Open kitchens are a feature of all Saké fitouts. In Melbourne, the open kitchen is the throbbing heart of the restaurant. Light is crucial to the fitout’s success. Directional downlights illuminate table settings, meals and artworks, and highlight textured finishes such as a raw rendered wall, without washing the space with too much indirect light. At night, the restaurant feels dark and intimate, the oak and spotted gum joinery glows, and awareness of spatial boundaries, such as the operable glass wall that opens out to the promenade, and timber screens that delineate private dining areas, dissolve in shadow. Upstairs in the smaller mezzanine dining space the outward view changes from one of pedestrians to that of the city skyline across the Yarra. A gold mesh balustrade, tilted to match the building’s facade, adds another touch of theatrical glamour.