Berta Duck Sagra Dinner

Hidden in a quiet alley you could easily walk past Berta without noticing its presence. Walking through two glass doors you enter into a lively bar / restaurant. You can tell a restaurant is doing something right when they are packed with a cheerful, buzzy crowd on a Tuesday night.

Berta holds Sagra dinners every Tuesday night. Sagra means festival in Italian, and at Berta they celebrate a seasonal ingredient through featuring that ingredient in each dish of the four course dinner. A month before, chef O Tama Carey would go through what’s in season and talk to their organic famers about what they have coming up. Once she’s decided on the key ingredient, it becomes a brain exercise on coming up with new ideas and flavours to go with that ingredient. 

The ever-changing blackboard menu

The intriguing street view from our table

Pickled jars and wine above the bar

Tonight’s seasonal ingredient is duck (yay duck!) and we gleefully booked in to pre-celebrate Lu’s birthday. Our first course is a selection of antipasto plates: “Pate flat bread blood orange mostarda”, “Cured smoked pickled” and “Cauliflower chervil black olive eschallots”. To start we have the oh-so-more-ish creamy duck liver pâté with sweet blood orange marmalade on the crisp flat bread. It is the most appetising starter to kick off a feast with. Next we had the delicious cured and smoked duck with cherries, egg, cheese puree and Cuban bread and a refreshing cauliflower salad. 

L Loves... Pate flat bread blood orange mostarda

Cauliflower chervil black olive eschallots

L Loves... Cured smoked pickled

Our second course is the spicy duck heart pasta. I think this is where the chef is testing her boundaries (and ours!). The chopped pieces of duck heart is quite gamey and the tagliatelle is a little on the soft side. I would have preferred it to have a slight bit of bite. Though an interesting dish, it is probably my least favourite dish tonight. 

Tagliatelle spicy hearts sorrel

Our main course is less daring but full on flavoursome. A liberal serve of crunchy pistachio and farro rests on top of the roasted duck breast and pork and duck neck sausage. The accompanying side is chunky roast potato chips cooked in duck fat. 

Roasted breast pork and duck neck sausage

White bean pistachio farro vincotto

Duck fat roast potatoes

As we ate, we wondered how they are going to incorporate duck into the dessert. Half way through the meal, chef Carey stood in front of the blackboard menu and explained the sagra concept as well as each dish to us. Our dessert is a ricotta custard tart, with the custard made from duck eggs. The subtly sweet ricotta custard, with the crisp sage, citrusy lemon curd and thin pastry crust is simply heaven. 

L Loves... Ricotta sage custard tart lemon curd

To my surprise Berta managed to serve us duck in so many ways, yet I don’t feel like I have eaten too much duck. All and all Berta Sagra is a fantastic experience which I would look forward to trying again!

The covert entrance - don't miss it!

L's Verdict:

•    Taste: 8.5/10

•    Ambience: 3.5/5

•    Value: 4/5

•    Service: 3.5/5

•    Creativity and other WOW factors: 5/5

Overall rating: 24.5/30

Berta

17-19 Alberta St

Sydney NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9264 6133

Lunch: Wed to Fri from 12pm

Dinner: Tues to Sat 6pm-late

Visited Sep 2013

Friendly advice: Try their 4 course Sagra dinner which is superb value at $55 pp. They have a different seasonal ingredient every Tuesday night. Check out Berta’s website for the upcoming seasonal ingredients. 

An Italian Affair @ Pendolino

Tonight's dinner is with two of my girl friends, one of which told me she needed a lift in her spirit, and the other is blessed with a baby that is craving for pastas. I think I know where to go...

Hidden on level two of The Strand Arcade is a gloomy but tasteful dining room with exposed brick and walls lined with olive oil and wines. The space is so dim that the waiters bring a mushroom lamp to the table along with the menu. We happily snacked on the complementary bread – a selection of walnut rye, olive ciabatta and white sourdough left at our table. We had fun dipping the bread into one of the three olive oils on our table: "Sanguinella" blood orange, "Limone" lemon and "Fruttato” traditional early harvest Tuscan and Umbrian oils.

On their menu are a range of pastas made on the premises in a dedicated pasta kitchen with all pastas made from flour and organic eggs. Tonight from the pasta dishes we ordered Chitarra Spaghetti with barramundi and wild prawns and Sage Leaf Lasagne with pumpkin and ricotta. Both had textures unique to freshly made pastas. The sage leaf lasagne is unlike any lasagne I’ve seen before. It’s a thin slice but the flavour is so opulent and sweet that the portion is precisely what’s required for complete contentment. The chitarra spaghetti which I did not try, is commended for its intense seafood flavour, although slightly on the salty side.

Having tasted their pastas before, I wanted to try one of their meat dishes. The waiter highly recommended the ten hour slow cooked beef oyster blade, and I ordered this after tossing between this and the roast duck leg. It turns out to be a win. The beef oyster blade is irresistibly succulent. The flavour is extremely intense as the collagen melts during the braising of the meat. The parsnip puree is blood-clotting rich and the sour cherries are slightly acidic and sweet. All and all it is a dish to adore. 

With the generous portions and with myself trying to come off a cold, we reluctantly skipped desserts, which I know to be delicious, especially the housemade sorbets. Always a next time :) 

Pendolino Menu

Complimentary bread basket with walnut rye,
olive ciabatta and white sourdough

Olive oil to dip the bread into

SPAGHETTI CHITARRA CON PESCE D’ACQUADOLCE
Freshly Made Chitarra Spaghetti with Barramundi,
Wild Prawns, Chilli, Capers, Garlic and Pinot Grigio White Wine

L Loves... LASAGNE DI ZUCCA
Sage Leaf Lasagne with Pumpkin, Ricotta, Pistachio Nuts and Amaretti

L Loves... BRASATO DI MANZO ALLE AMARENE
Ten Hour Slow Cooked British Breed Beef, Parsnip Puree,
Grilled Green Shallots, Pearl Garlic, Amarena Sour Cherry Sauce

L's Verdict:

•    Taste: 8.5/10

•    Ambience: 3.5/5

•    Value: 3/5

•    Service: 4/5

•    Creativity and other WOW factors: 3/5

Overall rating: 22/30

Pendolino Restaurant

Shop 100, Level 2, The Strand Arcade

412-414 George St 

Sydney NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9231 6117

Lunch Mon-Sat 12pm-3pm 

Dinner Mon-Sat 6pm-late

Public Holidays - closed

Visited August 2013

Friendly advice: Try at least one of their pastas, freshly made pastas are just amazing!

Happy Valentine's @ Ormeggio at The Spit

Any day is a good day to show love and affection to loved ones. But when there is a day dedicated to that someone special, why not embrace it? That goes with Mother’s day, Father’s day and of course Valentine’s day! My Valentine Mr M made the effort to fly back just in time to celebrate this special day with me. It didn’t take me too long to decide on the venue this year. Somewhere romantic, still, with good food and a nice view to linger over. Ormeggio at The Spit ticked all the boxes.

Ormeggio is a two hatted contemporary Italian restaurant with a stunning waterside setting in Mosman. It is said that the Italian chef and owner, Alessandro Pavoni, with his team of chefs boast 39 Michelin stars between them. That is certainly reflected in their offering of exciting dishes. We started with a warm rye sourdough that has the crunchiest crust and we knew we are in good hands. As I am not a fan of raw meat, the chefs arranged a lovely, thick pea emulsion as a substitute. It is delicious alone, and delicious as a dip for the sourdough.

Our next dish, the carnaroli risotto, had us questioning. A crunchy risotto cooked Al dente? According to our waiter, this is how risottos are supposed to be like from Alessandro’s home region of Lombardy. I am somewhat undecided about the risotto. I welcomed the creaminess of the buffalo mozzarella, but I would have preferred slightly less sourness from the tomato essence.

Then came the hero dish that proved the restaurant worthy of its reputation. The slow-cooked suckling pig, with its glorious crackling and the succulent, mouth-watering meat. I effortlessly split the meat from the crackling and offered the crackling to Mr M. I loved watching the smile grow on this boy’s face. This is indisputably our favourite dish tonight. Even the accompanying dutch carrots and mustard seeds are scrumptious. An ultimate knock out dish!

I normally head straight from mains to desserts, but tonight’s Valentine’s degustation included a cheese course. This isn’t an ordinary cheeseboard. The mountain man wash rind is hidden beneath a bed of dehydrated powder that has an unique taste, sort of like popcorn, with sweeten apricot and hazelnuts. Our final course, a carrot dessert with fennel seed ice cream, farro cream and vinegar caramel left us with a lot of question marks. What are vegetables doing in our dessert? Why does our dessert taste savoury, sour, bitter and sweet? Could this be the chef’s interpretation of love? A combination of all the flavours and a lot of question marks. As much as I appreciate the effort in creating such a daring dessert, I would prefer the vegetables to stay where they belong... in entrees and mains.   

Even without a strong finish, it is a memorable meal. The food here is all about who the chef is and where he’s from. The service is attentive and the setting is impeccable. And surpass anything I have Mr M beside me on this day, Happy Valentine’s Day!

Picturesque sunset view from our table

What a splendid view to linger over our Valentine's dinner

Warm sourdough, freshly churned sour butter, sea salt

Grass fed beef battuta - shiitake - horseradish - nasturtium 

L Loves... Pea emulsion with asparagus, broad beans and green peas

Carnaroli risotto - buffalo mozzarella - tomato - capers - olives – basil

L Loves... Suckling pig - dutch carrots - fennel - mustard seeds - elk  - garlic

Mountain man wash rind - apricot - hazelnut 

Carrot - fennel seed ice cream - farro cream - vinegar caramel

The beautiful scenery from our table as we finished our memorable meal

L's Verdict:

·   Taste: 7/10

·   Ambience: 4/5

·   Value: 3/5 

·   Service: 4/5

· Creativity and other WOW factors: 4/5 

Overall rating: 22/30

Ormeggio at The Spit

D'Albora Marinas

The Spit, Mosman 2088

Ph: (02) 9969 4088

Open Lunch - Wed to Sun 12pm-3pm

Dinner - Wed to Sat 6pm-11pm, Sun 6pm-10pm

Visited Valentine's Day February 2013

Friendly advice: They offer a lunch special from Wednesday to Saturday – 3 courses including a glass of wine for $59 or 4 course degustation for $69 only. They also do Stressless Sunday dinners which offer 6 course degustation for $69 only. Make sure you book in early!

Risotto night @ Jamie's Italian... freshly landed in Sydney!

Apologies for the prolonged period of “drought” on this blog… As some of you may know, I have been travelling to Taiwan and to parts of Europe. During this time, I had gone through many remarkable and unforgettable food experiences, ranging from the humble street eats in Taipei, the rightfully famous macarons from Laduree in Paris, the most delicious gelato in Rome and of course, the irresistible flaky, crisp, airy soft, buttery croissants for breakkie every single morning during my time in Europe.  

Before my trip to Europe, I learnt that Jamie Oliver is opening one of his buzzy, authentic Italian restaurants right here in Sydney! Jamie is not only famous for his simple and rustic cooking style that brings out the best of seasonal produce, but more significantly for his passion for food and for the inspiring work he does educating people on how to choose, cook and live on a healthy and delicious diet. Just like all the other work he does, the aim of Jamie’s Italian is to make good quality food accessible to anyone.  

So one of the first things on my agenda when I got back to Sydney is to plan a visit. Jamie’s Italian is located conveniently in the city, so planning a visit is not difficult at all. Me and my two dear foodie girl friends decided to head there straight after work. Thanks to Jamie’s fame and to the convenient location, when we got there at 6pm on a Wednesday, we are informed the waiting time for a table of three (at this restaurant that can accommodate 200 diners) is approximately half an hour. We are given a electronic buzzer and told that we could wonder off anywhere within half a kilometre while we waited.  

With the hype, excitement and hunger growing as time passed, the buzzer finally vibrated and we are led to our table, which is, quite possibly the best table in the restaurant. It is like a semi-private booth, with comfy sofa chairs and a view to the open kitchen where all the action happens. There we saw Executive Chef Dave Clarke (previously at one of my favourites in Sydney, the Chophouse) and his team (some of which spent weeks in the UK working hands on across a variety of Jamie’s Italian venues) bringing out great flavoursome dishes that are created by Jamie Oliver.  

The front of Jamie Oliver's first restaurant in Sydney - Jamie's Italian

The junior sous chefs make 100 kilos of pasta a day 
in the busy restaurant's front window

A well-lit, thin and long dining space on the first floor

The vibe in the kitchen reminds us of MasterChef team challenges. Watching them at our table make us feel like we are the secret judges. Despite the restaurant being buzzing busy, our enthusiastic waiter regularly makes eye contact with us as he glides past and checks on how we’re going. 

A fantastic view to the open kitchen from our table

The cutlery is placed on a Jamie’s Italian tea towel,
which can be bought at the restaurant along with other merchandise.

The menu consists of a wide range of down-to-earth dishes 

combining seasonal ingredients sourced both locally and from Italy.  

The range of Italian breads served is nice and tasty and best of all, on the house (i.e. complementary). Baked mushroom may sound fit, but it is actually a guilty pleasure in disguise. These mushrooms had a gutsy flavour; topped with the richness from the smoked buffalo mozzarella and thyme, it is such a satisfying and filling dish! The polenta chips are also great to tuck into. They are served HOT as they should be, and are full of flavour.

ITALIAN BREAD SELECTION (on the house)

Homemade rosemary focaccia Artisan sourdough, ciabatta & tortano, 

crispy carta di musica, served with extra-virgin olive oil & aged balsamic

CRISPY POLENTA CHIPS

with rosemary salt & Parmesan

L Loves… BAKED MUSHROOMS  

Swiss browns with crispy "music bread" & smoked buffalo mozzarella

Quite a coincidence all three of us felt like risotto tonight. There is something about that visually striking black sauce that always amuses me. So when I saw squid ink risotto on the menu, I knew I had to get it. The risotto had a heightened seafood aroma. The tang is enhanced by the addition of finely chopped chilli and lemon. For me, the brilliance of the dish is in those crunchy herby breadcrumbs, which go so well with the creamy black risotto. The risotto Milanese is packed with saffron flavours. Unfortunately there is not a lot of bone marrow to be found in the dish, which is a little disappointing for us given that is why the dish is ordered. We all agreed the black truffle risotto is a real indulgence. As promised – it is rich and creamy and who could say no to those pieces of black truffle on top. We ordered entrée size risottos and thank God we did, as we strived to save room for desserts.

CRAB & SQUID INK RISOTTO 

Black creamy rice with hand-picked spanner crab & crunchy herby breadcrumbs

RISOTTO MILANESE 

Creamy saffron & Parmesan risotto 

with herby roasted bone marrow & lemon & parsley gremolata  

TRUFFLE RISOTTO

Finely shaved black truffle with creamy rice butter & Parmesan

Those who know me know that I rate desserts as the most important course in a meal. Those who are with me on that will be thrilled to meet the great range of scrumptious desserts Jamie's Italian had on offer under $10. Tonight I had the most adorable, wobbly panna cotta. It is served with an ample helping of berry compote, which adds acidity to cut through the richness of the creamy panna cotta. When our waiter informed us of the flavours for their ice cream tonight, it got the girls at "salted caramel". The salted part of the salted caramel is really subtle. The chilli part of the dark chocolate ice cream kicks in with a delay and adds an interesting touch. But all that is on my mind is oh that lovely panna cotta. Jamie's Italian - you know I'll be back for more!

ICE CREAMS 

Salted caramel, Hazelnut, Dark chocolate with Chilli 

served with Smashed honeycomb and Butterscotch sauce

L Loves… CREAMY PANNA COTTA

Lovely wobbly panna cotta served with a compote of seasonal fruits

One last look at the busy kitchen

Pasta freshly made in the restaurant

L's Verdict:

• Taste: 8/10 
• Ambience: 4/5
• Value: 5/5 (the satisfying meal we had tonight costed us $30 pp, what a steal!)
• Service: 4/5
• Creativity and other WOW factors: 3/5  

Overall rating: 24/30

Jamie's Italian

107 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

Ph: 02 8240 9000

Mon - Sat 11:30am - Late

Visited November 2011

Friendly advice: Bookings are only taken for groups of 6 or more. Otherwise just head there and be prepared for pre-meal drinks (but don’t you worry, the food, especially that panna cotta, is definitely worth the wait)!