Up in flames

When you arrive at Pasture, the door is locked. You pull at the handle again, just to be sure, but it’s definitely locked. Then you notice the sign: “Doors Open 5.45pm & 8.15pm”. And they do. At precisely 5.45 or 8.15pm, you hear a click and the door is opened by Ed Verner — chef, owner, front of house, manager, sommelier, bartender, dishwasher, and cleaner of Pasture, Metro’s Restaurant of the Year 2019.

Verner welcomes you into a small lobby, pours you a juice of green tomato and melon, with green chilli ice that makes the drink spicier with every sip. Something’s happening here, it tells you. Get ready.

For the next three hours or so, you are in the hands on Verner and his two fellow chefs, Tatsuya Shinkai and Agata Alicja. They do everything, right in front of you. The three chefs cook your food (much of it over an open flame), mix your cocktails, pour your wines, clear your plates, sweep your crumbs from the bartop, all with a fine balance of friendly casualness and stoic perfectionism. The chefs are always on view. When they talk to each other, they lean in and whisper, critiquing and finishing dishes in hushed tones. Their movements are quick and precise. Every action is efficient. Every dish is foreshadowed — the tomatoes hanging in a basket over the fire will be on your plate in half an hour or so. And they’ll be the best tomatoes you’ve ever