Up a gravel path and inside an ivy-clad country hotel overlooking a green grove of established trees in the Southern Highlands, an earthy and elegant space is filled with the happy, boisterous sound of people having a good time, and the air is rich with the scent of fire-kissed food. This is not a scene from a Disney Christmas special, this is Bistro Officina in Bowral.

Chicken skin, crispy as a shard of tree bark, is topped with sour cream and a sliver of black truffle as a snack. This is cooking without the rules, finding elegance in the perfect produce touched only by wood smoke, fire and charcoal embers. Western Australian marron is halved, cooked over coals, and topped with beach plant and caramelised mandarin. Pasta is pitch perfect, too – stand out is the orecchiette laced with calamari ink, chilli and sea urchin.

A must-eat is anything touched by fire. Try the 120-day dry-aged Rangers Valley rib-eye: charred, rare and accompanying a light leafy salad. Produce – meat from Vic’s Meats, vegetables from Living Earth Farm, Fish from Southern Fresh Seafoods – is allowed to stand proudly here. It’s nostalgic food, but it’s modern, too. Wagyu tartare is topped with a puddle of warm béarnaise, while a charred fish tail, a leftover in a less-considered restaurant, is plated like a covetable luxury, which it is.

Desserts run with the luxury baton, too. Sourdough ice cream comes with peanuts and caramelised banana, hay-smoked cream is given a sprinkle of sugar and bruleed like a fireside marshmallow for adults.

Italian-born Nicola Coccia has handled the pans at Otto, Quay, Ormeggio, QT, and more recently, Biota Dining, but his food now is more gutsy than ever before. He has taken his learnings and run with his own character, a fascination with the elements and the superb bounty at his doorstep, securing Bowral and the Southern Highland’s place on any discerning foodie’s roadmap.

Must eat dish: Anything wood fired
Instagram: @bistroofficina