Berowra Waters Inn

A visit to Berowra Waters Inn retains a sense of pilgrimage, even for locals in this most northern reach of Sydney. There’s no land access: the Glenn Murcutt-designed building perches between cliffs and the Hawkesbury, meaning you arrive by seaplane or yacht or, more usually, on the restaurant’s own launch, which picks you up at the public wharves. The magic continues as you settle at a table in what is perhaps one of the most appealing dining rooms in the country. Here, over a progression of small dishes, barramundi regains its grandeur, the flavour of wild-caught fillet inexplicably accentuated by crisp oxtail-filled pastries and a French onion soup purée. Lamb shank is made elegant, wrapped in a dumpling enriched with bone marrow and cut with a tapenade jus. Wine and service are smart and fresh, while desserts – classic floating islands of meringue, say – close proceedings with an old-school flourish.