The Pokolbin restaurant based at Piggs Peake Winery, named after a bushranger believed to have roamed the Hunter Valley during the 1860s, has made a name for itself on the basis of its rustic, fire-driven cooking methods.

And fire will steal the show at the Kings Table banquet, or long lunch, on September 25 which sommelier Patrick Hester hopes will be the first of many.

The experience begins with interactive canapes in the courtyard - for example, coal-roasted oysters - followed by a tour of the restaurant's garden and guests "self harvesting a crop to be eaten straight from the ground".

"All washed down with a delicious beverage to match of course," says Hester.

"We will also be admiring our custom-built fire pit and viewing the proteins cooking that will be served down the middle of the table that day with a talk and explanation of cooking over fire. Importantly, we will be touching base on where the proteins are sourced, raised and cooked."

Guests will then make their way to the restaurant for the shared banquet. The restaurant has been updated since last year's lockdown. It has a new floor, there is a new small pastry section, and a Smokin Gauchos wood-fired custom-built parilla grill now takes pride of place in the kitchen.

READ MORE: Yellow Billy Restaurant fired up about summer dining

"We will have two long 'kings tables' side by side. Be prepared to make friends, share food and, most importantly, share some laughs," Hester says.

"All the dishes will be served in the centre of the table to be shared. Diners can expect slow-cooked meats over flame and a trash-can hangi; perhaps reverse-seared tomahawks and trash-can hangi lamb shoulders.

"We will also be utilising our parilla grill in the kitchen to pump out some seafood options, maybe some prawns, whole fish or shellfish. We keep an eye on the fish market and will make our choice much closer to the date."

As for beverages, Hester has curated a selection of local and international wines.

"There will be two different wines with each course when sitting down at the kings table to best match with the array of different flavours spread down the table.

"I love matching and serving wines. It's so fun and when done or paired correctly takes the whole experience to another level."

Hester says he is "always adjusting and tweaking the beverage list" and admits it is "a slight obsession".

"Having just entered it into the wine list awards again, it's looking pretty healthy right now," he says.

"Our 'What We Are Drinking Now' section has something a little new: two half pours side-by-side of the Andrew Thomas Braemore. One is the traditional and the other new, Like A Version. Same fruit, same vineyard, but very different styles.

"There's also the red option, David Hooks Hilltops Nebbiolo and Sagrantino side-by-side half pours. Two great Italian grapes but from a cool climate NSW region expressing a fresher style.

"We have a rotating producer focus page, too, and currently you will find Attila Homonna from Hungary and a listing of six of his wines. Next up will be Zorah from Armenia and a listing of five of his wines. This page is designed to introduce something different to customers with great little write-ups about the producers."

READ MORE: The Sty opens for lunch at Piggs Peake winery

Staff are harvesting about 15 to 20 per cent of the produce used on the Yellow Billy menu from their on-site kitchen gardens. Hester would like to increase that percentage.

He credits horticulturalist Andrew Murdoch for the garden's success, and gives a shout out to Piggs Peake owners Tony Miller and Bruce Willan for "providing the space to make all this possible".

"Head chef Darren [Price] and I made the decision after the second lockdown to utilise our space more creatively," Hester says.

"We have three garden areas, really - a greenhouse for micro herbs and starting seedlings; a bottom garden for vegetables and salad; and a top garden bed mainly used for garnish herbs.

"We're also working on our Yellow Billy potato project to produce our own spuds, and we are finally seeing our asparagus spears start to shoot up after a three-year investment. We have some citrus trees producing lemons and limes, and we are in the process of planting a native area as well."

Price has been at Yellow Billy for two years, having previously worked at Hunter Valley restaurant Circa 1876.

"He has helped us to broaden our menu to include a noticeable South-East Asian influence, and has also helped to re-identify our 'food over fire' focus which has allowed wider use of ingredients outside of our traditional Mediterranean style," Hester says.

"Some popular dishes from him over the past few weeks have been our pea, leek, macadamia and burrata dish, and our new spatchcock dish with a punchy calamansi vinaigrette and choi sum.

"Our food has evolved a lot. Our baseline is now food over fire to share, drawing on all cultures and countries who use fire-based cuisine."

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