Don't miss the namesake dish at Redfern's swish new Chinese restaurant Redbird

Poor old warm lettuce. It's a bloody hard sell. Two words that have no business being next to each other, like "discount tuna" and "espresso martini". But in the hands of a skilled chef, cooked lettuce can be sublime, especially when it's stir-fried iceberg punching with sesame oil and Shaoxing wine. Hamish Ingham, welcome back to the wok.

Ingham honed his wok technique under Kylie Kwong in the early 2000s, balancing sour, sweet and salty as head chef at Billy Kwong. In 2010, he cut the ribbon on Surry Hills' pioneering Bar H with partner Rebecca Lines (a "very Melbourne" wine bar, according to the reviews of the day) and the couple has launched several more concepts since.

Redbird opened in late November and the Australian-Chinese restaurant might be their best job to date. Lines manages a well-drilled floor team and recommends spice-friendly rieslings, while Ingham works with intent in the kitchen, clanging ladles and coddling a master stock that whirls with orange zest, dark soy and star anise. All the good stuff.

That stock is used to enhance the headlining red-braised bird, which is set to change every two weeks: pigeon, cockerel or jurassic quail, perhaps, or a half chicken with a gnarly foot to nibble on.

On my recent visits, it was an exceedingly tasty duck ($48), all lacquered breast and burnished leg, its fat punctured by tiles of white nectarine. Another glass, please and thank you, of the elegant Murdoch Hill 2019 Syrah ($15).

One couple could leave happy after sharing a bird, the warm lettuce ($19.50, but it's teamed with thick wheels of cucumber and black fungus), some steamed rice ($5 per person, which does seem a bit steep), and a bowl of submissive Sichuan-braised eggplant that you'd get properly lost in if it were winter ($18.50 and a bargain). 

But Ingham pitching Redbird as a "local Chinese restaurant" is like saying Sydney Modern is "a few walls to hang pictures on". Sure, you can pop in for the low-key lunch I've just described, but there's also kangaroo tartare to heap on crisp wonton skins ($27.50), kingfish sashimi precisely seasoned with smoked soy and mandarin oil ($28) and a five-spice tofu salad buzzing with Sichuan pepper and sesame-fuelled "bang bang" dressing ($18.50).

My plan for a modest evening is quickly thwarted by a special of XO fried rice with gems of lap cheong sausage and meaty flecks of lobster ($60 and no regrets). 

The well-buffed dining room encourages fancy ordering, too. Local firm Luchetti Krelle is behind the design, which is big on exposed brick, brooding timbers, terrazzo and rattan. Notice the vivid abstract by Sydney-based artist Jonny Niesche pulsing over the lazy susan (actually, it's hard not to). 

It's a space that works for date nights as well as a rally-the-troops outing for the whole family. "It doesn't matter if there are loud kids on the street-side tables," half-jokes our waiter. "It's Redfern: someone's bound to walk past who's louder." Indeed. Although the suburb has become a magnet for developers and young restaurateurs, there's still an anything-can-happen edge to the main streets, which I hope sticks around.

The menu also features several options that are fun for anyone between the ages of eight and 108.

First up are sizable pucks of sesame-spangled prawn toast freshened with ginger and coriander ($8 each).

Pork and scallop wontons are fat and juicy ($18 for three), their ruffled bellies slick with lip-tingling chilli oil, and there's stir-fried chicken with pickles ($32.50) and caramelised pork belly ($34.50) – because you've got to have stir-fried chicken and sticky pork belly, right?

I've yet to experience a dud dish, although wok-charred beef boosted with black pepper ($65) doesn't hit the same flavour-thumping heights as the signature bird, say, or a gelatinous fillet of Murray cod classically steamed with ginger and shallots ($49). Regardless, it's a perfectly fine option if you're honking for red meat.

This is invigorating cooking built on comforting flavours, with just the right amount of flair to keep 'em coming back. I'm still thinking about a beautifully bittersweet jasmine custard creme caramel ($13.50) as much as I'm wondering what the strawberry and Sichuan sorbet ($15) might have tasted like. More sweets for next time then, provided I can get a table.

Redbird is the kind of smart, all-purpose package Sydneysiders will flock to, especially the ones fed up with soaring prices and Euro-pomp in the CBD. Now is the summer of our wok-fried lettuce, shared birds and lap cheong.

Vibe: Swish, all-purpose suburban Chinese

Go-to dish: Red-braised bird (market price)

Drinks: Excellent cocktails and exciting wines, many natural, organic and agreeably priced

Cost: About $160 for two, excluding drinks

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine