Like many Asian restaurants aspiring for the upper echelons of über hip, Lava 10 deploys a diverse array of sensory sorcery. Its aim: to seduce the tongue and hook it on its own brand of sheesh—that is staple sushi and sashimi creations circumscribed with a gaggle of Asian culinary oeuvre. Music pulses. Buddha busts and Buddha figures trim corners and crannies, adding microbursts of sacred chic. Structural support posts garbed in mosaics of tiny glassy tiles are bathed in color-shifting, LED luminance. Plus: cattails sculpted from steel.

But there’s a method to this dementia. Lava 10 vends “Strait of Malacca Cuisine,” or food from countries along the 500-mile shipping channel between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Thus Lava 10 melds the influences and dishes of Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. It laces the typical Asian fusion cannon with murmurs of cumin, coriander, and tamarind—spices typically found along the Strait of Malacca. You’ll find Pad Thai, Singapore noodles, and “Four Corners duck” (half duck marinated and fried) along with hamachi and the ubiquitous California and Philadelphia rolls. Though the execution can be flawed, Lava 10 presents an intricate lattice of tastes rarely if ever found on typical Asian fusion menus. And for this alone it is worthy.