King Street has a new dining destination, and a break from the monotony of Thai restaurants, with last week’s arrival of Spencer Guthrie.

The small 30-seater restaurant is the creation of Troy Spencer and Oliver Guthrie, who between them have done stints at La Sala, Lucio’s and L’Etoile. Knowing that they wanted to create an experience based around organic and sustainable produce, they headed for Newtown, where they felt the green envelope was already being pushed.

In just two months, they stripped bare an old Thai takeaway and gave it an overhaul that somehow manages to hint at both fine dining and recycling. The highly polished bar that serves to separate the kitchen from the dining room is made of timber from the Rozelle boatyard, while the tables once served as floorboards.

Everything on your plate has a similarly detailed provenance. Vegetables are 100% organically grown on a small plot in Sydney’s south. Meat comes from Feather and Bone and the Urban Food Market, where they can tell you everything down to the beasts’ names, and the seafood is all sustainable fish caught in Australian waters. Limiting themselves to truly seasonal produce gives the chefs a chance to flex their culinary muscles in creating elegant but affordable dishes. The menu will be changing every few days, highlights on our visit were chargrilled squid with smoked tomatoes and rice puffs and chicken duck liver parfait with fig, orange and brioche.

It’s BYO for the moment, but when the liquor licence gods smile upon them, expect a list of well-priced Australian wines from small producers and beers from the St Peters Brewery just down the road. You can’t get more local than that.

Where: 399 King Street, Newtown, 2042
Hours: Tue-Sun 6pm-9.30pm | Sat-Sun 12pm-2.30pm
Details: spencerguthrie.com