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On a cold night like this, it would make sense to stay at home. But no, I’m venturing out in the wind and rain – to pay good money for the right to cook my own dinner.

Astro, the latest offering from David Bae’s entrepreneurial Kolture group, is named for the poignant anime character Astro Boy, a robot created by the fictional Dr Tenma to replace his dead son.

It’s a barn of a place in one of the main avenues of the township of Barangaroo, and the interior has Nordic timber mixing it with electric pops of neon and rows of booths fringed with rippled glass.

Each table is dominated by a large, round, built-in brazier. It’s a bit squeezy for long legs, but that just adds to the communal feeling of cooking by fire. One click, and the round logs of binchotan charcoal at the base turn red-hot and faces glow as if sitting around a campfire.

The meats here are beautifully prepared. And beautifully cooked, if I say so myself.

Astro is a rebrand from the previous Korean barbecue concept Soot (which is moving to Double Bay), with more snacks and more accessible prices.

“I’ve always wanted to combine Japanese and Korean in a modern Asian grill,” says executive chef Jacob Lee, last seen tending the omakase at the group’s Kobo and even more exclusive (eight seats) Matkim.

City pop fills the air, a genre that runs from the Bee Gees to Michael Jackson and Miki Matsubara. The food has the same charged, but ultimately easy-going vibe, and it’s very easy to cover the table – apart from the brazier – with small, funky dishes.

Chawanmushi ($16) comes a-tremble, topped with salmon roe, crunchy corn kernels and burnt butter, and pork gyoza ($18 for six) are thin-skinned and porkily juicy, sauced with a tangy 𝄒nduja ponzu.

Young kitchen staff, headed by Nathan Cho, do a good job with the wagyu galbi tsukune skewer ($14), a juicy meatball-sausage that sits on a bed of curry mayo and flakes of shokupan (Japanese milk bread).

Salmon sashimi ($24) features generous cuts of New Zealand’s Ora King salmon ($24) in a mesmerising yuzu wasabi dressing, with a side of crunchy, moreish, stuffed baby cucumber kimchi (sobagi). It’s good with a glass of Lark Hill riesling ($14) or a wonderfully tart Heiwa Shuzo tsuru-ume yuzushu ($14), a yuzu-spiked sake.

At lunch, there’s an additional list of donburi (rice bowls), handy if you just want to belt something down in a hurry, with Asahi on tap ($13). Or drop in for a dude-y bulgogi sando ($16), the toasted shokupan barely holding multiple layers of finely sliced beef, oozing with too much (for this dude) truffle aioli.

Couples come in and hover over their personal grills, feeding each other. Influencers pose, beef in hand, for social posterity. Me, I’m doing the hard yards, unfurling beef short rib meat onto the red-hot grill and – well, not doing much, to be honest.

The meats here are beautifully prepared and the galbi ($38) is boned, trimmed, thickly scored, marinated with garlic and soy, and rolled into a round like a hay bale. You’re given scissors to portion the meat and you should add an order of ssamjang ($8) so you can dip into fermented soybean sauce and wrap it all in lettuce. It’s also good with koshihikari rice ($5) and eye-poppingly bright chilli-red cabbage kimchi ($6).

A note on the beef: this isn’t a macho contest to get the fattiest, highest marble score, but Australian wagyu beef from L’grow’s Darling Downs property, which is fed similarly to Korean hanwoo beef for a better flavour balance. I find it extremely soft and juicy but with real beef flavour that keeps on coming as you keep chewing. And beautifully cooked, if I say so myself.

Astro is an appealing offering, with its do-it-yourself barbecue and full-on flavours, and one that gets even more appealing as winter draws nigh. As Astro Boy would say, “Onward and upward.”