Hunter & Barrel to bring campfire cooking to Cockle Bay

With Jared Ingersoll overseeing its campfire cooking and its interior set to rock a "sexy" hunter's cabin vibe, glamping will be reinvented in restaurant form when Hunter & Barrel opens at Cockle Bay in October.

Sliding into the site where Chinta Ria – and its giant Buddha – previously captured the attention of the Sydney dining public, Hunter & Barrel has pretty big designer hiking boots to fill. Melbourne outfit ODO appears up for the challenge.

"There will be big rocks, not fake ones, they are real boulders. We aren't going into Game of Thrones territory, it'll have a sexy camping, hunter's cabin feel," says Bradley Michael, CEO of Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group, which owns Hunter & Barrel.

The theme will carry over to the food, which will be cooked over charcoal and wood. Michael says Ingersoll, formerly of Danks Street Depot, will oversee the kitchen as executive chef, while his long-time deputy Simon Van Twillert joins as head chef.

The draft menu looks just the ticket after a long hike from a taxi, with venison skewers, "whole campfire salmon" and goat and onion stew all set to star.