Today is my wife’s birthday so I decide to take her to
Ormeggio at the Spit for a birthday celebration. Joining us today are my wife’s
brother, his girlfriend and my mother-in-law. The location is tops, right on d'Albora
Marinas in Mosman. The views from our table were just stunning. We were
basically right next to the water, we could see the boats rocking and we could
spy into the fancy houses belonging to people with too much money. It was a beautiful
day today with clear blue skies and warm weather, so this made for a perfect
weekend lunch.
Ormeggio is a restaurant that I have an interest in for
quite a while. It wasn’t until I did some reading up recently did I really get
excited about eating here. There are some very well-credentialed chefs working
in the Ormeggio kitchen. Of course there is Alessandro Pavoni (the owner and
executive chef), i.e. the big tall Italian guy that my wife has a crush on LOL.
Then there is the head chef, Federico Zanellato, who used to work at the
3-Michelin starred La Pergola in Rome (which I have already secured a
reservation for in my Europe trip later this year hehe). And the pastry chef, Laura
Ballester, who recently worked at a Michelin starred restaurant in Spain. So there
are plenty of Michelin stars to go around at the Ormeggio kitchen! This is definitely
something that gets me excited about dining at a restaurant, so I secured a
reservation about a month in advance.
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| The dining room |
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| View from our table |
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| The view from another table |
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| Wine menu |
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| Cool bottle of Santa Vittoria |
Today we went with the 3-course Saturday lunch for $59, plus
a complimentary glass of wine. This is excellent value for a 2-hatted restaurant!
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| Warm sourdough bread - freshly churned sour butter - sea salt |
First up, is bread, which, for me, is an essential part of
the fine dining experience. The sourdough was great and how a good sourdough
should be. The crust was crunchy, and the bread itself was soft and fluffy. I
loved the freshly churned butter too. It was creamy and slightly sour.
Entrees
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Cold pea emulsion – fresh peas – herbs – watercress –
fermented beetroot |
This was my wife’s entrée.
It was a pleasant dish. Very refreshing and smooth. The pea emulsion and
the micro herbs go very well together.
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Tortelli filled with burnt eggplant - spicy pistachio - pyengana
cheddar – mint |
This was my brother-in-law’s entrée, as well as his
girlfriend. My wife had this as her main. Another brilliant course that was enjoyed
by all. The pasta was cooked al dente and filled with burnt eggplant, which
gave a nice smokey flavour to the dish. The Pyengana cheese from Tasmania brings
the whole dish together. It is such a quality ingredient: creamy, salty and sharp
flavour. The spice from the paprika and the whole-halves of pistachio nuts also
go well in this course.
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Shitake mushrooms – dutch cream potato – polenta croutons –
pickled onions |
My mother-in-law had the shitake mushrooms. I tasted a
little bit of the potato, which I enjoyed. It had a nice smokey flavour and
went well with the paprika.
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| Flinders island kangaroo Battuta - watermelon rind –
amaranth - chorizo powder - fennel pollen |
This was my entrée, which is essentially a kangaroo tartare.
I have never eaten kangaroo like this before and I was feeling a bit
adventurous today so decided to try it. And I love it! This was a great dish
with all the elements working so well together, giving a really fresh dish. The meat was nice and tender and has a slight
gamey flavour. What I really like were the bits of vinegared watermelon rind,
which gives the dish refreshing bursts of sweetness and sourness. I also liked
the salty bits of chorizo powder.
Mains
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Pink snapper – macadamia – leek – jalapeño – samphire powder |
This was my main course and it is such a visually stunning
dish (as were all the courses really) with the purple potato crisps, green
samphire (sea asparagus) powder and the white sauce. The potato crisps were
enjoyable. Paper thin, salty and crispy. The creamy white sauce was good too
and went well with the fish. And I loved the bits of jalapeno underneath the
fish as it provided a nice kick of spice and heat to the dish. Although I
enjoyed the snapper, which has been steamed and then pan fried, I would have
liked it to be a bit more moist. Perhaps it was slightly overcooked.
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| Carnaroli risotto - buffalo mozzarella - tomato - capers - olives - basil |
Although this was not my main course, I did get to taste quite a bit of
it because my mother-in-law, being an Asian mum, is not used to the Italian way
of cooking rice so she found it to be raw so she only ate half of the dish. This
was great for me and my wife, who picked up the scraps. And how we both love
this risotto! The creamy look of this dish gives the illusion that the risotto is
going to be rich and heavy. But this dish is anything but that! Actually, it
has a very fresh, pleasant and strong tomato flavour as the rice has been
cooked in tomato water which, as the Italian waiter explained to us, didn’t need
any other seasoning with salt or pepper. It is amazing how something can taste
so much like tomatoes yet we could not see a trace of red tomatoes! And for me,
al dente (as opposed to raw) rice in risotto is great and the way I like it.
The texture is great, I love how the rice had bite. To round out the dish,
there was the creamy buffalo mozzarella and bits of basil that always goes
nicely with tomato.
Desserts
Desserts was a very easy decision for us. We ordered one of each and
doubled up on the carrot dessert.
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Carrot, fennel seed ice cream, farro cream, vinegar caramel |
This was definitely a very interesting dessert that I really enjoyed.
There were so many savoury elements, so how can this be a dessert? But for me
the whole thing comes together nicely. The dish is a very pretty one! The
carrot cake was very delicious and moist. The fennel ice cream goes very well
with it. I have had fennel ice cream before. I loved it the first time, and I
love it even more this time. I don’t know how, but fennel is brilliant as an ice
cream. The vinegar caramel is great too. It provides a nice hit of sweet,
savoury and sour to the dish.
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Amedei tuscan black chocolate - olive oil - sour dough - raspberry |
This was a capable dessert that was the least favourite out of a bunch
of great desserts. Chocolate and raspberry being a classic combination so you
can’t really go wrong there. This is a great dessert for chocolate lovers. My
favourite part of this dessert was the chocolate dirt and was a great flavour
and textural element to the dish. Being a chocolate dessert, it can be rich.
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| Toasted rice gelato – rice and ricotta cake – earl grey – lemon |
This was a huge hit with everyone on the table and was the consensus
favourite dessert. This is the dessert we should have doubled up on! This
dessert was so good that we were all fighting for the last bits. Quite
obviously, the plate was very clean afterwards! The gelato was very refreshing
and had a nice toasty flavour as the title implies. I also loved the crunchy
rice bits (think rice bubbles). The rice and ricotta cake was amazing and, in
my opinion, to die for! The cake was light and just delicious. I loved the kick
of lemon in the cake as well.
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| Cheese platter - crackers - condiments |
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| Petit fours |
Verdict
Highlight: I loved the risotto. The best risotto I have had in Sydney
for quite a long time.
Lowlight: There weren’t really any lowlights at this meal. Out of a
meal filled with mostly highs, my least favourite course was the pink snapper.
Overall: Ormeggio is a fantastic modern Italian restaurant. The views
are stunning, the service is attentive and the food is awesome. I will happily
dine here again and again. It is currently my favourite Italian restaurant in Sydney.
8/10 (Excellent)
