Ayatana

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97 Chapel Street, Windsor, 9533 8813

My score: 3/5

Given the number of chefs getting chichi with kimchi, faddy with pho and otherwise riffing on eastern cuisines, it’s only logical that more traditional Asian restaurants make some hipster cross-cultural moves too. Ayatana is a two-year-old Thai restaurant in hungry Windsor, next door to Mr Miyagi, a Japanese izakaya, and not far from mod-Viet Saigon Sally, both of which play fast, loose (and tasty) with venerable cuisines. Ayatana’s culture mashes are relatively gentle and restrained. Fish cake brioche sliders are built around classic firm seafood patties stacked with sweet mayo, iceberg and vinegary peanut dressing. The bun squished to nothing as I went but the dish was tasty to the last finger-licking morsel. Spicy pulled beef tacos were pretty good, though the tortillas themselves were nothing special, leading to a ‘why?’ moment as I licked gravy off my wrist.

The Massaman curry was outstanding. The sauce displayed head-of-a-pin balance and the lamb shank poking out of the liquid seemed both dramatic and generous. The spice flavours were beguiling, and the addition of toasty cashews and sweet potato brought textural variation. I love the way sweet potato transmits curry flavours, sopping them up then sending them on their way with a syrupy, starchy caress. Also terrific was a mounded green salad with puffed brown rice, crunchy noodles, apple and garlicky tamarind dressing, making for exhilarating interplay of acid, spice, salt and sweetness. Less successful was a red curry duck: the soupy curry was fine but the breast meat was tough and the skin flabby. A dessert of black rice with candied coconut was rich and redeeming.

Ayatana’s petite dining room is smart and modern and the welcome is endearingly warm. The thoughtful wine list is attuned to the food, adding to the appeal for diners ready to call Thai-m on daggy suburban Thai and the excruciating puns that often go with it.

See their website.

More winter braises:

Araliya St Kilda, 157 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, 9078 6757
Stalwart Hawthorn Sri Lankan restaurant now has a smart St Kilda sibling. Enjoy all complex, fragrant dishes, especially the jaggery beef brisket and spiced lamb shoulder on the bone.

Piqueos, 298 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North, 9349 2777
Grilled prime cuts dominate the menu at this Argentinian and Peruvian restaurant but there’s also a 48-hour-braised beef short rib that falls from the bone.

Red Emperor, Shop M10, Level 2, Southgate, Southbank, 9699 4170
Two braised beef dishes feature on the winter menu at this upscale Chinese restaurant. There’s oxtail with garlic, and cheek braised in masterstock, then fried and sliced to serve.

First published in The Age, August 3, 2014.