THE fitout is elegant, the service subtle and sophisticated and the food pretty fine. Cinnabar on the Kingston Foreshore is off to a delicious start.

This is one of the many new eateries on Eastlake Parade. Cinnabar offers a relaxing atmosphere if you’re not in the mood for buzz (sometimes I am and sometimes I’m not). It also offers innovative Chinese at its best with modern twists on classics dished up with confidence.

Our first dish was the subtle and succulent Grandma’s Shanghai-style drunken chicken ($16.80). It’s a soul-satisfying dish with the chicken moist and the flavours delicate. Another intriguing choice on the starters menu is the special duck floss rolls (four pieces for $28.80). We’re big duck fans and will give this a go on our next visit.

Cinnabar’s menu is not extensive, but we’d rather a smaller number of carefully planned and executed dishes anyway.

Dishes on the meat section range from about $21 up to just under $40, averaging out at around $27. It’s quality you’re paying for at Cinnabar.

The dry chilli beef ($22.80) was tangy and sweet and no doubt created with another selection of secret ingredients (maybe even pulled together by “Grandma”). However, we would be more careful next time since we also ordered the crispy eggplant with honey and sesame sauce, which meant we ended up with two sweet options.

Not everyone is a fan of eggplant ($18.80) and I was disappointed that the hefty helping of sauce drowned matters out a bit and the “crisp” notion was lost.

Cinnabar staff could engage more with customers and advise on selection. It’s definitely not their fault we ordered two sweet options – they may have thought this deliberate, but a quick bit of guidance would have steered us in another direction.

We didn’t order from the rice and noodles section, but the special fried rice with scallop, king prawn, sweetcorn ($26.80) sounds intriguing, as does the Hong Kong-style beef, stir-fried rice noodle with bean sprouts and garlic chives ($18.80).

We had already indulged in too much “sweet” but may well try, on a future visit, the black sticky rice with coconut cream ($12.80).

Cinnabar’s line up of big windows at the front of the restaurant, allow you views of the water. They can be fully opened bringing the outdoors inside. We favour the different zones, including an area with booths, a lounge section where you can relax with a drink and square tables that can easily be connected for larger groups.

The colour scheme is fabulous – dark browns, taupes, coppers and silvers. The many textural elements combine to create a sophisticated ambiance that stands out in the crowd of places now open on the Foreshore.

Cinnabar, 56/45 Eastlake Parade, Kingston Foreshore. Open seven days for lunch and dinner. Call 6140 7038.

Drunken chicken. Photo by Andrew Finch

Crispy eggplant with honey. Photo by Andrew Finch

Cinnabar special duck roll. Photo Andrew Finch