And in Australia, no one does it better than Lennox Hastie. Even before an appearance on Netflix’s Chef’s Table made scoring a table here a competitive sport, Firedoor had become renowned for fire-fuelled cooking of unexpected delicacy.

In the open kitchen that forms the smouldering heart of the venue, Hastie calmly supervises the wood-fired grills, occasionally taking an elbow to chat to guests at the coveted bar seats. 

Despite being #3 in the 2022 World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants, red meat forms a fraction of Hastie’s daily five-course menu. Sydney rock oysters with a pearl of desert lime nestle on smoking juniper. Kipfler potatoes cradle cheesy, mustard-infused egg yolks. Slithers of rare, wild-shot roo are entangled with Davidson plum, dotted with crispy saltbush. Of course, the steak special is downright special – wagyu chuck eye from Mudgee sliced to reveal a blushing pink.Theatrical plating meets premium produce such as Bundarra pork or linecaught coral trout. 

Even the Old Fashioned arrives with a glass upturned over charred grapevine bark. From flame to plate, there’s nowhere to hide in Hastie’s kitchen. It’s dinner theatre acted out by a team firing on all cylinders. 

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