“Elegant, innovative, energetic”. That’s the Woodland House mantra and after four years in the gracious Victorian mansion that once housed Jacques Reymond, chefs Hayden McFarland and Thomas Woods are busy turning words into action.

Their set-course menus – concise ($135) and extended ($165), with or without wine – are finely wrought. Founded on clever ideas, crafted from superior ingredients and artfully plated.

A winter degustation at Woodland House begins with beautiful bread and smart snacks (mussel and foie gras, scampi and saltbush). After that, McFarland and Woods send out dishes that bend nature to their will: a medley of pickled spanner crab, miso and rapeseed oil; ruby-red venison ornamented with pickled quince and juniper; and a chestnut ice cream dessert heightened with honey and celeriac. Best of all is the pressed suckling pig on slow-baked cabbage and sorrel with a fine ticket of crackling.

The service here is sturdy, the cellar long and deep. Woodland House would be even better if the kitchen was visible and the dining room – a rather bland ensemble of abstract art – capitalised on the name, which suggests forests and foraging.

Must eat-dish: Suckling pig, slow-baked cabbage, sorrel, black garlic