Circa 2016 is a lesson in edgy dining with maximum comfort.

After Ash Hicks’ exit earlier in the year, sous chef Rhys Blackley has stepped up with impressive, assured cooking, either a la carte or as five-or-eight-course degustation with matched wines.

Succulent spanner crab is double teamed with freshness from blood orange as well as stinging-nettle veloute, its vivid-green lushness poured at the table, while kingfish sashimi enters another dimension, thanks to feisty pops of padron peppers and prawn remoulade.

You’ll also find squeaky fresh scallops artfully arranged with slices of wagyu chorizo and Flinders Island lamb in beautifully cooked (and rested) loin, belly and sweetbread.

The yuzu posset is the ultimate finisher — a wafer-thin tuile the middle man for a creamy, cool custard citrus-tinged with ponzu below, with dried raspberries and meringue like a bejewelled hat above.

The Art Deco dining room in the Prince of Wales Hotel is chic and understated and staff are well-versed, attentive and proud to be there. Drink wines from all over the world.

Must east dish: yuzu posset