TWO-month-old Bruin is the latest offering by Scotsmen Iain Munro (Cornershop, Wee Jeanie) and David Danks (formerly Birdman Eating and Public House) and is a slick dinner-time addition to Williamstown. It launched six months behind schedule but on a typical restaurant timescale that's like nipping out for a five-minute smoko.

The interior was stripped to its bones and brightened with fresh white paint and glossy tiles. The kitchen has moved position and is now semi-open, with a smart glass wraparound, and the custom blonde-and-black furnishings are crafty and nicely spaced.

But the real stunners are the magnificent chandeliers designed by Sally Mill. Made from recycled bedsprings, the lights give the high-ceilinged room dimension and oomph. The effect is quite lovely.

Danks is responsible for the modern food, the place mat menu dotted with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences, all designed for sharing.

Flatbreads are long, oval and filling, the dough baked on terracotta tiles, then striped on the char-grill. The ''burnt eggplant'' is a rich, garlicky wallop of thickly smeared baba ghanoush strewn with a textural mix of pomegranate seeds, walnuts, flat-leaf parsley and crumbled shanklish cheese. Good.

Next up might be cigar-shaped lamb and pine nut filo rolls, based on a recipe from Abla's, the pastry golden, the mince spiced with cumin, coriander and sumac. These are good - perhaps a touch heavy on the pastry and light on the filling, but the forest-green mint sauce and creamy buffalo yoghurt stop any dryness.

Sashimi-grade Crystal Bay prawns are doctored with ras el hanout and fried in clarified butter, creating an interesting, almost sweet, spicing, and are part of a salad of watercress, cucumber and juicy segments of tart-sweet ruby grapefruit.

Great ''potato chips, tomato ketchup'' are triple-cooked and hand-cut from Royal Blue spuds. Lovers of Danks' amazing barbecue pork spare ribs can find them here. Braised for three hours in a ginger-rich stock with coriander, garlic and soy, then mixed with an Asian-style barbecue sauce, they're salty, sticky and finger-lickin' good.

Desserts are equally hardcore - and good - such as the dense chestnut cake with chestnut curd and chocolate ice-cream and a rich, runny espresso reduction of Tia Maria, Frangelico and Kahlua.

Bruin is a well-run operation, with service by a switched-on bunch of unpretentious waiters. Good score, Williamstown.

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