Visitors to Four Seasons Hotel Sydney might ask why its signature restaurant is called Kable’s, but regular guests know the story. One of the more colourful figures in Australian history, Kable arrived from England on the First Fleet in 1788 with fellow convict Susannah Holmes, who would become his wife in the colony’s first wedding ceremony (both were apparently thieves).

The new land brought opportunity to Kable, and he became a landowner, merchant and, for a time, police constable, presiding over the jail on the site in the historic Rocks district where Four Seasons now stands.

The Kables continued to thrive, having 11 children whose descendants’ names now grace the Hotel’s meeting rooms: Teale, Winten, Buchanan, Tanner and Holmes. In 1984, when Kable’s opened, Zillah Kable unveiled a commemorative plaque honouring his famous ancestor.

Chef Carl Middleton thought long and hard before he put Chateaubriand on the menu at Kable’s at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney. With its prestigious history, expectations are high, and “it’s important that it be served without error,” he explains.

Beginning with the thick tenderloin cut from grain-fed Black Angus beef from Australia’s own Rangers Valley Cattle Station, Middleton closely follows the traditional recipe said to have been created by Montmireil, who was personal chef to Vicomte François-René de Chateaubriand in Napoleon’s time. The carefully prepared meat is presented on a silver platter to the two people who’ve chosen to share it, then returned to the kitchen for carving.

Chateau potatoes (peeled and shaped into large ovals before they are sautéed in butter), mushrooms and baby carrots are served with the meat, along with the classic accompaniment to complete the experience: tarragon-flavoured Béarnaise and red wine sauce.

Going eye to eye with an octopus isn’t on most people’s wish list, but it’s what José Chaves does every single day. As fishmonger for Kable’s at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, he is responsible for checking the restaurant’s overnight deliveries of fresh seafood, cleaning it all and portioning it for the day’s meals.

That means staring not only octopodes in the face, but about 100 salmon, 25 ocean trout, 60 snapper, 20 flounder and 2,500 prawns on a typical day. For Chef Carl Middleton and his team, having Chaves in the kitchen is critical to the menu’s reputation for top-quality seafood specialities.

With 25 years of experience building on what he learned from his grandfather growing up on Madeira Island off Portugal, Chaves knows instinctively when the texture and colour of a fillet is perfect, and thus worthy of a plate at Kable’s.

Bold, effervescent, light, classic ... words that describe not wines, but waters as guests at Kable’s at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney peruse a list of more than two dozen choices of still and sparkling bottles. With a focus on regional waters from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, the list also includes imports from Europe.

Assisting the decision – and negating any ideas that “it’s just water” – is a brief menu lesson in the distinct differences between spring, artesian, well and rain sources, and in the bubble characteristics of each sparkling water.

Among recommendations are Waiwera, an artesian water from New Zealand; Cape Grim, gathered as it falls from the sky above Tasmania; and Tau, a spring water from the UK whose bold balance of bubbles makes it an ideal pre-dinner drink, similar to champagne.