“We source the best seasonal local fish caught in small quantities – better quality and better for the environment – and look after it the best we can. If I was a fish, I’d like to end up in our kitchen.”

Shane Buckley’s single-seed Wapengo rock oysters; carpaccio of longline-caught blue-eye with bitter lemon purée, blood orange, and white grapefruit; and simple grilled fish.

It’s safe to say that, after thirty years in the business, Michael Bacash has a thing for seafood. He’ll tell you where his fish is from, how it was caught, and most likely who caught it. Grilled fish from this kitchen is so much more than the sum of its parts: simple, fresh, perfect.

Throw the net wider for a blue swimmer crab salad with daikon and green mango in a lilting Vietnamese mint and chilli lime dressing, the baby snapper with sumac-braised silverbeet, currants, and tahini, or simply a best-in-show spaghetti marinara.

The obsession extends beyond the plate to the seamless service, the slick space opposite the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (where the restaurant’s wastewater is recycled for irrigation), and a small-producer wine list that’s one of the city’s best.

“Michael Bacash is Melbourne’s fish whisperer, the man who sets the local seafood standard.”

–Michael Harden, Gourmet Traveller