When hatted Punch Lane restaurant Sunda closed unexpectedly in late January, questions swirled around what would replace the modern South-east Asian diner. Three months on, an exciting new concept is taking up residence in the space, albeit temporarily: an Indian-ish pop-up from chef couple Saavni Krishnan – the 2025 Age Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year – and Aditya “Adi” Suresh.

The pair have been running Saadi events around Melbourne since 2022, while holding down full-time roles elsewhere. Sunda’s owner the Halim Group - also behind Aru and Antara - invited Krishnan and Suresh to take over the site for the month of May, after founder Adi Halim visited an earlier pop-up.

“We are grateful to be given this opportunity, very excited to serve customers in such an amazing venue, and extremely nervous and anxious to see how it all pans out,” says Krishnan.

Krishnan and Suresh have both quit their jobs (hers at North Melbourne’s Manze and his at Gemini in Coburg) to focus on Saadi.

“We’ve gone all in,” says Krishnan. “We decided to focus all our time this year into Saadi to see how it could transform into a business.”

The success of more than a dozen pop-ups over three years – at cool wine bars like Arnold’s and Sleepy’s, and wineries like the Indian-owned Avani on the Mornington Peninsula – has progressively given the pair more confidence in their concept.

Saadi, a portmanteau of Saavni and Adi, not only blends their names but their respective Indian upbringings and their experience cooking in top Australian kitchens, including Etta and Sydney fine diner Fred’s.

The magic is in how they take traditional family recipes and throw in creative curveballs, like topping thattai (“a lentil cracker usually eaten at teatime”) with raw kingfish and onion chutney.

“My dad said ‘It feels wrong but it tastes really good’,” says Suresh.

What you can expect from Saadi at Sunda is an $80 set dinner menu – plus an abridged $40 set lunch menu and small a la carte snack selection – of entirely new dishes.

To start, the kumror chokka tartlets will use in-season pumpkin, while tangy fermented rice doughnuts called paniyaram will be served with onion chutney.

Then, what Krishnan calls “a bread course unlike any other” is Saadi’s version of dhal bati churma, a dish from the west of India. It involves whole-wheat rolls charred on Sunda’s charcoal grill, dhal made with three varieties of Mount Zero lentils, and – in a twist – seasonal pickled veg.

The main protein is Goulburn River trout, but it’s the accompaniment that’s actually the main event: a “homestyle” rice and lentil dish called bisi bele bath that makes use of Sunda’s claypots. It’s powered by an intricate housemade spice mix that includes marathi moggu – described as a type of caper – that gives some South Indian dishes a peppery sourness.

“Back when we started, we never thought this is where we could be. I think Melbourne as a whole has really accepted our food,” says Suresh.

Expect more pop-ups as Krishnan and Suresh work towards opening their own restaurant.

Saadi at Sunda runs from May 1 to 31.

Open lunch Sat; dinner Thu-Sat

18 Punch Lane, Melbourne, instagram.com/saadi_melbourne. Bookings via sunda.com.au