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This luxed-up Latin American diner in Martin Place has bags of personality – and a hat

A personality-filled menu from Peruvian chef Alejandro Saravia brings new life to a treasure of a building.

Terry Durack
Terry Durack

Morena’s dining room is elegant and comfortable.
1 / 8Morena’s dining room is elegant and comfortable.Edwina Pickles
Go-to dish: Ox tongue anticuchos.
2 / 8Go-to dish: Ox tongue anticuchos.Edwina Pickles
Snapper ceviche with leche de tigre.
3 / 8Snapper ceviche with leche de tigre.Edwina Pickles
Half a free-range chicken with white corn puree.
4 / 8Half a free-range chicken with white corn puree.Edwina Pickles
Coconut sponge, oblea (wafer), coconut diplomat cream and dulce de leche.
5 / 8Coconut sponge, oblea (wafer), coconut diplomat cream and dulce de leche.Edwina Pickles
The outdoor portico is fringed with cocktail tables.
6 / 8The outdoor portico is fringed with cocktail tables.Edwina Pickles
Suckling pig forequarter.
7 / 8Suckling pig forequarter.Edwina Pickles
Goat’s cheese custard, Andean crisps, aji panca and huacatay oil.
8 / 8Goat’s cheese custard, Andean crisps, aji panca and huacatay oil.Edwina Pickles

Good Food hat15/20

South American$$

As much as I love living in Sydney, it’s always nice to be transported somewhere else for a night. At the new Morena in Martin Place, I’ve been trekking through Latin America, from Peru to Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile, Cuba and Colombia, and having a ball.

So has Peruvian-born Alejandro Saravia of Melbourne’s produce-driven Farmer’s Daughters, who even highlights the provenance of each dish on the menu with an airline code. Hence, the PER for Peru against the pan de yema ($9) with cultured butter and charred corn leaves, and the MEX, PER and COL against the various ceviches on offer.

The surroundings do their bit to convey you to another time and place as well. The golden-stoned history and majesty of the heritage-listed GPO building could have turned Morena into a mausoleum. Instead, it’s warm and alive; the portico outside fringed with cocktail tables overlooking the broad sweep of Martin Place, the inner dining space transformed into a long, confident bar with a busy kitchen at one end and library-like private dining on the other.

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The space, once the Italian Intermezzo, also opens to the inner atrium, where it faces The Fullerton Sydney.

Goat’s cheese custard, Andean crisps, aji panca and huacatay oil.
Goat’s cheese custard, Andean crisps, aji panca and huacatay oil.Edwina Pickles

Everything here is high-personality; including Morena’s frothy take on a Pisco sour ($25), a beguiling mix of Barsol Quebranta, Australia’s Marionette bitter curacao, and sweet and extra dry vermouths.

Sommelier Pablo Toledo (Otto, Botswana Butchery), insists there is more to Argentinean wine than malbec, with an educational list of varietals such as the high-altitude 2022 Alamos Torrontes, which is crisp and refreshing ($16/$80). Or keep travelling with a glass of carmenere (CHIL) or tannat (URG).

The place is elegant and comfortable, with good chairs, generous tables, banquettes and herringbone-parquetry floors; the kitchen seems a bit squeezed as a result. Saravia has brought along some serious talent, including group head chef Samuel Rivas, head chef Gianni Moretto, and restaurant manager Luca Capecchi.

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Snapper ceviche with leche de tigre.
Snapper ceviche with leche de tigre.Edwina Pickles

You have to start with ceviche, the most classic being diced, raw gold band snapper teamed with cubes of sweet potato and chulpi (toasted corn kernels) with a marinade of leche de tigre (a refreshing “tiger’s milk” of lime juice, salt, celery, ginger and chilli). Toss with a spoon and you can almost see the acidity “cook” the fish before your eyes.

For my money, the king prawn ceviche ($24) is stronger, with its tomato, clam and lime dressing and crisp, salty plantain chips.

Go-to dish: Ox tongue anticuchos.
Go-to dish: Ox tongue anticuchos.Edwina Pickles.

Follow with anticuchos of tender ox tongue concertinaed onto skewers and crisped on the grill. They’re rich, smoky and fruity and almost gritty with spice, their sun-dried chilli marinade playing off a sunny carretillero sauce of fresh Peruvian yellow chillies, lemon and shallots.

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A deep-fried, savoury corn arepa ($6.50) oozing with eggplant puree is heavy, but a salad of palm heart and avocado ($16) is revelatory; a must. Goat’s cheese custard ($22) from BOL sits in a pool of deep green huacatay oil made from black mint (marigold) leaves, a gentle respite from the spice.

Morena is warm and alive; everything here is high-personality.

Main courses are indeed main – large and meaty. Hazeldene half-chicken ($39) served on a white corn puree is big, brined and chunky; difficult to cut into smaller portions, with leg and wing meat the most rewarding.

Forequarter of Kaloola suckling pig is listed on the menu for $260, but often appears as a special for $42. The meat is sweet and soft, but don’t be hanging out for crisp skin – it’s not the point. The meat is the point, the skin sacrificed.

Coconut sponge with coconut diplomat cream and dulce de leche wears an oblea (wafer) mortar board.
Coconut sponge with coconut diplomat cream and dulce de leche wears an oblea (wafer) mortar board.Edwina Pickles
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Dessert is a return to elegance. A coconut sponge ($16) a delightful layering of soft, blonde cake, coconut cream and dulce de leche caramel, wearing a mortar board of a thin crisp oblea wafer (ARG) for crunch.

Saravia and team bring a respectful but still creative take on mainly South American and Mexican food to this treasure of a building, bringing together dishes from PER, BOL, VEN and CUB while retaining their charm and personality. Welcome to SYD.

The low-down

Vibe: Luxed-up Latin American

Go-to dish: Ox tongue anticuchos, $13 each

Drinks: A dozen Latin American cocktails and Old and New World wine list full of malbec (Argentina), marmenere (Chile) and tannat (Uruguay)

Cost: About $175 for two, plus drinks

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Terry DurackTerry Durack is the chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food.

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Original URL: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/take-a-grand-tour-of-latin-america-at-morena-20240423-p5fm26.html