• Victoria's half-year dining report card card
• Melbourne's most exciting restaurant openings of the year so far

Here's what's trending, from tableside service to serve-yourself theatrical touches.

Back to the future

Our desire for the luxury of dining out, before QR-code ordering or fast-casual concepts, has come to the fore. Tableside service, white-jacketed waiters and trolleys of cheese and caviar animate dining rooms. You will see these gracing the floor at Grill Americano, Entrecote, Vue de Monde, Hemingway's Wine Room and Bar Bombay Yacht Club. And dishes such as vitello tonnato, beef rossini and lobster Thermidor are back in a big way.

New tastes

Overlooked cuisines, cultures and voices are claiming their place at the table. Restaurants such as Enter Via Laundry, spotlighting regional Indian cuisine, and Big Esso by Mabu Mabu are important additions. Podcasts such as Bad Taste, publications like Colournary and outfits like Women and Revolution in the wine industry are changing the conversation. More please.

Smoke and mirrors

Who says a shortage of staff needs to be all doom and gloom? Innovators have spied an opportunity to create fun at the table. Negroni fountains at Tippy Tay keep the table's glasses topped up without extra hands. The same goes for quality batched cocktails from The Everleigh, Homegrown and others. And hotpot restaurants are a double-whammy of labour workaround plus all-in fun for the table.

Thank cod

Hardly seen in restaurants a decade ago (the result of overfishing and environmental degradation), Murray cod is again on the menu thanks to aquaculture innovations and a greater desire from chefs to source sustainable seafood. Sydney chef Josh Niland, the Murray cod's greatest champion, has undoubtedly helped. In Melbourne, find it in a light curry at Enter Via Laundry or at Gomi Boys Ramen from time to time. Navi serves it as tartare, while the fat goes into a martini-like drink at its cocktail bar next door.

Curves everywhere

Sweeping bars, crescent-shaped archways and lots of booths are key in new restaurant fitouts. Untitled in Richmond has lots of rounded edges and wavy lines (courtesy of design firm du jour Flack), Moonhouse in Balaclava has played up its art deco bones, while Smith Street Bistrot boasts a wall of clam shell-shaped booths and the new Four Pillars distillery bar combines curves with equally trendy copper.