Allta

Allta is the degustation-only counterpart to executive chef Jun-su Chang’s genre-bending Korean diner Funda, where guests are served a 15-course menu designed to challenge Australian perceptions of Korean food.

When Broadsheet visited, the bar was set high with the opening dish: a bite of tuna tartare layered with grilled veg, topped with threads of crispy leek and served on a squid-ink-dyed cracker. There was also Gukbab, riffing on the traditional Korean soup, with a rich broth poured over a rice cake topped with beef and oyster mushrooms. Chang’s French training was evident in a caramelised butter sauce pooling around tender Wagyu, and calamari with beurre blanc.

The front-of-house team pours a matched tea service, while Chang – previously of Seoul’s two-Michelin-starred Jungsik – and his chefs perform in the open kitchen. They work in silence with droppers and tweezers, making seemingly impossible manipulations to their ingredients.

Guests sit at a U-shaped marble countertop, extending the length of the restaurant and curving into the kitchen. Details are everything, from choosing your own wood-handled steak knife for the beef course, to the menu with your name printed on the front.