The Roosters (my territory) opened The Italian Bar & Kitchen last year.
A review is below. It's obviously more up market, but they poured a stack of cash into it.
Italian Kitchen & Bar
Wobble: The panna cotta
Italian Kitchen & Bar
Photography by John Fotiadis
Chef David Magill
Too much of a good thing is never enough when it comes to panna cotta at Easts Leagues Club. Simon Thomsen reports.
I've heard complaints there's too much panna cotta on Sydney menus. C'mon, get real. There's no such thing as too much of a good thing and the panna cotta ($12) at this new Italian trattoria in Easts Leagues Club is very, very good indeed. It hits 11 out of 10 on my iPhone's wobble-o-meter app. It sits at one end of a long rectangular plate, as pale white as the heroine of an English bonnet drama, with freckles of vanilla bean seeds and a long tail of rhubarb and strawberries. It's wondrously fragile, yet richly creamy, the fruit offering a sharp, tangy contrast.
If the Roosters played like consultant chef Danny Russo's team cooks, they'd already be in the Grand Final.
The gnocchi ($17) is equally impressive. I've tried it in too many restaurants where it's like dropping the ball after crossing the tryline, but here it's dreamily light and silky as it evaporates in the mouth. It's part of a fine vegetarian mix of peas, artichoke and mint with salted ricotta and parmesan.
Lots of little things impress in this venture by the Dedes Group, who gave us Flying Fish in Pyrmont and Deckhouse in Woolwich, recently reviewed in this column.
OK, so you have to sign in first, before climbing the stairs past the Vespa (unless you weave through the pokies to the lift). However, join the club and you score a $5 drinks voucher to spend on the large bar side of this cavernous space. It's not blessed with much atmosphere, despite good lighting, chocolatey brown colours and large Italian portraits along the back wall.
There's a long, dark timber communal table, and others, generously spaced along banquets that break up the room, but really it still feels like a food hall. That's no matter, because the floor team is sharp, eager to please and child friendly, with pencils and paper to entertain.
Chef Russo's most recent venture was the Beresford Hotel in Surry Hills. Italian Kitchen & Bar follows along similar lines, with the menu cover featuring a photo of an elderly Italian signore scooping snails from a big pot. Russo is joined by his former Beresford sidekick, David Magill, who's head chef.
Russo's food always has blended a respect for Italian authenticity and simplicity. Sunday lunch is a $45 a person shared, four-course family meal. We begin with a few nibbles, including arancini, $6, seven mouth-sized fried balls of rice laced with mozzarella and tomato, both crunchy and soft and warmly comforting. Among the antipasti, calamari fritti, $17, on brown paper with lemon and parsley, is another oldie and rather goodie, just like the eggplant involtini, $14, Sicilian-style rolled fingers of fried eggplant stuffed with tomato, pine nuts, currants, oregano and four cheeses, including smoky provolone, to create a sweet-and-sour effect.
Fettucini with braised goat with salty olives carries the sting of N'duja (pronounced nadoya), the chilli-hot Calabrese salami. The housemade pasta is cooked in the braised liquor.
It's a gruff, hairy-chested dish, the dark goat meat not the softest, but you're not shortchanged on flavour.
If I have one complaint, it's $12 for a bottle of mineral water. At least the interesting wine list is mostly priced less than $50 and there is a wide selection of beers.
Chickpea and mussel soup is a peasant dish from down on the heel of Italy's boot, which is smartened up by the addition of pan-fried snapper fillet, $26, to make a main course with a thick broth fragrant with braised fennel. It manages to be both hearty and delicate at the same time, yet there's no doubt which side of the line braised lamb shoulder on parsnip puree, $25, falls.
The meat, cooked on the bone for eight hours, is soft and sticky, ringed by roasted brussels sprouts with small chunks of Italian bacon adding further appeal. This is food that speaks to the heart with rich, pleasurable and enormously satisfying flavours. That it is found in a footy club makes it a credit to all involved. Italian Kitchen & Bar kicks goals from all over the field.
How it rated
The food: 14/20
The staff: 8/10
The drink: 4/5
The X factor: 3/5
The value: 7/10
Total out of 50 - 36
Italian Kitchen & Bar's details:
Address: Easts Leagues Club 93 Spring St, Bondi Junction; ph 9386 3217
Food: Italian
Drink: A great range of Italianstyled and Italian wines at decent prices.
Hours: Lunch Tues-Sat noon-2.30pm & Sun noon-5pm; dinner Tues-Sat 6-9.30pm
Chef: Danny Russo & David Magill
Owners: Easts Leagues, Dedes Group & Danny Russo
Wheelchair access: Yes
Parking: Paid street or shopping centre parking
Price guide: Pizza $17-$19; Entrees $6-$21; Mains $24-$29; Desserts $12-$15
Snapshot: If Jack Gibson became a chef rather than a legendary footy coach, I reckon this would be pretty close to the result: gutsy, straight shooting, simple and compelling. Italian Kitchen & Bar goes to the top of the ladder of footy club restaurants.
