Ok Ester, we need to talk about the fermented potato bread, with caviar and kefir cream. It’s 100 per cent joy. A glorious mouthful of buttery, salty, earthy delight. Heaven. Unbeatable. Good grief. Whatever you do at Ester, just make sure you order the potato bread. And the blood sausage sanga. Oh, and don’t forget the burnt pav, too. Damn, we love Ester.

It’s everything about dining out that Australians love (free from all the fussiness of fine dining) and yet there really is no place quite like it. From the drop-in wine bar feel, to the affable yet informed service and drinks list that’s as brazen as it is accessible, to food often kissed by the natural heat of the wood-fired oven. Sit at the bar, in the bar, at the banquette or elbow-to-elbow in the tiny dining room and prepare for one of the best iterations of contemporary Australian.

Chef Mat Lindsay is one hell of a chef. Innately interested in placing emphasis on the produce de jour, he takes cues from Asia but considers each dish in light of the best technique to simply let the produce do the talking. And with a wood-fired oven at his disposal his food embodies a natural, uninhibited aspect too. It’s the new wave of Australian food and it’s bloody marvellous.

A sharp, sour and sweet citrus marmalade plays off nicely with a delicate chicken terrine. Thick slabs of cured bonito partner burnt mandarin segments and nori, while fermented shrimp butter delivers a deep caramel dairy bliss to split and grilled king prawns. Mint and almonds complete a whole cauliflower that’s roasted near the flames until charred on the outside and collapsible on the inner. Then fillets of Spanish mackerel are charred over coals, lathered in bonito and accompanied with shaved fennel.

Must-eat dish: Blood sausage sanga
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