Members have never had so many quality dining options as NSW clubs swap soggy pasta for the house-made kind
FINE dining is now firmly on the menu at your local.
Sydney Taste
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WITH a growing number of NSW clubs swapping soggy pasta for the house-made kind, members have never had so many quality dining options.
And now that Giovanni Pilu, of fine diner Pilu at Freshwater, is ready to open his latest venture, they will have another one.
Although initially hesitant to join the club, Pilu has embraced the concept.
He opens AcquaFresca by Pilu (Italian for Freshwater) at Harbord Diggers tomorrow.
“I did not have good memories of the food in clubs, but it was clear this was very different from what the perception of club and RSLs were in the past,” he says.
The restaurant in the $160 million redevelopment will be casual Italian, the menu spanning $20 pizzas, pastas around $22 and entrees from $8.
“I am sourcing flour from Sardinia and the pizza dough will prove for 48 hours. We will make all our own fresh pasta and the prosciutto is sliced to order,” he says.
“You come from some antipasti, like you’ll find in a nice Italian trattoria, zucchini flowers and vitello tonnato, and there are only three mains; cotoletta Milanese, a chicken dish and a fish.”
Pilu’s restaurant and his Baretto kiosk are just down the road, but he says it’s an addition to the area rather than competition.
“Baretto is open plan, it’s very small, it’s on the beach, it’s basically a cafe with a liquor licence,” he says.
“This is a club and I think they will suit each other. People come to Baretto for coffee in morning and say they can’t wait for this to open. We are giving people choice.”
Pittwater RSL
Inspired by the glasshouses of Warriewood’s market gardens in the 1920s, there’s a farm to table approach. Dishes include grilled Humpty Doo barramundi and Moroccan Junee lamb shoulder.
Wenty Leagues
This new food outlet will let you indulge in all the bad things — burgers, pizzas and wings — done well. Take the Elvis Pigsley, a tribute to The King’s favourite sandwich, a pork belly burger with crunchy peanut butter, streaky maple bacon, caramelised onion pecan jam, fried banana and coleslaw on a milk bun.
Mosman Club
A rooftop rose bar changing the demographic of the club, bringing in young, female members.
Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL
Opening earlier this year, ex-Longrain chef Freddie Salim (left) makes curry pastes from scratch, cooks whole fish and uses Cape Grimm beef.
Formerly the Lane Cove Club
After an extensive renovation and rebranding, The Alcott is opening in July. The restaurant will be spearheaded by ex-Sake and Aria chef Richard Slarp. The Mediterranean menu will include whole southern chargrilled calamari with pickled fennel, tomato pangrattato and saltbush lamb ribs, almond, sumac and coriander.
Cabra-Vale Diggers
Launched late last year as part of an $18 million renovation, this 600-seater, 2000sq m food precinct has all your Asian cravings covered. It serves up the food of the Mekong, from dumplings and Hainan chicken to curry and green mango salad.
Merrylands RSL
Furphy’s Cafe lets you order coffee and breakfast via an app before you head to the office and at night, new restaurant Sage offers elevated club classics such as burgers and fish and chips plus Asian dishes including chicken adobo and Massaman curry.
Club York
This tribute to a New York bar opened late last year and provides everything you’d expect to get in the Big Apple; barbecue baby back ribs, hot dogs, five different types of fries and a Cuban rueben sandwich.
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Despite its whopping $19 million debt, the remaining Criniti’s stores, including Parramatta and Darling Harbour, have sold for a staggeringly low price in what one broker has described as ‘beyond a fire sale’.
‘I like big buns’: Wacky burgers with a difference
Parramatta’s very own Eat Street is as exciting and diverse as the city itself. Take BL Burgers for example, which brought its premium burgers — including the Blame Canada, Blame Indian and Mac Daddy burgers — to western Sydney.