The notes I take while dining out can be hilariously cryptic. Days or weeks later, when working on the review, I’ll go back and discover snippets of thought that are utterly nonsensical by the time I try to make use of them. A personal favourite, from a long-ago meal at Navi: “Like an airplane that never existed.” OK, brain. Cool story.

But perusing my notes from a recent meal at Etta, the jibber jabber I found still resonates as true, and I think it was a direct quote from my sister upon eating new chef Lorcan Kan’s chilli oil parfait ($17): “It makes me think of things I can’t think of.”

Such is the mind-bending power of this dessert. The flavours contained within indeed suggest so many things at once that it’s almost impossible to parse them out into coherent sense memories.

It makes you think of things you can’t think of.

The semi-frozen parfait itself, made by infusing egg yolks, cream and sugar with an oil combining Korean chilli flakes and Sichuan peppercorns, leans into the fruitiness of the chilli rather than the heat. The result is an almost gingery spice, though there’s no ginger in the dessert. There is lightly fragrant orange candy sugar melon, and a lychee and lime leaf sorbet, which provide a cooling and sweet underpinning.

Your mind veers from tom yum soup to fairy floss to hot and numbing hot pot to the glory of eating tropical fruit on a beach somewhere. In other words, it makes you think of things you can’t think of.

I have to say, I was a little worried about Etta. In the days before former chef Rosheen Kaul announced her departure from the restaurant, a good friend ate there, reporting that the dining room was empty and the food was lacking (Kaul had already worked her final shift the night in question).

It seemed that all the energy Kaul had brought when she took the job in late 2020 had dissipated, and I was almost relieved to hear the following week that she had decided to move on – not because I won’t miss her specific take on modern Asian-Australian food, but because it meant there was a reason for the uneven nature of the experience.

And she should be. Kan’s cooking is bold but nuanced, fun but thoughtful. The aptitude he shows with fruit on the parfait extends to the rest of the menu – many of the savoury offerings have a pop of unexpected juicy freshness.

The bouncy flesh of skewered prawn ($14) is bathed in mango hot sauce, with mandarin yuzu kosho adding to the kaleidoscope of sunny flavours. A smoked duck leg ($36) in a Malaysian red curry gets a beguiling lushness from the addition of rambutan.

Rock flathead ($54) comes on a large platter and is enough to easily feed a table of three with sides, the fish bolstered by creamy burnt Jerusalem artichoke and the brightness of red-fleshed cara cara orange. Pair it with the cos salad ($15), a bowl of crispness and creaminess, the lettuce dressed in curried egg and accompanied by nashi pear.

This is still a great place to come and sit at the bar and order a cold martini and snacks – the torched kingfish skewer ($14) will be especially beloved by those who love a filthy martini, the buttery fish’s accompaniment of gordal olives making for an especially vinegary treat.

Etta has always been a place that showcases what Melbourne dining is about right now. As such, it is almost duty-bound to evolve to hold on to that distinction.

So what does this new iteration say about where we are as a city? I’m thrilled to report that these days, Etta again successfully embodies casual quality, fantastic wine, ultra-personal service, and the kind of Asian-influenced cooking that’s modern, smart and utterly unbound by stuffy tradition.