Ormeggio chef Alessandro Pavoni’s Postino Osteria in the inner west channels a mostly Northern Italian nonna’s repertoire, from fave bean puree with chicory to veal saltimbocca, with a sharing menu less than $80 per person.
15/20
Italian$$
There are close to 40 meatballs in my spaghetti alla chitarra with tomato sugo. They’re each the size of a hazelnut, but even so. These pallottine, as they are called, are a speciality of Abruzzo on the eastern coast of Italy. They are now also a specialty of Summer Hill, in the inner west of Sydney.
At Alessandro and Anna Pavoni’s newly formed osteria, Postino, they’re served in a thick, rustic tomato sugo with a lovely, chewy, spaghetti alla chitarra ($37). I’m told it’s the biggest seller on the menu, so let’s just think that through for a moment. If they sell even 20 of these a night, that’s 800 tiny meatballs that need to be rolled by hand before service. Maybe send a silent thanks to the team as you dig in.
No wonder it’s all hands on deck in these early weeks of opening, as various heads of state of the Pavoni Plus restaurant group jump in to help make pasta, roll meatballs and whip baccala. Peering into the surprisingly small kitchen, I see talented chefs Victor Moya and Gianmarco Pardini as well as the newly appointed head chef Alessio Chessa, who has moved west from the Ormeggio team at The Spit.
The former Summer Hill post office – a grand, porticoed, high-windowed brick affair that owns its corner – was Nina Alidenes’ much-loved One Penny Red for 10 years. It feels big, both in intention and dimension, and there are half a dozen different dining spaces upstairs and down, outside and in.
On the floor, Anna Pavoni and manager Antonio Sebastiano settle their diners at seats along the grand bar or cosy tables in the dark wood, carpeted dining room. The interiors have been refreshed by designer Larissa Raywood and Perry Drakopoulos of the Pavoni’s long-term partners, Sydney Restaurant Group, and feel pubby and warm.
Apart from the meatballs, the menu channels a mostly Northern Italian nonna’s repertoire, from fave bean puree with chicory to veal saltimbocca. Baccala mantecato ($24) is especially good; creamy and fresh-tasting, almost grainy with flakes of the salted Murray cod that is used rather than the imported variety. Polenta chips form super-crunchy scoops.
But wait, there are more meatballs. This time, mondeghini ($16 for four), crumbed and fried, and filled with a soft mince of beef, pork sausage and mortadella, ready to dip into a pool of lemony mayo. Pavoni first put these on the menu at the likeable Via Alta in Northbridge, back in 2014, so welcome back, mondeghini! They’re great with a Menabrea lager ($13) or a glass of the aromatic Il Terraio Paterna Toscano made with malvasia and trebbiano grapes ($19).
There’s a touch of the counter lunch special about the saltimbocca ($42). Three pieces of flattened veal backstrap are swaddled with sage and prosciutto, and swim in a glossy white wine and butter sauce. It’s an uncomplicated, old-school dish, thoroughly cooked and fairly salty.
The food may tick all the time-worn osteria boxes, but there are subtle points of difference. The prosciutto, for instance, is an aged culaccio di Busseto ($28), that’s sweet, soft and fragrant. Tonnato ($28) is made with slow-cooked wagyu beef under creamy tuna sauce, crunchy with pine nuts. The cheese here is more likely to be salty pecorino romano than the more elegant parmigiano, but it suits the classic trippa alla romana ($22) of soft honeycomb tripe in a velvety tomato sugo.
Another point of difference – the cushiony-soft tiramisu ($22) is brightened by the famous Bronte pistachio from Sicily, bringing a gentle sweetness to the balance of mascarpone cream and sponge.
Alessandro Pavoni says the building reminds him of so many osterias he was taken to as a child in Brescia, and there’s a certain sense of nostalgia in the air, for simpler, familial times. The hospitality is Italian, the four-course sharing menu is less than $80 a head, and there are three different spots for dining outdoors. All that, and a chance of meatballs.
The low-down
Vibe: Buzzy osteria for relaxed casa-lingering
Go-to dish: Chitarra spaghetti con pallottine, $37
Drinks: Proudly (and mostly) Italian cocktails, beer and wines
Cost: About $180 for two, plus drinks
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Terry Durack is the chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food.