There’s really not much more to say. Well, other than there are two types of people in this world: those that are yet to experience Ester and those that can’t wait to go back.

By placing produce ahead of ego and culinary craft, and delivering it in a drop-in wine bar way, Ester defines contemporary Australian dining. It reminds us why we go out to eat (for a good time!) while continually pushing the boundaries of what it means to comfortably dine and imbibe down under.

It’s a warm, almost raucous, room of rowdy diners, each relishing the culinary musings of chef Mat Lindsay, who uses fire to get the best out of the produce du jour with a mix of Asian and contemporary techniques.

Start with the formidable potato bread, kafir cream, roe and dashi jelly, a blood sausage sanga and a Sydney rock oyster gently popped open by the heat of the woodfired oven. Nori and burnt mandarin make great bedfellows for raw kingfish, king prawns wade in fermented shrimp butter decorated by fried capers.

Make sure you order the fish – sometimes red emperor or kingfish, often flathead and occasionally bass groper – with various cuts charred by fire on the bone and served with cracking condiments.

And while the leftover sourdough ice cream is as addictive as coffee, the mandarin sorbet with yuzu shu might be the most refreshing thing you’ll ever put in your piehole.

Must-eat dish: Roasted kingfish head, condiments