That’s the word from Blake Drinkwater, head chef at newly opened Charlick’s restaurant on Vardon Ave.

“The dishes will make you go wow – that’s pretty cool,” adds Blake, who has come from Jock Zonfrillo’s Orana and Noma in Copenhagen to head up the Charlick’s team.

Charlick’s used to be part of Rundle St’s Stag Hotel, but after a takeover by the owners of nearby bar NOLA the space was divided into cosy pub the Stag Public House and restaurant Charlick’s – with entry to Charlick’s via Vardon Ave.

And the two spaces couldn’t be more different.

While the Stag is all timber panelling, Charlick’s is a Claire Kneebone-designed terracotta and cinnabar-hued space with a mix of leather-topped stools, Shaker-style chairs and big farmhouse tables with wrought-iron legs.

“We’re going for casual fine dining,” says manager Jack Booker (ex NOLA, Hispanic Mechanic).

“The look says family kitchen dinner table. Big eight-person tables where you can sit and have a bit of banter – everything is thrown in the middle to share, the music might be slightly louder and the drinks are interesting,” adds co-owner Oliver Brown (who with NOLA’s Joshua Talbot will run both the Stag and Charlick’s).

“Blake was previously at Orana, at Noma in Copenhagen, at Attica in Melbourne – quite a good pedigree,’ says Oliver, “so it’s like having dinner at your mate’s house, except your mate just happens to have worked as a chef in some of the world’s best restaurants.”

As you would expect of a place named after William Charlick – the man who gave us the East End Market – the menu and the wines celebrate local produce. Indeed, some of what you’ll find on your plate is grown in the home garden of chef Blake.

“We also forage at the beach, the hills,” Blake says. “The hills for mushrooms, the beach for succulents. In the morning before work we’ll pick up some beach mustard, some soursobs, flowers, that sort of stuff.”

Blake’s pick of the menu (which notably doesn’t include a steak) is the duck egg ravioli – one big fat ravioli with duck egg at the centre of it, topped with smoked burnt butter and sage.

“We’re doing a limited amount per service because we make fresh pasta every day and we can’t keep it overnight. So if there are 20 people booked we’ll make 10. So that’ll be the one to get in early for – and it seems to be everyone’s favourite so far.”

But don’t keep it to yourself – this is modern Australian cuisine designed to put in the middle of the table. As Oliver says, “We feel like people are missing out if they have one dish to themselves.”