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There are a lot of beautiful dining rooms in Sydney – the kind that, when you step inside, whisk you away to another world; where thoughts of to-do lists and Everest-like piles of laundry melt away like lemon granita under the Amalfi sun. Bennelong, tucked within the city’s white sails, is one of them. So too is the coastal kitsch of Sean’s in Bondi. Osteria Mucca, a charming trattoria from the Continental Deli crew that opened in April this year, is another such room.
Found on Newtown’s happening Australia Street, the 50-seat Italian restaurant had a past life as a butcher. Those 114-year-old forest-green-and-white tiles on the walls are the originals. Candles flicker on top of white tablecloths, Art Deco-style vintage lights hang from the ceiling – creating the perfect dinner-date glow – and vintage plates jazz up the walls. This is the work of Sarah Doyle, co-owner and creative director of Paisano & Daughters, who has a knack for creating venues with their own soul. (It just takes one peep into siblings and neighbours – eclectic fisherman’s den Mister Grotto, honey-hued plant celebration Flora, and Continental Deli with its big Euro energy – to fully appreciate her talent.)
The room feels like an occasion, so we bypass the Limoncello Spritz and Mucca Martini in favour of a glass of Sella & Mosca’s sparkling from Sardinia, poured (and appreciated) tableside. Cheers.
The timeless space isn’t the only thing I’m a big fan of
Leading the kitchen is Janina Allende, who ran the pass at Sydney favourite Pellegrino 2000 for more than two years, and also spent time on the pans at Alberto’s Lounge and Bar Vincent. At Osteria Mucca, Allende is spotlighting regional Italian classics, with home-style recipes and handmade pasta. In a nod to the restaurant’s former life – and because the group knows their way around meat (Osteria Mucca shares DNA with the award-winning Porteño) – they also do all their butchery in-house. FYI – ‘Mucca’ means ‘cow’ in Italian.
But we start with land and sea – a riff on puntarelle alla Romana, which sees ribbon-like curls of the slightly bitter, crunchy and cool puntarelle coated in a punchy anchovy dressing tempered with creamy, veneer-white buffalo mozzarella. So good.
Meanwhile, hunks of pickled cauliflower, carrot and onion rest atop a smooth, nutty fava bean dip doused in olive oil, and are best mopped up with a crusty ciabatta roll that the team source from Brickfields.
Next comes our cotechino – a dish that tastes both new and familiar. Soft, house-made pork sausage meat fragrant with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg rests on a bed of slow-cooked buttery-sweet lentils and vegetables. It’s adorned with a vivid salsa verde, chewy mustard fruits and delicate shavings of horseradish. Originating from northern Italy, cotechino con lenticchie is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve; the coin-shaped lentils symbolising wealth and prosperity. I say to our waiter it tastes like Christmas, and he says it’s a hit then, too. Also a hit: our bottle of 2022 Montesecondo Rosso sangiovese from Tuscany that’s cherry-red and lovely with soft tannins.
Ping-pong-shaped balls of ricotta gnudi, so soft you can cut them with a spoon, sit in a pool of browned butter and topped with crisp sage leaves and thin shavings of lemon rind that cleverly cut through and lift.
This, plus whatever season of Survivor, and you can stick a fork in me – I’m done
Formidable pastry chef Lauren Eldridge is behind the desserts at Osteria Mucca (and the three other Paisano & Daughters venues), which features house-made gelato (right now it’s grapefruit); cassata with ricotta, chocolate and candied fruit; and bonèt alla Piemontese – a chocolate and amaretti custard topped with marsala Chantilly. If I wasn’t stuffed like a, well, gnudi, I’d go for one of those.
On this Tuesday night, the room hums with songs my grandparents would have danced to, the clink of glassware and the laughter of friends. There’s not a table free. I say goodbye to the team, pull on my coat, step into the fresh night air – and glance back one last time. For a few hours it was all about that bellissimo dining room, those knockout gnudi and the person across from me. That’s the power of a great restaurant. Now, back to life admin.
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