Dining Review | The Wood Restaurant at Brokenwood winery

If you were asked to name the chefs who have contributed to making the Hunter Valley the foodie destination it is today, Andy Wright's name would be right up there.

Joining Robert Molines at Roberts at Peppertree in 1997, he followed that with a move to The Cellar in 2001 as executive chef. In 2009 he and his wife, Janet, added The Olive Tree restaurant and function centre at Wyndham Estate's Dalwood winery to their workload, remaining there until 2014.

So, it should come as no surprise that, energetic as ever, he and Janet were willing to open The Wood, while still running The Cellar until it's sold.

Andy isn't in the kitchen at The Wood today. It's a mark of a good executive chef when his or her staff can faithfully interpret and deliver their menu when they aren't there. It's my job to find out how successfully this is carried out.

The menu follows a classic structure; nibbles, entrees, mains, salads, sides and desserts, with an emphasis on locally sourced seafood and fish. But, there's also a selection of poultry, red meat and vegetarian dishes. Something for everyone.

Creamy centred, crisp coated salt cod fritters, ready to dip into tarragon mayo, make for a satisfying nibble to get the juices flowing.

An entree of whisky cured salmon, scattered with sparkling fresh raw razor back prawns, horseradish yogurt, pickled shimeji mushrooms and tiny pickled Mexican cucumbers is a triumph of bright, clean flavours.

As is the market fish (choose blue eye or barramundi), bathing in an Asian inspired broth which is flavoured with soy, ginger, garlic and shiitake mushrooms.

200g Wagyu 4+ sirloin with hand cut chips, Café de Paris butter and jus is a French bistro staple on steroids. The steak is pinkly rare as ordered and well rested. Six hand cut chips, stacked in a grid (Pont Neuf potatoes in chef speak), measure a whopping 2 x 2 x 4 cm each, and are deliciously crunchy on the outside with a floury interior.

Maybe not a good choice for a day in the high 30s, but eight-hour slow-cooked Great Southern lamb shoulder melts in the mouth and explodes with umami flavour and sticky, gelatinous juices. I remember this from The Olive Tree as one of Andy's signature dishes. Here it's served with roast kumara and pickled shallots. A side of grain and seed salad needs a little salt, but almonds, pumpkin seeds and puffed barley provide plenty of textural contrast.

There are just three desserts; one, char-grilled pineapple and coconut sorbet is a tribute to summer. Pepper has a strange ability to transform a fruit flavour to a higher plane and is often used on strawberries. Here, Aleppo pepper, a moderately hot Middle Eastern chilli spice successfully enhances the already fruity pineapple.

Service is attentive and efficient without being overly familiar; in a word, professional. And the food's pretty fine as well

I can't see that Andy has any problem with leaving The Wood in the capable hands of his team while he is sometimes at The Cellar.