Preconceptions tend to play a role in how we approach new dining adventures. Hotel restaurants, you say? No, thanks. All those lone diners and paint-by-numbers offerings. But Gowings Bar & Grill, on the first floor of QT Sydney, bucks the stereotype and is a destination restaurant in its own right.

Before you reach the dining room you’re greeted by an after-work city crowd whetting the appetite at the bar from a deep list by sommelier Chris Morrison that blends Old and New World classics with up-and-coming labels.

The theatre of the open kitchen sets the scene in the large dining room, dressed with copper pendant lights hanging above wooden tables and tan banquettes flanked by beautifully restored window frames.

Chef Michael Box, supported by QT creative director Robert Marchetti, highlights the provenance of ingredients on a menu that pays homage to brasserie classics.

Savoury gold band snapper carpaccio is given a lively boost by a medley of pickled zucchini, capsicum and fennel fronds. Among the mains, whole grilled New Zealand flounder lolling in a puddle of lemon-garlic butter is a joy, the silky flesh slipping off the bones with ease. The schnitzel, a mainstay on the menu, is of the Holstein variety, the hefty cut of crumbed milk-fed veal topped with a fried egg and criss-crossed with Ortiz anchovies. If it’s steak you crave, Black Angus rib-eye minute steak is a star, smothered in anchovy butter and served with a sprightly watercress and horseradish salad. Partner it with a glass of delicate Unico Zelo Pipe Dreams Nero d’Avola and you’ll want for nothing.

The coconut vanilla cream beneath an orange and Campari granita brings the finale together nicely.

Gowings Bar & Grill captures the attitude of how we like to eat – it has read diners’ desires and has responded in spades.