Spice Temple

Spice Temple 15/20

The summary Neil Perry reignites his passion for Asian flavours with a great regional Chinese restaurant.
Value Strong.
Chefs Neil Perry and Andy Evans.
Owners Neil Perry, Trish Richards and David Doyle.
Service Well-drilled and knowledgable.
Food Modern Asian.
Wine 100 interesting, chilli-friendly wines at reasonable prices; 19 by the glass.
Vegetarians Numerous options.
Noise An up-tempo soundtrack.
Wheelchair access Yes.

ROCKPOOL, the fine diner that transformed Neil Perry into one of Australia's - and the world's - great chefs, notched up 20 years last Saturday. It's a remarkable achievement for Perry, one of the pioneers of working Asian flavours in an Australian context.

Now, he has created this city's best Chinese restaurant in Spice Temple, delivering the alluring venue we've waited a long time for.

It's a last big roll of the dice for Perry, who seems reinvigorated by his $35 million gamble on two new restaurants in this glorious art deco building. Later this month, Rockpool Bar and Grill (a sibling for his successful Melbourne version) opens above Spice Temple.

You may remember the chef's previous Asian eateries, under the XO brand, which had mixed success. This time his mojo is working. Don't push open the video door and descend into this low-lit basement - it's evocative of an opium den, with joss sticks perfuming the air - seeking a collection of Cantonese cliches. Instead, Perry has let rip with the fiery flavours of lesser-known Chinese provinces that, until now, remained largely untried here. It's occasionally confronting food, often awash with chilli to deliver a mesmerising, addictive rush that red-lines the Scoville scale.

The menu has almost 50 dishes, clearly laid out and designed for sharing. Stir-fried lobster ($120) from the live seafood tanks is the only extravagance. Many mains fall under $30.

The $69 10-dish banquet is both a great deal and fine vehicle for Perry's clever take on modern Chinese flavours. The remarkable parade begins with invigorating morsels of pickled radish and cabbage ($6, a la carte) and ginger-and-garlic cucumber ($8), before the heat comes to a crescendo over successive dishes, climaxing at lushly hot, sweet, sour and numbing pork ($28), then gelatinous beef fillet in "fire water" ($59) - a dark, oily smoky and caramel-tinged bean paste broth of burnt chillies - before the sweet, cool relief of watermelon granita ($14).