Inside Latteria, the latest offering on Hutt Street

The culinary delights of a restaurant blended with the vibe of a bar is how Hutt Street’s latest opening is setting itself apart. Our food reviewer gives his verdict if the blend works.

Latteria Hutt Street in Adelaide is the latest offering to blend bar and eatery. Supplied

The food of Italy and Japan aren’t that different, says Nicola Pau of city venue Latteria. Take pasta and noodles. Or the crumbed fillet of chicken/pork that could just as easily pass as cotoletta or katsu.

Which leads us to a dish that is dear to Pau’s heart. “Risotto al salto” comes from his home town of Milan and is one of those thrifty, waste-smashing ideas that Italians love. The previous night’s leftover saffron risotto is pressed into a pancake and fried in butter until it forms a dark, crunchy crust.

The chefs at Latteria make this disc the bullseye at the centre of rings of airy whipped parmesan cream and chicken jus, before dusting with more parmesan. Then they scatter over bonito flakes that sway in the eddies of hot air as if by magic – a flourish normally associated with Japan’s okonomiyaki. It’s a culinary alliance that makes the world a better place.

The same can be said for this bar and eatery that goes above and beyond the usual copycat concepts. Using the combined sites of an old bank and TAB outlet in Hutt St, design house Studio Gram has created a space of stunning craftsmanship. Check out the seamless transitions from plaster to timber strips or the marble counter of a bar that partially splits the casual high tables at the front from the more formal rear dining and lounge spaces. Not that there are any real rules around what, where and when. The model is one of those casual, community-minded establishments that Italy seems to do so well.

Risotto al salto with parmesan cream and bonito flakes at Latteria eatery and bar, Hutt St, Adelaide

Prosciutto-wrapped cannoli at Latteria eatery and bar, Hutt St, Adelaide

As well as Pau, the business’s partners include Luca Baioni and chefs Rhys Nicholson and Max O’Callaghan, all of whom have past or ongoing connections to influential restaurants such as Osteria Oggi and Press, as well as their creator, Simon Kardachi.

There are similarities here – the flexible all-day approach, the assured yet personable service – but Latteria is the younger, more mischievous, party-minded descendant. If its customers are talking about a “big night”, it won’t be the cult foodie film.

This is reflected in the care put into a cocktail list (including the “Best Cosmo Ever”) and choices of wines that are all available by glass or half/full bottle. Bravo.

Interior shots at Latteria eatery and bar, Hutt St, Adelaide

Interior shots at Latteria eatery and bar, Hutt St, Adelaide

The double-page menu skews heavily to snacks and entree-sized serves, to the point where only two choices could be regarded as fully fledged “mains”. However, building a DIY meal from all the other bits and pieces (or taking the $84 chef’s selection, as we did) feels like delving into a bag of mixed lollies.

You might begin with a crisp cannoli tube filled with unsweetened whipped ricotta and a little surprise of spiced honey, before being wrapped in a paper-thin sheet of prosciutto.

Blue swimmer crabmeat and scorched corn kernels (a favourite Oggi combination) are bound in mayonnaise and seasoned with smoked salt, then stuffed into house-made glazed buns that are fresh off the grill, taking them to another level.

Going up a notch in sophistication, slices of octopus tentacle are impaled on a metal skewer with a disc of polenta top and bottom. The whole assembly is laid on a pool of yellow capsicum sauce. A classic beef tartare is crowned with a quenelle of smoked eel mascarpone as a debatable replacement for the usual egg yolk.

Latteria leaves the standard Italian choices to other places. The sole pasta is pappardelle with a wild boar ragu that isn’t included among our set menu items. Not a problem when the alternative is a pork cotoletta that makes something simple very special. It starts with a thick, full-flavoured pork scotch steak that is crumbed, fried until the coating is dark and crunchy, sprinkled with salt flakes and sliced to order. A squeeze of lemon, a few radicchio leaves and a reduction sauce enriched with bone marrow are the only accompaniments needed.

Dessert presents another mash-up of national icons. The base is a ridgy-didge lamington. On top is a splat of mascarpone with an espresso sauce filling a hollow in the middle. An Australia tiramisu? Or is it an Italian lamington? Either way, it’s another example of making the world smaller.