Australian Gourmet Traveller - (10)October 2019 (1)

RESTAURANTNEWS

SYDNEY After chasing sites for four years,

Pasi Petänen has found a permanent home

for Cafe Paci, the brilliant pop-up he closed

in 2015. The Newtown location is two doors

down from Bella Brutta, and will include

original Cafe Paci favourites, such as the

rye taco, the rye and molasses bread, and

other excuses to flex his love of the grain

(a rye and cocoa dessert is on the cards).

Cafe Paci 2.0 will adopt the more casual

approach of the That’s Amore pop-ups the

chef ran with sommelier Giorgio De Maria,

and will likely revisit dishes from that time

(sourdough pasta with pear and cheese, fried

sardines with lardo, asparagus aglio e olio).

So what’s new? A potato-anchovy gratin

that’s a nod to his Finnish heritage, a dish

with mettwurst made by LP’s Quality Meats

and a take on spiced devilled eggs inspired

by Petänen’s time at Lankan Filling Station.

Opening a 10-seat degustation-only

CBD restaurant might seem risky, but Kuro

has the talent to back up the bold move.

Chef Taka Teramoto has cooked at acclaimed

restaurants (Florilège in Tokyo, Restaurant

Pages in Paris) and sommelier Wanaka

Teramoto poured wines at Tokyo’s Den;

they were both at Sydney’s Waqu, too.

Here, the chef’s menu has wagyu tartare

in charcoal panko, peas with stracciatella

and lovage oil, and sashimi squid with lemon

myrtle and tomato dashi. While he runs the

10-seater chef’s table (Teramato by Kuro),

Kuro will also feature a more casual 40-seat

section called Kuro Bar & Dining, and a brew

bar for specialty coffee.

MELBOURNE At 17, Nick Deligiannis was

an apprentice at Bistro Gitan, the restaurant

run by the Reymond family. After stints at

Pollen Street Social and Petit Tracteur, he is

now head chef of Frédéric, the family’s new

Cremorne bistro. Veal tartare with pine-nut

cream and mushroom crackers appears

on his menu, as do sweetcorn madeleines

with blue swimmer crab, and Manchego

millefeuilles with olive and celery. To drink,

Tim O’Donnell’s wine list has back-vintage

classics from Rockford Basket Press, an

experimental vintage by Ray Nadeson,

and Movia skin-contact drops from Slovenia.

NEW YORK David Chang’s Bar Wayō sits

by the Manhattan waterfront, but it still

has an Australian touch: the Rockpool

Salad, which was inspired by a visit to the

Melbourne outpost of Rockpool Bar & Grill.

Get it with grilled shrimp or chicken katsu.

Also on the menu: “burger dip” sandwich,

clam soup and an ode to omurice.

Clockwise from top left: Kuro’s

stracciatella; Frédéric’s tartare,

madeleines and Manchego

millefeuilles; Bar Wayō’s

South Street Sling.

Check in to experience five-star dishes by chef Bethany Finn at Adelaide’s Gourmet

Institute on 16 October. Her duck pie with star anise, and honey and lemon beehive

dessert are good reasons why travellers and locals alike head to Mayflower, her restaurant

at the Mayfair Hotel. harveynorman.com.au/gourmet-institute

GOURMET TRAVELLER 31

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PHOTOGRAPHY ANDREW-BEZEK (BAR WAYŌ), PETER DILLON (FRÉDÉRIC) & MEGANN EVANS (KURO).