There is a kind of culinary alchemy performed behind an unassuming shopfront at the bottom end of Smith Street. It’s the most logical way to explain the stream of diners braving the blustery Melbourne night and a firm, no-bookings policy to eat at Gigibaba. This modern Turkish eatery has its roots in Eminem, a wildly popular Perth institution that shut up shop at the peak of its hype. But it is across the country, at Gigibaba, that chef Ismael Hosun’s inventive food finds its spiritual home.

Gigibaba combines the tradition of the Turkish ‘mezze’ with the nous of contemporary Collingwood to come up with something new. The menu is composed of small tapas-style sharing plates, with sea salt and wild oregano lamb cutlets and a seductive smoked eggplant salad in place of the standard olives and chorizo. However, it is a BBQ whole baby snapper that melts in your mouth and a plate of squab in chilli flakes and cinnamon that linger long after your last wine carafe is downed.

Gigigaba’s tangle of oversized light globes, stark Turkish frescos and intimate seating nods to a Middle East-meets-Melbourne interior aesthetic.