Australian_Gourmet_Traveller_2017

Pinbone’s new pop-up

Sydney’s Pinbone loves a good plot twist. Its next adventure?

A glorious mash-up of bar, restaurant and dance party.

OPENING

Pinbone’s classic hazelnut tiramisù.

Left, clockwise from top: white

anchovy, chilli and fennel bruschetta;

onion and Comté bruschetta; peas,

beans and stracciatella bruschetta.

With the dust barely settled on their
Chinese Sydney pop-up Good Luck
Pinbone, chefs Mike Eggert and Jemma
Whiteman are at work on their next
shape-shifting venture, this time in
partnership with juggernaut Sydney
restaurant group Merivale.
This month they open Mr Liquor
Dirty Italian Disco in the drive-through
of the group’s Tennyson Hotel in Mascot.
Italianate food and a pick-and-drink
system that takes advantage of the ample
fridge space at the pub’s bottle shop are
the calling cards. “We were thinking of
restaurants that are always fun – when
it’s more than just a meal and you have
a really good time,” Eggert says. “To us,
Italian food is always happy.”
Eggert and Whiteman have a wood-
fired oven to work with, which they plan

to use for everything from fish, molten

cheeses and whole suckling pigs to

focaccia “with all sorts of toppings”,

says Eggert. “Basically, whatever we

find that looks like it would go well

in a big wood-fired oven.”

Pasta, such as pappardelle with a

green vegetable ragù, and trofie with red

pepper, chilli and liverwurst sauce, is

likely to appear on the opening menu,

along with smoked eel lasagne, and

shallots roasted in drippings with

Comté and parsley. Fans of Eggert and

Whiteman’s hazelnut tiramisù will be

able to get their fix and, with some luck,

there may be an Italian version of the

icy poles served at Good Luck Pinbone.

Good times are the goal, with the

gang’s influences ranging from the

Italo-American restaurants of

Williamsburg to a casual backyard

barbecue with the extended family, the

tables laden with plates of buttered

sardines with tomato, chilli and fennel,

say, and raw beef with horseradish and

bitter greens. The Tennyson’s drive-

through, detached from the pub proper

and more akin to a large shed, will be

decked out like a warehouse party, and

DJs will spin Donna Summer, punk

and more.

Unsurprisingly for a bottle shop,

there will be a big drinks list, a rare

feature for a pop-up and a change of pace

from the BYO scenario at Good Luck

Pinbone. “When you’ve got a massive

cool-room fridge, you can do what you

want, even if that’s stocking two bottles

of something,” Eggert says. Punters will

be able to browse the fridges for natural

wines or a six-pack of beer, for example,

before settling at a table on the horseshoe-

shaped driveway.

Sydney will have six months to enjoy

Mr Liquor Dirty Italian Disco, from

early October, Wednesday to Sunday.

How does it feel to go from running

your own pop-ups to working with a big

player such as Merivale? “These guys are

seasoned professionals,” Eggert says.

“They see things that no one else sees.”

Mr Liquor Dirty Italian Disco, 952 Botany

Rd, Mascot, NSW, merivale.com.au

BY EMMA BREHENY

GOURMET TRAVELLER 33