When the Oatley family approached Lennox Hastie, named best chef in this year’s delicious. 100, to transport his Sydney restaurant, Firedoor, to Hamilton Island for one night only, to launch the 35th annual Race Week, the chef was speechless. “I mean, I didn’t know how we would do this,” he exclaims, scratching his head.

Hastie is renowned for cooking everything over fire, and replicating this on qualia’s Pebble Beach, under a night sky, seemed impossible.

For starters, his kitchen in Sydney doesn’t use gas or electricity – just two woodfired ovens, three grills and a wood-burning hearth. Undaunted, Hastie’s grills were shipped from Sydney, two ovens bought (which qualia will use ongoing) and a fire-pit built on the beach. Hastie also uses special woods (ironbark, cherrywood and orangewood, if you’re wondering) from the Blue Mountains in NSW, which his supplier refused to put on a plane (any damage might affect flavour) and, instead, drove up in person.

To top it off, Hastie needed advice on the local produce – what to cook for guests when you always base a menu around the ingredient? Enter Matt Vickers, delicious. Produce Awards gold medallist and expert fisherman of Cape York wild barramundi. Vickers is based up north and is famous for fighting crocs for the wild-caught barra he supplies to the country’s top restaurants. He’s also responsible for ‘turning’ Peter Gilmore, who installed it on the menu at Quay immediately after tasting it.

Vickers took Hastie crabbing off the island, and the 30 kilos of Queensland mud crabs they caught were added as a last-minute entrée for dinner.

The pair puttered back to the dock on Vickers’ dinghy after several hours in the water, clearly elated with their catch. “You never know what you’re going to get,” Vickers laughs, somewhat nervously.

Even the barramundi is a daily gamble, so the night’s standout dish of whole barramundi with fennel, karkalla (pigface) and sea blight rested on the catch. Vickers regales guests with tales about the dangers of catching the fish wild, and entertains all with his claim as to why the fish is so unique. It’s not just the taste: “They’re hermaphrodites,” he explains.

And while the evening went without a hitch, it’s been a long road to recovery for the island since Cyclone Debbie demolished the Whitsundays in April 2017. “The refurbishment works at qualia took three months,” says Hamilton Island’s brand manager, Nicky Oatley. “The gardens had to be completely redone and pavilions rejuvenated, and we were able to open just before Race Week 2017.”

Fast-forward one year, and it’s hard to imagine the island so devastated. The weather is postcard perfect, the foliage green and lush, and the water crystal clear. Maxi yachts glide by as the races kick off. Race week is Australia’s largest regatta, and being on Hamilton Island in August is enormous fun – in fact, the festivities can overshadow the sailing itself. “Lennox is extremely talented,” says Oatley. “We knew that his elemental cooking would be spectacular at Pebble Beach.”

Indeed, Hastie’s brand of cooking is like theatre and the beach at qualia became his stage; his ethos one of cooking at its most primitive, and raw ingredients his inspiration. As the sun set, sparks shattered against the night, stars twinkled overhead and the water quietly lapped at the shore, drawing mesmerised guests like moths to the chef and his flames.

It seemed like Firedoor had always been a part of the surroundings, and Hamilton Island the phoenix rising from the ashes.

See here for Lennox Hastie’s beachside menu.