Tasting menus might relieve the agony of choice, but they can be the culinary equivalent of water torture, too. Drip by drip, hour by hour. By the time you get to the petits fours you’re wondering how the hell to get back the last five hours of your life.

A few years ago, though, Automata opened our eyes to an affordable, five-course tasting experience that brought energy to a fatigued format. Now Arthur, a new smart-casual restaurant in Surry Hills owned by chef Tristan Rosier (late of Farmhouse and Dead Ringer) and partner Rebecca Fanning, has also sparked new life into the tasting menu ideal. At $70, it’s incredible value and generous. And the food – a little bit homely, a little refined – is an absolute joy.

My favourite part of Arthur, perhaps, is its calm, warm atmosphere. Set in a beautiful Victorian building in leafy Bourke Street, the slender space has a central marble-topped bar flanked by wooden tables and bentwood chairs. It’s a bit elbow to elbow – a cosy, jovial experience that’s damned inspiring, as is the produce-driven, deftly plated dishes from Rosier.

Each course arrives as two dishes to share, blurring the tasting menu ethos. Rich twice-cooked lamb belly with blistered shishito peppers, for instance, has a sidekick of green beans, cucumber and leeks with verjuice, while the skinseared bonito, arriving with a burrata dish, epitomises the chef’s finesse and bravery in partnering ingredients that are not normally bedfellows. Lined up next to sweet slices of plum and sorrel, the clean raw flesh and smoky charred skin are accented by a drizzle of wagyu fat. Stunning.

When it comes to dessert, lemon granita with kaffir lime cream and meringue makes a refreshing finale.

Arthur might be a glimpse of where Australian restaurants are headed and that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.