Larry Xie is here for a good time and that’s what he wants for guests to Bansho as well. He is the epitome of hospitality and is constantly seeking ways to learn more about food and wine and to welcome his guests with warmth and conviviality. No stranger to hospitality, Larry grew up with a family who ran coffee shops and motels in Melbourne and, as a teenager, he worked for his parents, before moving to the States for University . After a brief stint studying finance, Larry decided it wasn’t for him and felt drawn to architecture and the arts and worked for a while as an art curator. He met his wife, Mira and they decided to move back to Australia and opened two restaurants in Adelaide before coming to Melbourne to open Bansho in Armadale. Larry describes Bansho as an elevated neighbourhood bistro, combining Japanese ingredients with French technique. If you’re not quite sure what that means, you just have to go and try for yourself, but highlights from my meal were the Chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) with spanner crab, celeriac vichyssoise and avruga caviar and the poisson du Jour with arare and katsuo bushi beurre blanc. I had the best time talking to Larry and I felt as though I had made a new friend. We really could have talked for hours.