It’s been a year of change at Sydney’s premier plant-based restaurant, with head chef Sander Nooij buying the business from his former bosses at the Bentley Group in March. The chef works tirelessly to coax flavour from modest ingredients.

For a carrot skewer, he shaves, steams, cures, smokes, dries, pan-fries and blow-torches the vegetable, and serves it with sunflower cream and a chilli oil crunchy with fried garlic. The diversity of mushrooms is highlighted by fermenting shiitakes, pureeing buttons, pickling chestnut varieties and wilting black pearls in herb oil. Cavatelli is served on a luscious bank of Jerusalem artichokes and bathed in kombu and thyme consomme.

Meanwhile, collaboration is evident across the board, from sommelier Jean-Luc Prasopa-Plaizier’s wine program highlighting independent producers, to the bar drawing on the kitchen’s koji reserves to ferment a yuzushu with citrus-bright sake notes, but none of the booze. Clever stuff.

Good to know: Nooij describes Yellow’s food as “botanical cuisine”, much like Michelin-starred De Nieuwe Winkel does in The Netherlands.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.