A top chef opens a smart pub in a location that's full of thirsty, cashed-up, glammed-up punters but lacking in exciting places to sip and be seen. The result? SmithSlam. Since it opened in mid-September, chef Michael Lambie and long-time front-of-house collaborator Scott Borg have been wrangling, feeding and watering the crowds that have flocked to the off-Chapel designer drinking and dining house they've carved from the wreckage of the old ET's.

The menu is a well-executed international grab-bag of what's hot and tasty: Asian bites and salads, charcuterie, South American wraps and a Euro-skewed list of larger dishes, some with Chinese and Japanese twists.

Along the latter lines is the rolled rabbit saddle studded with lup cheong sausage: it's pretty and fabulously cooked, the meat tender and juicy, the flavours pristine and punchy. Smaller tastes include green gorgonzola-stuffed olives, nice little flavour bombs. Tempura-fried shiso-leaf parcels stuffed with prawn are cute, tasty morsels, too.

Lambie is an efficient chef and his team is so on its game that, if anything, our food comes too quickly - as though the kitchen is terrified everyone in the slurping crowd might order fajitas at once.

The floor team is well drilled, too. Service is perky and efficient and the wine advice sound, even though it has to be shouted over the happy hubbub.

Noise is an issue (they're working on it). Dining tables spill into the main pub area so ask to be seated in the dining room if you feel that conversation is an important part of eating out. However, it's clattery here, too.

The toilet situation isn't great. Three unisex toilets service the downstairs restaurant and bar, which is not enough when the place is busy. Restaurant diners and boozed-up barflies make for unhappy toilet sharers. There are more toilets upstairs but I fear that merry ladies, stilettos and first-floor facilities are a bad combination.

The upside of upstairs is the two large event spaces that can be configured to suit groups from eight to 120. The rooms are airy, bright and appealing, and there's a fully equipped upstairs kitchen, which is a big bonus for party planners who prefer to leave functions feeling an afterglow rather than feeling like an afterthought. Book Christmas parties here with confidence.

The Smith ★★★1/2

213 High Street, Prahran, 9514 2444

Licensed AE DC MC V eftpos

Daily, noon to late

Small, $4.50-$13; medium, $16-$20; large, $27-$38; desserts, $5-$23

----

Also try

Donovans, 40 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda, 9534 8221. Daily, lunch and dinner.

There's no better place to look forward to summer holidays than the private dining room here, with its dreamy bay views and deck terrace.

Matteo's, 533 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North, 9481 1177. Sun-Fri, lunch; daily, dinner.

At this reliable fine diner, functions can be enjoyed in parlours indoors or the courtyard with its retractable roof.

The Undertaker, 329 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, 9818 3944. Daily, noon-late.

There are flexible spaces for intimate dinners and rollicking cocktail parties at this multi-level public house, including the private 1903 Room.