When Lina Shou and Leon Pan, the owner-chefs of the Melbourne Building's restaurant were thinking of a suitable name, all they could think about was the Aussie mentality of going with the flow.
Combine that with their desire to create a menu filled with dishes where the ingredients flow nicely together and the duo have their name.
Flow officially opened this week, bringing the pair's modern Australian menu to the Northbourne Avenue location.
It's Shou and Pan's first restaurant together but they met while working together at Braddon restaurant Corella.
"Both of us are immigrants," Pan said.
"But being here in this country, cooking in the country, it's full of different varieties of cuisines and styles of cooking. And I think modern Australian really gives us more opportunities with our cooking, rather than being just Italian or French or Japanese."
Australia's lack of defined cuisine gave the pair some freedom when creating the menu.
It means that while their Sydney rock oysters are served with finger lime, they're not restricted from using yuzu - an East Asian citrus fruit - in the granita, because it's a fruit that is becoming increasingly popular in the Australian food scene.
Other highlights on the menu include a twice-cooked quail, which has been dipped in pomegranate syrup during the cooking process, before being served with puffed grains and fennel, and a pork scotch fillet with "taco" seasoning, grilled grapes and fermented jalapeno mayo.
"Pork is probably the most consumed meat in China, but it's not as popular here," Pan said.
"But it's also used quite a bit in South America which is why I chose taco seasoning as a base of the flavour. But on top of that, I added some bush spices, which are native to Australia, and some milk powder to help caramelise it a little bit more."
The drinks listed, compiled by venue manager Rin Lee, has a strong focus on Australian and in particular Canberra region wines, as well as on the signature cocktails and mocktails.
As for desserts, there's torched pavlova with mascarpone, strawberries and raspberries and an incredibly balanced orange and chilli flan with caramel and matcha ice cream.
"When we had our soft opening my friend could immediately tell the flan was my creation because of the chilli," Shou said.
"Maybe normally people wouldn't put chilli in an orange flan but I think it enhances the flavour. And when you look at our slogan - 'Food for flow' - this just works. It's not too sweet, and not too boring."
As for interiors, the duo kept the building's original exposed brick and beams, with Shou and Pan swapping the hospitality industry for the construction one, to do the tiling around the bar and the bottom half of the walls in their spare time.
And just like an artist with an artwork, the pair signed one of the roof beams with a cheeky little reminder that the mirrored bar, with seating, is the place to be for those in need of a cocktail.
Flow is open for dinner, Tuesdays to Sundays, and lunch on the weekend.
