Scott Pickett is playing with fire. Taking over the ground and basement levels of the new United Places luxury boutique hotel, Matilda is the chef’s flame-, smoke- and coal-powered take on contemporary Australian dining.

That fire-fuelled open kitchen provides a dramatic entrance, while the dining room further back is masculinely opulent and comfortable – the tables are especially artful, the plump-cushioned banquette especially dreamy – and dark and moody at night.

Everything on the menu has been tickled with smoke and touched by flame, and highlights are many. Flinders Island lamb ribs are assertively smoked and salted and gnaw-the-bones great, while a signature dish of spanner crab dressed with crème fraiche and finger lime, served in its shell to spread on charred flatbread, is a bit of DIY dinner fun.

Whole tiger flathead is deftly cooked over coals, its bright sauce of smoked mussels adding rich depth, while name-checked steaks including a wattleseed-crusted wagyu bavette are treated with equal skill and respect.

One of the city’s best octopus dishes – sea-salty, tender and textural with macadamia slivers – is reason enough to visit, but the toffee-sticky pink lady apple tarte Tatin to finish has just as many fans.

The wine list features a lovely selection of interest across all budgets and service is keen, the enjoyably accessible offering appealing to a broad cross-section of town.

A warm wonderland of flickering flames, Matilda is hot stuff. Thank you for smoking.

Must-eat dish: Flinders Island lamb ribs