Danielle Alvarez stands in the kitchen of her new restaurant, Fred’s, dressed in white, a study in serenity amid the bustle. She watches as racks of lamb are strung up to cook over wood, as vegetables are sliced, as wedges of coral trout are taken out of the wood to be unwrapped from fig leaves. All about, diners sit at tables so close to the kitchen they could get up and do the cooking themselves if they desired.

Before she opened Fred’s, the American-born Alvarez, who waited more than two years for this project to come to fruition, said there would be no restaurant in the world like Fred’s. She may well be right. Here, in this Paddington location, she has created something so unique and so personal, you’d be hard pressed to find its match anywhere else again.

Of course, Alvarez (ex chez-Panisse, California) has the enormous advantage of being backed by hospitality group Merivale, whose brother-and-sister team of Justin and Bettina Hemmes have sunk their collective talents (and cash) into creating what is surely one of the most beautiful rooms in Sydney. Decorated in shades of cream and grey, it’s soft, luscious, tenderly lit, comfortable — so comfortable — quietly sophisticated, almost gauzy in its loveliness.

There are cream-painted bricks, a wall of vintage cutting boards, wooden benchtops, salad bowls laden with glistening produce. If you had the money, you’d build your house just like this.

Unusually, this is a kitchen dominated by women, including of course the head chef. Does that make a difference? I think it does, in that the bravado and arrogance so obvious in macho cookery is entirely absent here. Rather, Alvarez’s food is gently gorgeous rather than flashily gorgeous. For her the cooking is all about humbly presenting lovingly sourced ingredients, done simply and well.

This is a menu of salad, seafood and, yes, meat and three veg. It’s expensive. Very expensive. I can already hear the cries that for food this apparently simple, the prices — up to $28 for smallish entrees and $46 for mains — are too high.

But the eating. The eating is the thing. Wild kingfish crudo ($24) is a rustic, unfussed dish of scattered fish with smoked roe, baby radish and nasturtiums, topped by some rather American battered onion rings for texture. It’s quietly good.

Slightly oversalted is an otherwise heavenly dish of baby artichokes ($20) with cipollini onions and kombu oil, while ridiculously seasonal is a smallish plate of silky triangoli pasta with asparagus, parmigiano and pistachio. A $46 wedge of coral trout in fig leaf comest to life via a heady sorrel beurre blanc, while the most satisfying eating is a dish of Moorlands lamb, a single, juicy cutlet seared on coals, and leg prepared “a la ficelle” (strung up and cooked over radiant heat) with spring vegetables — broadbeans, artichoke, gem lettuce. Excellent.

The wine list of Merivale group sommelier Franck Moreau is lovely, and if there have been complaints so far about erratic service, I presume this will be ironed out.

Fred’s is an interesting companion piece to nearby The Paddington pub and comes with its own basement bar, Charlie Parker’s, with its heritage fitout and smoky feel. Together, they are a magnificent addition to Sydney dining. The wait has been worth it.