Agnii
Agnii means “fire” in Sanskrit, and that’s its superpower. At the second restaurant from Sri Lankan chef Gayan Pieris, of hatted Mornington Peninsula wine-diner Many Little, the defining feature is a flame-throwing open hearth built by The Age Good Food Guide Trailblazer award winner Samuel Fraraccio, aka The Brick Chef. Known as a dara lipa, the hearth is flanked by racks for hanging, drying and smoking fish, and kilns to house claypots.
There’s an air of nostalgia to Pieris’ bath mula, or banana leaf-wrapped parcel of curry and rice. The parcels are heated over wood until steamy and unwrapped tableside, revealing half a dozen or so components: a meaty curry, a thick dahl, vegetable sides and a sweet-and-sour pickle.
For extra theatrics, all that (and more) can be dispensed via a curry trolley, which you might find loaded with regional specialities, perhaps a goat curry from Jaffna in the north. The kitchen has stations dedicated to hoppers, as well as dosa and kottu (chopped roti).
Let Pieris take the wheel with the chef’s menu or order a la carte from dishes broken down into sections like snacky small bites, “entree-ish” short eats and substantial share plates. Cocktails are distinctly Sri Lankan, starring arrack, a spirit made from the fermented sap of coconut palm flowers. And the negroni is soured with goraka, a tamarind-like fruit.
Good to know: For late-night bites, an abridged supper menu runs between 10pm and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
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