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Just Open: Firedoor, Surry Hills

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Primal element: Oyster with seaweed and guanciale served on coals.
Primal element: Oyster with seaweed and guanciale served on coals.Supplied

"Fire can be very addictive," Lennox Hastie says. "It's a very primal element that's instinctively human."

Hastie is not a match-wielding pyromaniac but chef and co-owner of the hotly anticipated Surry Hills restaurant Firedoor, which opens on Wednesday, April 29. The new venture is a partnership between Hastie and the Fink Group, the third-generation family of restaurateurs also behind Quay, Otto, and the soon-to-be-relaunched Bennelong.

The chef has spent the last few years working as a consultant for Fink Group and has an impressive resume listing three-Michelin star French restaurants and Etxebarri, a small asador in the Spanish Basque Mountains that entered The World's 50 Best Restaurants list during Hastie's tenure.

Fire, wood and quality ingredients are the focus at Firedoor.
Fire, wood and quality ingredients are the focus at Firedoor.Supplied
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Similar to Etxebarri, Hastie will use wood as a central ingredient at Firedoor, cooking seasonally driven food over wood-coals "powered" entirely by fire, not gas or electricity.

"We're a very simple, straightforward restaurant," Hastie says. "The important points are the wood and the ingredients. They're our stars."

Hastie says the daily-changing menu won't be the red-meat affair normally associated with grill restaurants.

Aged rib-eye is on the menu at Firedoor.
Aged rib-eye is on the menu at Firedoor.Supplied

"I've had to develop really strong relationships with several suppliers. Essentially it will be a short menu based upon what is really good on the day," he says.

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Dishes are listed in ascending order of lightest to richest. Diners can expect grilled prawns, pippies with garlic shoots and chilli, 150-day aged beef-rib and oysters served on hot coals with seaweed and a sliver of cured pork cheek.

Hastie isn't using any old logs from the timber yard to cook with either.

"Different types of wood have their own unique characteristics," he says. "Where it has been grown, the type of tree, its age, how long it has been dried for, and how it reacts with fire - all of these come together to create different flavours and aromas that work with specific ingredients."

For example, he says the flavour of applewood is mildly smoky with hints of fruity sweetness and is great with poultry and shellfish. Meanwhile, chestnut wood has a nutty nuance that works with mushrooms and gnarly grape vines release a rich, robust aroma suited to red meat and game.

23-33 Mary Street, Surry Hills, 02 8204 0800, firedoor.com.au, dinner Tuesday-Saturday from 5:30pm, lunch Friday from 12pm.

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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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