“More than anything, I am driven by my love of ingredients and the natural way in which fire brings me closer to understanding an ingredient while unlocking and enhancing its true flavour.”

Marron cooked over nectarine wood with grilled finger lime and native herbs; grilled 200-day dry-aged rib of beef, cut to order, grilled over aromatic grapevines; and pipis cooked over apple-wood embers with lemon, olive oil, and young garlic.

With a daily changing menu fuelled entirely by flames and fallen hardwood, Firedoor is a carbon-neutral restaurant. And, while the backstreet Surry Hills restaurant is loved internationally (fans include The New York Times and Massimo Bottura), its outlook is incredibly local.

Lennox Hastie works with producers close to home, such as Epicurean Harvest, Farm First Organics, and Blackheath Firewood, and even the steak knives are forged locally.

Every element is thoughtfully used: vine shoots pruned at Pocket City Farms are given a second life, while the restaurant’s wood ashes are saved and given to a ceramicist to incorporate into Firedoor’s tableware.

The menu is famous for its steak aged for 200 days in its own fat, but Hastie also works just as thoughtfully with sustainable seafood and local vegetables.

“This is like no kitchen you’ve seen, and at the bench we’re ringside: it is primitive, raw, exciting, and delicious.” –John Lethlean, The Australian