Cooking can be such a tricky thing to assess. If a dish or seasoning doesn't hit quite right, is it because of a mistake? Have shortcuts been made? Is training an issue? Or has a chef allowed their ego – the self-perceived greatness of their flawless ideas – to colour their judgment? These questions are simplifications; a restaurant is an exceedingly complex organism, and all kinds of things can work to help or harm the final product. As I said, figuring it out is often a tricky business.

On the other hand, there's that rare meal in which creativity, purity of vision and technical skill come together in a way that's magical, when you know you're eating exactly what the chef intended you to eat, with no compromises, and that thing is exceedingly delicious. Is it any wonder that often those meals are created in ways that avoid all the complexity of training and staff and menu substitutions?

This is most certainly the case with the new iteration of Fen in Port Fairy. The original Fen closed in this seaside town, about three-and-a-half hours' drive from Melbourne, in 2018, and this version delivers both more and less than its predecessor. 

More: a truly exceptional tasting menu that celebrates the beautiful seafood and produce of the region.

Less: no a la carte dining, no menu substitutions, no tables of more than four people and only one seating per night two nights a week.

Chef and co-owner Ryan Sessions stands solo behind a bar-like partition that separates the dining room and kitchen, making every single plate himself.

While the original Fen was in a larger, more traditional space, this iteration is behind a vintage white storefront on Port Fairy's main street. During the day, the front room serves as a wine and provisions shop. On the evenings that Fen operates as a restaurant, a hallway of curtains leads from the front door to the back dining room; follow this to enter the dark and slightly brooding realm of Sessions and his friendly floor staff, including co-owner Kirstyn Sessions. Settle in: it's going to be a long night.

The meal ($190 per person) begins with a procession of inventive snacks: fresh tuna wrapped in daikon and sprinkled with bottarga; a taco made of tangy Pyengana cheese and sprinkled with pine mushroom; scallop bathed in buttermilk and dill and topped with salmon roe; a mousse made from duck liver and crusted with native nuts. Each bite is a very distinct and perfectly calibrated amalgam of flavours. It's obvious that this menu has been thought through with great clarity.

Seafood really is the star of the show, from stunningly tender abalone with smoked eel to calamari with macadamia, finger lime and samphire. Some of Sessions' food basks in its simplicity, while other dishes are a study in how to deliver complexity without losing the essence of starring ingredients.

A dish of kangaroo tartare and sunchokes (Jerusalem artichoke) included oxtail, smoked egg and native fruits, and yet all of these elements supported the soft sweetness of the sunchoke and the tender meat.

The wine list is 100 per cent Australian and there's a wine pairing ($140) that, although well considered, is hardly a bargain: almost all the pairing options are available by the glass and you'd pay about the same (and get full glasses) if you simply ordered as you went.

The playlist is also 100 per cent Australian, a nice idea that gets a little more vexing when you're trying to sink into the pleasure of the food to Redgum's John Schumann lamenting, "God help me, I was only 19."

If there's any part of Sessions' vision that really strains, it might be in the sheer volume of food. I struggled to eat the final savoury course, a duo of lamb neck and loin with parsnip. This was followed by two desserts, a gorgeous cloud of mandarin and blood orange in various forms of soft sweet and crumble, and a dome of singed lemon myrtle marshmallow with Davidson plum. Even for the price, I probably would have preferred less food and perhaps a slightly shorter evening.

There was no question of continuing our night of revelry after the meal ended: we practically had to roll ourselves back down the street to our hotel. I'd probably make it back to Fen more hastily if the option for a truncated menu existed.

But it's a small quibble when faced with a vision such as the one Sessions is presenting. It's worth travelling for and splurging on, and about as pure as the ocean air that helped spawn it.

Vibe: Dark, intimate and slightly brooding.

Go-to dish: Abalone with smoked eel (part of the $190 tasting menu)

Drinks: Wine list that shows the breadth of Australia's industry, with options at many price points

Cost: $380 for two, excluding drinks

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine