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From David Thompson’s protege to post-lockdown pop-ups, Annita Potter’s career has seen some chapters. But Viand, where she was named our 2023 Chef of the Year, remains her most brilliant work yet.

Potter welcomes diners to the ochre-red dining room like friends at a dinner party, before pivoting to the proud central kitchen. There’s nowhere to hide, but chefs are the epitome of calm, in one turn serving you sticky rice, in the next, prepping fiery dry-roasted chillies for the next pound, paste or broth.

Tasting menus bounce from fat to crunch, sour to sweet, subtle to kapow. Smoked trout curry, laden with roe and white pepper, is rich and buttery, while brisket in tamarind-heavy sauce is lifted by the crackle of dry-roasted rice flour.

Soulful bookends might include plump tapioca dumplings of braised spatchcock wrapped in betel leaves, or an outstanding dessert of tropical fruit and pandanus ice, showered with frizzled golden shallots. (We’re also excited to hear there’s a new a la carte lunch menu, too.)