How much would you pay for a window table with a view of Sydney Opera House, tall ships, and Circular Quay criss-crossed by bustling ferries. Twenty bucks?

SOLD, to the young couple celebrating a birthday. SOLD, to the family visiting from Melbourne. SOLD to the American couple drinking dry martinis.

At the Park Hyatt's luxurious new dining room, you can ensure your window status for $20 per person at the time of reservation. Personally, I'm not sold on the idea of putting a surcharge on premium restaurant seats, but the reality is that theatre and concert promoters have been doing this forever.

The harbour-hugging room itself exudes a quiet sense of opulence, with its sandstone walls, Indigenous art, plush banquettes, widely spaced tables and heavy, upholstered dining chairs, under just the right amount of golden light.

But I haven't even mentioned the real reason I'm here: James Viles, whom many will remember from his two-hatted Biota in Bowral.

As the new culinary director, he's been slowly overhauling the food offerings of the Park Hyatt, placing wattleseed pralines on pillows and installing head chef Brian O'Flaherty of next-door-neighbour, Quay, in the Dining Room kitchen.

Viles has long heroed the coastal and regional foods of Australia, and the menu reads like a considered, polished expression of Australian cuisine.

Curried Jervis Bay mussel palmier. Raw coral trout with tomato, Shima wasabi and pickled nasturtium. Murray cod chop, cooked over coals. Chilli mud crab and native XO sauce.

The first thing to hit the table is a small cup of chilled blue gum tea, tasting vaguely medicinal with its distinctive, cleansing twang of eucalypt.

Play in the snacky shallows with a fermented pea bhaji for $6 that's like savoury jalebi, and a well-crafted "spent salami scotch egg" ($5.50), the meaty farce made from charcuterie offcuts, enclosing a soft-yolked quail egg.

"Caprinelle + sheet pasta + poor man's orange + broad beans" ($48) sees folds of pasta coated in rich, verdant pesto-like greenery on a daub of goat cheese, dotted with tiny nasturtium leaves.

"Artichoke + potato caesar + stretched curds + golden endive" is a bridal-white dish that needs more oomph. The straightforwardness of a simple board of finely shaved Iberian paleta (cured shoulder ham) with truffled crisps and a little bottle of hot sauce ($18) is welcome.

Viles calls his cooking "rugged but refined", an apt description of the Barnsley lamb chop ($85 to share), the double-chop cut from across the saddle to form two scrolls like the top of an Ionic column.

I think it's a marvel; equal parts challenging and rewarding. And they're onto a winner with the Wildes Meadow potatoes ($16), cooked in whey, crisped in chicken fat, and sent out with a crunchy, punchy shower of chicken skin.

Reminiscent of Gilmore's pork jowl at Quay, a cube of kurobuta pork belly from the Northern Rivers is braised in a sticky sweet and sour sauce of cherry vinegar and Malfroy's honey ($58), ringed with black fungus, karkalla sprigs, green almonds and garlic flowers. A Mount Adam chardonnay from South Australia's Eden Valley ($18), rich and vibrant, gives cut-through.

Floor service is well-judged under restaurant manager Ruaridh​ (Rory) Macdonald (Woodcut and Mimi's), and head sommelier Erick Tuesta.

The deconstructed and tropical desserts from pastry chef Shiyoon Lee​ include a pretty "raspberry ripe + coconut ripple" ($18), combining nitro-aerated Valrhona chocolate "cake", salted coconut sauce, and coconut sorbet.

It's a bit all over the place; an intriguing melding of Australian, Indian and British influences, with very little not to like – occasional long waits, racy menthol notes, and lip-sticking sauces. (Are they back? Do we want them back?)

And it's great to see one of Sydney's most prized dining sites – and James Viles – back in business.

Don't feel you have to pay the window surcharge, by the way. Sit where you're put and you'll still get a wonderfully framed view – including that of people who have paid $20 more than you have.

The low-down

Vibe Luxury hotel dining room (because that's what it is)

Go-to dish Young pork belly braised in sour and sweet sauce, $58

Drinks Signature cocktails and richly endowed wine list that's big on champagne and aged Australian classics.

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.