15/20
Italian$$
Patriarch Pino Russo pours his homemade limoncello for regular guests, while son Marc opens bottles of new-wave, natural wine. Korean-born chef Jowoon Oh leads a kitchen fond of fermentation, native limes and big, buttery sauces, and candles flicker as massive slabs of tiramisu are served.
About halfway through dinner, I begin to think that Russo & Russo might be the perfect definition of an Australian restaurant in 2023.
Locals love it because they love Pino and they don’t have to dress up too much on a Tuesday night. Couples love it because it’s dark and romantic, and the old fishing village prints remind them of that little trattoria near Palermo – or Leichhardt Vinnies.
I’m a fan because the Russos have long provided young-gun chefs with an opportunity to hone their own style of cooking, authenticity be damned.
Jason Saxby was on the pans when the osteria opened at the top end of Enmore Road in 2013, creating a menu of Italian classics rejigged with native ingredients and natural umami enhancers. He left a few years ago to put Raes at Byron Bay back on the food map.
Alex Wong was in charge when COVID-19 hit, before moving to Lana at Circular Quay where he continues to blend modern European and traditional Chinese; Oh took over 18 months ago with a menu of punchy snacks and generous share plates.
Grilled duck breast ($39) is one of Oh’s few constants, although everything else on the plate is in flux, depending on what Pino likes the look of at the market or how the house-made vinegars and ferments are tasting.
You could find the duck served with pickled leek and spinach or maybe a handful of lightly cured muntrie berries. Recently I enjoyed the crisp-skinned, rose-pink meat scattered with pomegranate arils and a marsala sauce of great rib-sticking depth. Make that duck your go-to dish and build the rest of the meal around it.
Chilli-salted zucchini flowers stuffed with goat’s ricotta ($6 each) are another mainstay, but I’m more interested in the taralli ($6): a dense little pretzel-esque curl of bread that Oh turbo-charges with fermented black garlic and drapes with anchovies. Brilliant.
Wagyu tartare is spooned across crisp Sardinian flatbread pane carasau and sharpened by sweet-sour blood lime and tempered with macadamia cream. Another smashing three-bite snack for $6 a pop.
An $80 bottle of Podere Pradarolo 2021 “Vej”, made with white malvasia grapes in Emilia-Romagna, has enough zest and drive to keep up with the bold cooking. We use it to cut through a mussel and sake-spiked butter reginette pasta (the ruffled ribbon one, also known as mafaldine) that comes tangled with Yamba prawns and crunchy pangrattato ($35).
Meanwhile, pretty, bellflower-shaped gigli pasta ($33) harnesses crumbled lamb sausage, peas and fermented chilli to create a steadying hotchpotch that teams the flavours of Italy, Korea and shepherd’s pie.
From the specials board, coal-grilled wagyu rump ($58) has the right ratio of gnarly char to marbled fat and comes glossed with an indecently silky sauce of rosemary, anchovy and garlic. Ideal, naturally, with a side of craggy, duck fat-roasted potatoes ($14).
Steamed Tuscan chestnut flour cake – castagnaccio – is another feel-good hit of the winter, crowned with a lavish scoop of truffle gelato and browned hazelnuts ($18).
One major gripe: a condensed menu is also offered through Uber Eats. Great for couples keen for a few tarallis on the couch; not so tops if you’re seated near the entrance and there’s a steady procession of blokes in motorbike helmets collecting takeaway gigli. At least the red-wine glasses are always full, and Pino’s nocino, a green walnut liqueur ($9), is on hand to keep you warm every time a delivery rider opens the door.
Everyone has their own idea of what the perfect Australian restaurant looks and tastes like. Maybe it’s a bowling club with beef and blackbean sauce; maybe it’s the beach view and roast chook at Sean’s in Bondi.
Uber Eats aside, Russo & Russo is mine with its mixed bag of cultures and tradition, more concerned with deliciousness than “authentic” cuisine. Neil Perry and Kylie Kwong have been doing this kind of thing for decades. If it’s been a while between rounds of Pino’s limoncello, now is a cracking time to become reacquainted.
The low-down
Vibe: Old-school hospitality with young-gun talent in the kitchen
Go-to dish: Grilled duck breast with pomegranate and marsala ($39)
Drinks: Thoughtful, concise list of Italian bottles, plus plenty of bittersweet digestifs and liqueurs
Cost: About $160 for two, excluding drinks
This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine
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Callan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.From our partners
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