THE TIMING COULDN’T HAVE BEEN BETTER. As Sydney eases into longer days and warmer nights, The Grill at The International has thrown open its windows to welcome the season with a menu that feels as alive as the sunlight pouring through its dining room. The announcement coincided with the dining spot maintaining their two Chef Hats at the 2025 Good Food Guide Awards.

And Executive Chef Joel Bickford’s new spring/summer offering is well worthy of the awarded toques. A celebration of produce, fire and flavour, an exploration of Australia’s coastal abundance seen through the lens of live-fire cooking.

Executive Chef Joel Bickford. Image: courtesy of The Grill

“The starting point for any menu change is seasonality, utilising the best produce of the particular season,” Bickford told Esquire earlier this week. “Spring in Australia is a time that really showcases the best that our country has to offer, delicious greens such as asparagus and broad beans, beautiful heirloom tomatoes and amazing stone fruit, cherries, peaches and nectarines.”

At The Grill, flame is both tool and theatre. Bickford and his team employ multiple methods of cooking over coals to coax out nuance and texture. “Finding that balance is key to getting the best out of our ingredients,” he says. “We use multiple methods of cooking with live fire and coals to ensure we really allow the produce to shine . . . our large wood-fire grill for bigger cuts, our coal-fired Josper oven which runs at 350–400 degrees, perfect for whole fish and some of our vegetable dishes. And finally our hibachi grill, which allows us to cook at a high heat closer to the coals for some of those more delicate fish and shellfish moments.”

The result is a menu that reads like an ode to contrast: refined yet playful, smoky yet bright. Dishes such as coral trout with saffron, preserved cumquat and fennel capture the season’s vibrancy. “The coral trout’s succulent and rich white flesh pairs beautifully with the acid from the pickled cumquats and the freshness and crunch of the fennel,” Bickford says. “Keeping the dishes light was important for us during this season as the weather warms up.”

While The Grill is internationally recognised for its mastery of steaks – in addition to its two recent Hats it also ranked number 14 on the World’s Best Steak Restaurants list – Bickford is equally intent on pushing vegetables and seafood to the fore. “Championing vegetables is something that we have always been very proud of in our venues,” he says. “Cooking of live fire and coals is perfect for so much of the amazing produce we have at our fingertips and with our guests being more and more conscious of their eating habits, it’s important to us to ensure we offer a balanced and considered vegetable offering.”

Plates like coal-fired corn with hemp-seed miso and black tomatoes with basil and white balsamic sit confidently alongside John Dory with vermouth or a whole Hawkesbury calamari served in its ink with Calabrian chilli. The new menu is designed to evolve throughout the season. “Mother Nature doesn’t always keep a calendar handy,” Bickford laughs. “Being flexible and fluid is key to ensuring we always have something exciting and different for the guest to return to. Daily specials and showcasing new products is integral in the evolution of any restaurant.”

That sense of fun extends to the sea urchin crumpet with mascarpone and caviar, already shaping up to be a signature. “Ultimately, people go out to have a good time and enjoy themselves – food should be fun,” he says. “The combination of familiarity and indulgence is a great pairing. Fine dining today is much more relaxed with more emphasis on the experiential.”

The drinks follow the same rhythm. “The food and beverage offer must go hand in hand,” Bickford notes. “They are both singing from the same ‘seasonal songbook’ and should tell the same story.” The result is a line-up of bright, citrus-driven spritzes and zesty highballs made for golden-hour lunches and unhurried dinners.

Beyond the menu itself, there’s a generosity to The Grill’s approach that feels emblematic of the season. “Generosity is all-encompassing, the spirit of the restaurant, its energy, its generosity in hospitality, service and approachability,” Bickford says. “Spring and summer are such social times of the year . . . we are creating menus and experiences that talk to this time of year, connection to season and occasion.”

Despite global acclaim, Bickford’s focus remains close to home. “We are fortunate to have an expansive coastline providing us with arguably the best seafood in the world,” he says. “Supporting and utilising what is on our doorstep really just makes sense . . . ensuring that we give our guests the best on offer whilst contributing to local fishermen and celebrating Australian [produce].”

It’s this mix of confidence and curiosity that defines The Grill’s new season. “There has been a huge shift in recent years with the way we dine having a greater social element to it than years past,” Bickford says. “People are more curious and want to try more things, they are more educated on what they are eating and there is a desire to understand provenance and ethics.”

At The Grill, that evolution comes alive in every detail: smoke curling from the open kitchen, sunlight glinting off a martini glass, and a menu that captures the essence of an Australian summer: vivid, generous and alive with flavour.

Hats off to the Chef.

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