Set in the highly lauded Halcyon House, the dining room is distractingly beautiful, while outside between pandanus trees you’ll catch shimmers of the Pacific Ocean. A deftly compiled and thoughtful drinks offering comprises a long gin menu beside an even longer wine list showing European bottles of substance and drops from gifted Australian producers. Reading more like a love letter to viticulture, the options are boundless.

Executive chef Jason Barratt’s menu is a palette of exciting flavours hinging on regionality and creativity. Now fully settled in the Northern Rivers, the ex-Attica alumni and one-time city slicker is one of Australia’s hottest chefs to keep an eye on.

Crumbed shiitake, with smoked cashew and flicks of crispy saltbush is an umami-driven and salivating way to start his four-course menu, followed up by precisely tender cappelletti with sour tomato and stracciatella. For mains, a fillet of perfectly cooked Hiromasa kingfish with sweet corn and dried prawn – the flavours blending and complementing each other flawlessly. And dessert is no afterthought: with a blueberry and white aspen tart beside Davidson plum ice cream a tangy way to conclude.

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