the manger just said sorry and she would keep it in her mind… The shocked me thought maybe she was not that care my opinion for food too，so I just left.

4，💔above all those 3 points，I think it is unacceptable for the customer service here. In my opinion，if u really made a mistake，then u should fix it now matter what you do，the point is to show ur caring and sincerity，I am not really need you to give a discount as far as I could understand that running a business during this Covid-19 time is not that easy as before. But you should show ur respect and kind. for example，just serve a drink or small dessert which is nearly no costing for u，but could make amends for the mistake and make customers‘ night that spent here was nicer.

Now，let’s talk about the food tonight~👉

5, I ordered all the snacks，most tasted good enough.

The oyster‘s dressing was a warm one，if it was a cold one，I think would be better with the fresh oyster. just personal opinion

The wagyu tongue was too oily, but it is manageable to make it less oil and same flavor since people r more and more caring about healthy...

I ordered Pate En Croute from the menu’s second part since the waitress said it’s her favorite and special. Actually for me it is just a normal terrine, not deserve to try specially, but u can have it if u r a lover of terrine.

From small plates, I had the Rice Sourdough and smoked chicken from the recommendation.

The smoked chicken was nothing impressive and no smoked feeling, it looked like Steamed Chicken with Chili Sauce from China，but it was even not that good…I was regretted to have it.

For large plates，I had duck since I really curious duck cooked by asian chef，it always much better than the one in a westerner place. It was cooked very well，I love the roasted way it gave to me. the only problem was it did not come with a suitable dressing🥲

Also，as for I already mentioned to the waitress I wanted to try as more flavor as I could，I think the dishes she recommended to me both the chicken and the terrine were all not that deserve comparing to the other dishes on the menu.

6，I tried my best to find some special cocktails on the menu，but neither of them were special or impressive，I mean it was ok to drink，just no pleasure～ I still remember one cocktail in Sunda is a coffee one but no color which surprised...

Tonight’s MFWF Dinner was at ARU in the city - A collaboration featuring star Hanoi chef Sam Tran (GIA 2 Michelin Starts Restaurant) and Aru's own Nico Koevoets.

3 bites Wagyu tartare - Calamansi Dutch cream potato - Red miso - Antonius sturgeon caviar Hokkaido scallop - Vietnamese mint - Chestnut wagau ummmmmm good Scallops wow tangy then peppery from Vietnamese mint delicious Potato and caviar what a great idea. Think I will do it. Maybe Christmas

Amaebi - Otoro - Fish sauce Lamb rib - Betel leaf - Cucumber Tuna Otoro wow the sauce is so good. I drank it from the bowl no manner I know. Beautiful sea flavours with sweet tomatoes fantastic bloody fan bloody tastic. The fish was excellent. Lamb rib on the bone Finger food. Lamb with pickled: cucumber shallots bamboo shoots - hello my sweet soft so delicious lamb. You’ve been steamed in a bag for 8 hours then lovenly cooked over a hibachi. So good so succulent so clever mixed little pickles cucumber bamboo shoots. Beetle leaf adds additional flavour on the palate. Eel - Cassava - Coconut Blue eye cod - Chicken broth - Cavolo nero Forbidden rice - no photo Sourdough - Spiced butter - no photo Eel. No photo Sauce delicious sweet balance. Eel skin fantastic crisp smoky taste from coals. Unfortunately the eel meat was chewy a tad over cooked. Rice so delicious as crunchy top to the eel. The. Bread was beautiful with great spices in the butter COD blue eye chicken broth made with full carcass chicken, chicken feet & smoked eel skin. Wow I’m back in heaven. The depth of flavour in the broth is so ridiculously satisfying good deliciousness. The expertly cooked cod is soft and delicate as it should be. the added Cavolo Nero (Black Kale my favourite) is a wonderful addition that creates heaven in my mouth. Taste dancing around wanting to be swallowed me try to extend the flavour. Wow wow bloody wow.

Dry aged duck - Chayote - Fermented shiitake Braised beef ribs - Mushroom rice with Vietnamese black olive tapenade. Duck with Choko Green an all time favourite vegetable in Asia. Chokos , or as they are sometimes known as chayote or alligator pear. Duck perfectly cooked soft with some crunchy skin. Chayote had the mushroom shaved or sprinkled on top. Nice Umami bomb. But 1 of 3 piece duck very sinue. Overall a great dish. Beef delicious The tapenade was a perfect match to the beef. Excellent dish. The mushroom rice was good I could just it that. Expertly cooked in stock and mushrooms. Just delicious.

Strawberry - Longan - Sesame crisp Black garlic - Blood plum - Vanilla coated cake The crips was okay but the winner was the Logan berries deliciously sweet. Hmmmmmmm Yummmmmmmmy - those who know me best knew I’d say that because of the BLACK GARLIC ice cream. I could eat a bucket of it. So garlicky and sweet heaven in ice cream. So week balanced with the cake with the blood plums. Dish of the day easily. I was going to vote for the COD as dish of the day but black garlic just edge the desert.

The attentiveness of the staff was amazing. Each description of the meal making...