HAPPENINGS
We celebrate the Lunar New Year with a quartet of auspicious dishes across the festival. Representing good fortune, abundance, prosperity and wealth, these bring good tidings for the Year of the Horse.
For pre-orders with your reservation – 48 hours required
Ora King Salmon Yee Sang for two – $88
Julienned vegetables, fried wonton crisps, seaweed, Ora King salmon, raw Japanese scallops, smoked salmon caviar
Whole Rainbow Trout, Grilled Capsicum Sambal, Coriander and Green Tomato Sambal (500g) – MP
Grilled & butterflied rainbow trout on the bone, belacan-seasoned smoky capsicum sambal, jalapeno, coriander & green tomato sambal
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Available in limited quantities across the Lunar New Year
Prawn & Scallop Shui Jiao, Smoked Soy Dressing, Chilli Oil, Brown Butter (5 pc)
Dumplings filled with cabbage, spring onion, prawn, scallops and fish mousse
Longevity Noodles, Spring Onion, Fried Shrimp, Garlic Chives
Wok-tossed egg noodles, infused soy
16 – 28 February
We’re thrilled to welcome fine-dining Los Angeles-based chef, H Woo to Aru’s kitchen for a one-night crossover.
Self-taught, H Woo first started cooking and presenting his fine-dining dishes via underground supper club Maru Los Angeles, eventually garnering attention as a content creator. He has since collaborated with world-renowned restaurants across Spain and the United States.
Over dinner at Aru, he will be bringing his inventive approach, drawing on the cuisine that inspires him most: Japan.
Expect dishes including Blue Fin Tuna Tartare with Oscietra Caviar and Lacto Tomato Gelee, Matsukasa Tilefish with Smoked Dashi Butter, and more. Aru’s signature dishes have also been re-spun, the Spanner Crab Toast topped with uni, the Dry Aged Duck with a Confit Duck Korokke with Fermented Truffle Jus and Shiso, and the Claypot Broken Rice with Pickled Ginger & Shallot and H Woo’s ‘Mum’s XO’.
Presented in partnership with Mise en Place Gourmet Food, supplier of Oscietra Caviar for the evening.
Friday 23 January
From 6pm | $195
Food & beverage pairing available | $300
Private Dining
Ensconced away in Aru is our private dining room, Banda, which fully closes up to the rest of the restaurant. The rich, timber-encased space seats 12, with doors that offer seclusion.
Banda opens up onto The Terrace – an impressive landing with a view of our cellar. Here, you’ll find a grand long table set-up, a favourite amongst wedding parties, birthdays and celebrations of all sorts. The Terrace is separated from the dining room by a mesh curtain and seats 30. Both spaces can be booked separately or together.
We are delighted to offer additions for event bookings, including a wood fire grilled signature black rib eye MB4, and a Fire & Grain whisky pairing experience, where a special menu is paired with premium whiskies from The Balvenie. Both of these additions require advance notice.
In The Press
The Age Good Food Guide 2026 – Two Hats
The Age Good Food Guide 2025 – Two Hats
Australia’s Wine List of the Year 2025 – Three Glasses
The Age Good Food Guide 2023 – Two Hats
The Age Good Food Guide 2023 – Victoria’s Restaurant of the Year
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants – 50 Best Discovery
Gourmet Traveller – Review
The Age Good Food – Review
About
Named after the group of islands which ancient seafarers frequented as part of the Sino-Indonesian-Australian route, Aru draws on the cuisine of the three regions. Asian dishes deftly flecked with native Australian ingredients, grilled or finished over the wood-fired hearth.
In this beautiful, moody space of marble, mesh, wood and brick lies some of the city’s most renowned dishes and an impressive cellar list – a destination for a coming together of cuisines and cultures.
Gift Cards
Gift a dining experience at Aru with our digital gift cards, sent immediately to you or a recipient of your choice.
Gift cards are valid for 3 years from the date of purchase.