Bacco Osteria e Espresso opens in Sydney
it’s been four years in the making but Sydney’s Angel Place now has a new eatery.
Bacco Osteria e Espresso is the result of a collaboration between executive chef Andrew Cibej and head chef Scott Williams.
Sydney foodies will remember them coming out of Surry Hills food places Vini, 121BC, Berta and Chippendale’s Ester. They are the the co-owners of China Lane and Mercado restaurants.
The menu at Bacco Osteria e Espresso is your typical delicious Italian fare: freshly-baked Panini, pastries and handmade pastas, Little Marionette coffee and Bacco's house-baked breads. There’s also porchetta and pickles and vitello tonnato varieties. Inn addition to that, the place offers pizza-by-the-slice.
All of it is locally sourced.
To get it up and running, Cibej and Williams brought in Anthony Gill Architects, the team responsible for the chefs' earlier venues. The interior has an earthy, olive colour palette with wooden finishes giving off a warm, intimate feel.
All their cooking equipment has been imported from Italy, so it’s all there to create a highly particular menu.
The trattoria-style restaurant section opened this week on Monday May 29.
The menu is totally Italian.
It will offer goat ragù strozzapreti and spaghetti with sea urchin.
Then there is handmade gnocchi in a pistachio and pecorino sauce.
And to ensure it is authentically Italian, it is made by Cibej's nonna no less.
That’s in addition to decadent antipasti offering dry-aged lamb tartare with whipped anchovy and smoked swordfish with kohlrabi and apple.
The dessert menu includes house-baked ricotta cheesecake.
Cibej says he has given Williams lots of creative freedom with the menu. "He has great knowledge and enthusiasm for food,” Cibej told Good Food. “There's a freshness to Scott's cooking, but at the same time he's respectful of tradition and flavour combinations. He cooked a tagliatelle dish for us with sardines, currants and chilli that I really hope makes the menu at some stage."
The Espresso bar is open from Monday to Friday, 7am-5pm
by Leon Gettler, May 29th 2017
