You've got to hand it to Steve Liebeskind; not only did he devise his main dish without cookbook input, but, with a little help from Paul Irwin on the day, he put it on the plate (or in the bowl) and presented a wonderful amalgam of taste and texture which had 'em in the aisles. That's real chutzpah, in the nicest sense of the word.

Before hand, we saw a diverse set of canapes: some beaut chicken liver pate on thin toasts; a flavoursome pate made on smoked eel, served on pumpernickel; and a mushroom duxelle, which turned out to be made from the solid ingredients for the main course broth, on toasts with a St Andrews Cross of julienned fennel (the black colour a tasteful obituary for Scotland). Washing it down was a very good 2008 Stoney Rise from the Tamar Valley in Tasmania, showing an uplifted nose and intense, if slightly broad, fruit with enough acid to balance.

Then came the piece de resistance: atlantic salmon cutlets with skin on were steeped in a brine solution before being lightly smoked, the skin given a last-minute crisp on the hotplate, and served in a broth made only from mushrooms and a bit of garlic and ginger, dark tan in colour and with a few swiss brown and enoki mushrooms floating about, and a cap of crossed steamed asparagus spears. Simple in concept and near perfect in execution, the fish was done just so and added complexity to the already intensely flavoured broth (spoons were thoughtfully provided). It was a definite candidate for a COTY or Chris Alexiou award and was well matched with at least the first of the accompanying wines, a 2010 Bramito chardonnay from the Umbria region of Italy showing restrained fruit with a good acid length balanced by a lick of sweetness. The other wine was a 2009 Palliser Estate pinot noir from Marlborough NZ, with definite pinot characters, at this stage a bit strong for the delicacy of the food, although it will improve with more age.

The quality continued with the cheese, a surface-ripened soft cows' milk production from the Rhone-Alpes region of France called Le Dauphin. Mousse-like softness and delicious mild creaminess made it an instant favourite, coupled with a green salad featuring strips of roasted red capsicum and a rather sweet dressing made on caramellised balsamic vinegar. The wines were again a mix of white and red: a 2003 Wolf Blass mature release chardonnay from Adelaide Hills showed wonderful tropical fruit balanced by evident wood and a long finish; while a 2005 Taylors Jaraman cabernet from Clare was a knockout hot climate cabernet with tonnes of fruit and good acid/tannins to restrain it – again maybe a bit overwhelming for the cheese. A clear win on the day for the whites – perhaps we could see them more often.

Even the coffee kept up the pace: a rich chocolatey medium roast bean from the cool-climate Cauca region of Colombia which was a bit heavy-handed with quantities in the plunger, but still pleased and concluded a meal of distinction