Dining review: Gio brings contemporary Italian to the Harbord Diggers

Gio is the contemporary Italian rooftop restaurant at Harbord Diggers.

Chef Antonio Ruggerino on there deck at Gio.

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There isn’t much left of the old Harbord Diggers while the massive three-year rebuild is going on. But it’s still business as usual in temporary clubland.

The poker machines are audible from the carpark, it’s schnitty night on Wednesdays at the Dig Inn Cafe and there’s Gio, the rooftop Italian restaurant.

Gio is industrial rather than beachy — the views from the deck do that without any designer’s mood boards. But this is multi-function space too. It has to appeal to families, as well as screening classic movies and the Saturday night crowd who want music and a DJ.

From left: arancini balls, sauteed olives, zucchini flowers and barramundi.

Then there’s the food. Italian is safe bet — but this a little bit more fancy. Harbord Diggers has brought in Antonio Ruggerino from southern Italian restaurant Verde to run the show.

This Riley St restaurant is a three-hatter in French restaurant guide Gault & Millau’s yellow book of Sydney dining.

So can a feted restaurant with a tick from a guide with an unpronounceable name deliver in the very different world of all-day, mass appeal dining in clubland?

Arancini balls with tomato sugo.

Yes and no. Gio’s menu still has old faves. Fish and chips are now bite-sized and the all-American beef brisket burger has been unscaled with fries and a $20 price tag.

The menu is designed to share in true Italian fashion. Antipasti dishes include his mum’s parsley and parmesan potato fritters and saffron-battered zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and spinach.

We’re advised that there is a “bit of a wait”, so we’ve gone for two dishes to share — arancini balls and the antipasto of cured meats. The crumbed rice balls are a little bland, but the accompanying tomato sugo is delicious — even if there’s not much of it. Pity, more would be better. But you can always buy a jar to take home from the downstairs providores on the way out.

Gio’s pan-fried barramundi with vegetables has been on the menu.

The trio of cured meats comes with more-ish house-marinated Sicilian green olives, roasted red peppers and provolone to pile on toasted buns — it’s a bit like making little open sandwiches.

Barramundi with white vegetable fregola one of Gio’s main meals. It is highly recommended by the chef. That’s a big call.

The fish is beautifully cooked but the fregola (it’s a Sardinian pasta that’s a bit like couscous) doesn’t have much flavour and the white vegetables seem to have disappeared altogether in the circular pasta. At $24, it’s the most expensive dish.

Chef Antonio Ruggerino has brought contemporary Italian food to the Diggers.

Instead I’d recommend the $18 spaghetti with crab, tomatoes, chilli, garlic and white wine. A simple flavour bomb — it’s just how Italian food should be. It’s spot on too with a well-priced $10 glass of Scarborough vermentino.

Gio has cocktails of the week as specials between 5 and 8pm. This week it’s a $12 martini al caffe — or espresso martini — the current darling of the cocktail set. Gio’s is made with Skyy vodka and coffee liqueur and house espresso coffee.

It’s definitely a wake-me-up before you go-go.

Twitter: @beverley_hudec

ESSENTIALS

Gio at Harbord Diggers, 80 Evans St, Freshwater

Phone: [phone]

Open: Wednesday to Sunday, from 11.30am until late

Go for: Spaghetti crab, tomato, garlic and chilli, $18; American-style beef brisket burger with chips, $20; espresso martini, $12 as a the cocktail of the week, otherwise it’s $16

BYO: No

Vibe: Instant Italy

Bottom line: $94, plus $6 for club joining fee

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