It’s a hat! New venue brings big-night-out fireworks to Margaret River

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The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977, Wikipedia tells me. I don’t know much about punk, so I’ll take Wiki’s word for it.

De’sendent, on the other hand, I know something about. I have for some time been tracking the movements of the soignee dining room that opened in Margaret River at the end of January. All the way back to when De’sendent’s owners Evan Hayter and Ann Spencer operated influential, off-grid Yallingup farm-to-table restaurant, Arimia.

But whereas Arimia was a sea changer’s fantasy serving lunch among the gum trees, De’sendent takes things in a more urban and urbane direction. The bushland is replaced with the surrounds of Bussell Highway and as reassuring and Country Living as Arimia’s timber digs were, De’sendent’s moody dining room and open kitchen has that all-important edge and allure. This is a dinner booking worth dressing up and calling in babysitting favours for.

But while the chassis might have got an upgrade, what’s under the hood – a commitment to championing and celebrating the Margaret River region – remains unchanged. Which helps, I think, explain the restaurant’s name. As does the detail that chef-patron Hayter also likes The Descendents and punk music in general. Having said that, on the Saturday I drop in, the soundtrack is light on power chords but big on bubbly disco, all the better to hear yourself drink and dine. And as he did at Arimia, Hayter also likes helping unlikely ingredients form unlikely bonds.

He likes using the heady native leaf anise myrtle to perfume chewy (in a good way) slices of roei abalone ($12). He likes mixing black garlic and herbs through thick, fudgy cow’s curd made at Cambray Cheese using milk from the dairy’s own herd of jersey cows, just the thing to swipe pinches of the airy house sourdough through ($7). And he likes using Japanese sancho pepper powder to add just enough tingle to his beef tartare ($12) to turn your head.

He also likes leveraging his home court advantage to the hilt and hooking up with small-scale farmers and suppliers to explore the meaning and deliciousness of seasonality as well as regionality. The macadamias he roasts and turns into a butter to beautify crackers ($5) made from leftover bread come from the Jenkins family, of Treeton Valley Macadamias.

The dhufish ($45) Hayter slowly brings to crisp-skinned, pearlescent perfection in a stainless steel pan, then dresses with a sauce of glossy reduced fish stock and crunches up with crisp slivers of fried prawn legs? All line-caught by a single fisherman in Cowaramup who’s hung up his rod for the winter now that the seas are heavy. “A 45-foot boat doesn’t look like much in a seven-metre swell,” offers Hayter.

Not that De’sendent is strictly parochial in its beliefs about hospitality. The space designed by interior designer Kerry Brooks brings together beautiful pieces and products from around the world, not least the dreamy Angolan granite counter that is both a workbench for the chefs and front-row seat for diners. The three high chairs at the counter are the best seats in the house, though you’ll only get to sit there if you’re a solo diner, a couple or a trio.

And while De’sendent aspires to provide out-of-towners with a concise snapshot of the region, it’s also somewhere for locals who want to eat and drink beyond their backyard. Good thing, then, that restaurant manager Kaelen Outram and her team are equally at home pouring a thrilling rose from Sicilian superstar Girolamo Russo as they are keeping glasses topped up with an off-kilter blend of viognier and savagnin from renegade local winemaker Amato Vino, a fine foil for the grilled marron.

Your night will feature other daring combinations too, perhaps none more so than an exhilarating savoury dessert pairing a verdant parsley cream, mousse made of golden beetroot and a brittle wafer of malted meringue ($18). At the bottom of the bowl are little balls of toasted quinoa and popcorn-like white tufts of popped buckwheat.

Occasionally the kitchen can get carried away. Celeriac – presented as both chewy crisps and a puree – detracts from an otherwise brilliant summer flashback of thinly sliced beetroot dressed with a sauce of fermented capsicum: a vegetarian carpaccio to be reckoned with. Too many salty elements – sea succulents, preserved seaweeds – make the steamed marron custard taste a little too much of the sea. (Both the beetroot and marron dish were tasting menu-only items.) These missteps, however, aren’t deal-breakers and speak more to exuberance, daring and generosity than any technical shortcomings. The hits still outnumber the misses.

Guests can also get involved with the decision-making and meal planning by ordering a la carte rather than for the set menu ($185). While having to choose your dining format isn’t anything new, it’s worth nothing that those on the set menu have a little more flexibility when picking a reservation time, including those coveted 7pm weekend slots. A la carte diners, on the other hand, can only book early or late. Also. Don’t be misled by the offer of a “snack menu” either. There’s more than enough on there for any eater to assemble a substantial dinner and portion sizes are beefier than what you’ll get on the tasting menu.

Maybe it’s just me, but Margaret River’s bar and restaurant scene has found a new gear over the past 18 months. That’s not to say that the 6285 was ever a wining or dining dead zone. But, collectively, the arrival of newcomers such as food-truck-turned-diner Normal Van, curry canteen Dahl Daddy’s and small bars Pearls and Rhum Burgundy seems to have signalled a change in energy.

Yes, long lunches at posh winery restaurants and post-swim coffees at White Elephant will forever be part of the Margies experience, but eating out should never be a case of either-or. Margaret River has long been a haven for disruptors, misfits and those unafraid of rocking boats. De’sendent feels like it’s part of that club – a smart Bussell Highway dining room with an unusual name and an offering that’s unashamedly upmarket. While we’ll have to wait and see exactly what influence De’sendent might exert on those that come after it, the early signs suggest that the restaurant brings with it the promise of more than a few – if I may borrow some lyrics from its namesake band – Good Good Things.