You might walk right past Fontana. But it's there. Atop a carpeted staircase that fades into the facade between two takeaway shops on Redfern Street, there’s a small red-trimmed restaurant that hums to cool jazz and the lively chatter of excited diners. If you haven’t been yet, you might know this concealed location from its previous inhabitants, Ron’s Upstairs, which closed its doors in 2022.
Fontana’s menu is almost self-effacing – but don’t let them undersell themselves. Instead, ask one of the friendly waitstaff, who are cheerily snacking on a share plate of chef handouts, to talk you through the dishes. Items that could easily be overlooked (let’s say, garlic bread) are transformed in the snap of a single word (in this case, caramelised). It’s a delicious way to start – the bread comes disguised as a humble supermarket bun, but quickly reveals itself in a crunchy bite that spills molten garlic butter onto your plate.
Pane fritti (yes, fried bread) is also humbly listed – almost like it doesn’t want to be picked. They’re plated as little puffy tubes, topped with a line of tomato paste and a single anchovy (or an eggplant slice, for veggies). They taste incredible and weigh nothing – you could inhale a dozen and still be hungry for mains.
Go one better by pairing these two with the ricotta della casa, a soft slab of freshly made ricotta drenched in olive oil, that's to be enjoyed as an accompaniment or solo by the forkload. The menu changes frequently to keep the dishes fresh and seasonal, but there’s a reason this one never budges. It’s world-beating.
For mains, the pesce spada palermitana is truly a thing of beauty. A vast shard of boneless, subtly salty swordfish is sweetened with Spanish onions and golden raisins, and showered with a fistful of crunchy pine nuts.
The menu also features a dedicated pasta section. The team behind Fontana – chef Daniel Johnston, and his old mates Ivey Wawn and Harry Levy – previously ran a string of pasta-loaded Italian pop-ups across Sydney: Don Peppino’s at the Grand Pacific Blue Room in Paddington, Wilmer in Potts Point, and Alfio’s in Leichhardt.
The pasta fagioli (pasta and beans) is inherited from Wilmer, and you may detect that it’s treated with a bit of reverence by Fontana’s staff. Fagioli is a traditional Italian dish that varies drastically from region to region – this take is almost stew-like, dense with soft carbs and punctuated with fried pasta shells.
To finish, you’re spoilt for choice. The zabaglione cream and rhubarb is a revelation. The cream is an Italian classic – egg yolks whisked with marsala wine and sugar. It’s sweet and sharp and you get a whole foamy heap of it over a shallow rhubarb crumble. It’s wispy, light and just what you want after a meal of breads and pastas.
The wine list casts inspiration from all around the world, with a small but varied choice of reds, whites, pinks and oranges. On a hot day, it’s hard to look past the Yuzushu Spritz, packed with a hit of sake infused with fresh summery yuzu. Or try out the Wet Martini – it houses a splash of Aetnae Etna Aperitif, which blends ingredients (almonds, orange peel) from the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily.
Then sit back, sip, and ponder: “Is it acceptable to have a third round of ricotta?”
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