A feast is being composed on the banks of the Hawkesbury River. The produce has been assembled, the fires lit. The conductor lifts his baton – a metal poker – and draws it across the coals. Lennox Hastie, chef and co-owner of Australia’s singular, fire-only restaurant Firedoor, has realised his childhood dream: to become a conductor one day.

“People always ask me, ‘What did you want to be when you were a kid?’ Actually, when I was a little boy, the thing I wanted to be – and god knows why – was a conductor. And I feel like nowadays … that role’s fulfilled, because the ingredients are the star, and [I’m] just there orchestrating it.”