“We believe in celebrating the everyday through good food and wine in a relaxed atmosphere. Biodynamic vegetables are grown for us by Transition Farm, with heritage veges from Somerset, and milk from Saint David Dairy. Our Wapengo oysters are certified-organic amazingness.”

Wood-fired sourdough bread; Wapengo oysters; and Milawa chicken roasted in the wood oven.

By its own reckoning, Embla is a simple beast. The owners highlight the easy-going nature of their always-pumping “wine bar with food”, deliberately downplaying its exacting standards. Their bread is a rugged sourdough made in the wood oven before service each day, Wapengo oysters from New South Wales are served seconds after being shucked, and roasted free-range organic Milawa chicken is cooked to order with whole cloves of garlic in a cast-iron pan and served with a soul-satisfying bone jus and gremolata. “Nothing done to it”, says Chef Dave Verheul.

This produce-first mantra is behind fat slices of heirloom tomatoes on a thyme-driven ricotta and the simple (there’s that word again) dessert of a charred peach half with a wink of rosemary and brown butter ice cream.

Add an all-organic wine program that showcases the globe’s best newthinking wines and a clutch of relaxed, engaged staff, and Embla is one impressive package.