Thanks to head chef Jason Saxby, Raes Dining Room is a culinary destination in its own right. Top-notch Northern Rivers produce and native ingredients are the foundation, and while many of Saxby’s dishes take inspiration from fun and nostalgia, this is serious food.

A choice of three-course or tasting menus makes for stress-free ordering but go off-piste in the snack department for the Cornetto: a miniature wafer filled with smoked baccala mousse, caviar medley, finger lime and chives. Pasta dishes are a triumph in technique, flavour and presentation, like the sweet corn-filled pasta with spanner crab, garum butter, yolk jam, desert lime and chive oil.

Beauty and substance reign in desserts. Cheese Pizza is a playful take on a cheese board with a crispbread topped with Ophir Glen cheese, pane carasau, native berry jam, quandong and mountain pepper. The Raecher is a decadent take on Ferrero Rocher with gianduja semifreddo and a cocoa nib and hazelnut praline, covered in dark chocolate and gold leaf. 

To read our full list of reviews for NSW, head here.