When the owners of Surry Hills’ Bar Copains – Sal Sasi, husband Nathan Sasi and Morgan McGlone – embarked on a research trip to Europe, they weren’t quite sure what the follow-up to their hugely popular wine bar would be. But a handful of enlightening meals in London and San Sebastian rooted in the fundamentals of hospitality – warm and attentive service, elemental cooking over fire and coals – inspired them.

They knew what they had to do, and they had just the space to do it in: a cavernous Albion Street space, just over 100 metres up the road, that once housed kitchen supplier Chef’s Warehouse. The result is Alma’s and Bessie’s, a restaurant and bar under the same roof.

Bessie’s share-style Mediterranean menu is big, with a kitchen to match. Along one wall, you’ll watch the team cooking with flames. The goal is that almost every dish has a component that flirts with fire.

That could take the shape of a homely, garlicky flatbread showered in chopped herbs with a whiff of dippable cod’s roe? Perfect. Or a simple dish of buffalo curd and cucumber, and the ‘70s-esque trio of mortadella, devilled eggs and pickle spears. There are golden empanadas and flame-licked mushrooms – and fish gets the Morgan McGlone fried-chicken treatment (as founder of Belle’s).Nuggets of ocean jacket cheek, with a golden KFC-esque crust, arrive with a squeeze of lemon and Green Goddess to dip. There’s even a nod to Copains and its fish sanga too: soft slices of white sandwiching Moreton Bay bug instead.

Joining Nathan in the kitchen is head chef Remy Davis, who returns from San Sebastian’s Elkano.

The lengthy menu – ripe with proteins and veggies – can be played any way you like. There’s no set menu, but there is a minimum spend if you’ve made a booking. An after-dinner drink at Alma’s isn’t essential, but highly recommended. Or you can kick on at Bar Copains, just down the road.