Not every restaurant can sit on Bondi Beach, but more restaurants should be like Sean’s Panaroma. Chef Sean Moran takes seasonal, local produce to the next level with unfussy dishes that make people happy. He’s not showing off, he’s making delicious food. And looking up from the plate, this could be one of the loveliest dining rooms in Sydney. An eclectic assortment of paintings hang on the white painted walls and a chalkboard menu is decorated with empty mussel shells. Scallop shells adorn one hanging light. It would be twee except it’s so light and airy, so sophisticated in every other sense. And since a visit to Sean’s starts and ends with some of the most polite, elegant and yet relaxed service in the state, everyone’s mood in the place is lifted. “I just love it here,” an adjoining table sighs. “It’s so bloody beautiful.”

Esperance skipjack trevally tartare comes in small cubes, pops of finger lime and fresh horseradish giving it a bit of tart and peppery kick without overpowering. Borlotti bean ravioli is cleverly shaped into long broad beans, with Pecora ewe’s milk cheese shaved on top, though we couldn’t find the stinging nettles promised on the board. When the Bilpin grass-fed beef arrives it is hard not to feel smug. This is the kind of generous, delicious, homely yet technically perfect dish we all want to eat, but no restaurant seems to serve. A billowing Yorkshire pudding is half-filled with gravy and the beef is tender and rich. Desserts are knockouts, too. A cheese plate includes La Luna by Holy Goat, Maffra cloth-bound cheddar, and a Mawson blue by Udder Delights. Quince and ginger pudding comes with a puddle of walnut custard, it’s a perfect final note to a meal that everyone is wishing would never end.