Pilu at Akuna Bay serves an Italian-style shared Sunday lunch

Pilu at Akuna Bay is waterfront Sunday lunch destination deep in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.

The cold seafood platters at Pilu Akuna Bay.

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Let’s face it, the romance languages always sound so much more romantic than Anglo Saxon counterparts.

Take Sunday lunch, translated into Italian, Pranzo della Domenica, instantly sounds more appealing.

Giovanni Pilu — he of the eponymous award-winning Sardinian restaurant in Freshwater — has embraced the idea of a long, leisurely Sunday lunch at his second marina-based venue.

Pilu at Akuna Bay is a destination in itself tucked away in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. And if you don’t have a swanky gin palace, then the only way to get there is by car.

Dining on the deck.

Remember too to bring extra pennies, there’s a $12 fee to get into the park. And, don’t expect internet access, there’s no reception.

This is lunch the old-fashioned way, sitting around and talking to each other over a glass of wine. It’s just the way I like it.

Pilu opened his upstairs restaurant in the D’Albora Marina at the beginning of the year to cater for bigger weddings and his Sunday lunch spin-off.

In true Italian fashion, Pranzo della Domenica is a casual, put-the-food-in-the-middle-of-the-table and tuck in kind of lunch. The $65 a head set lunch has an antipasto platter, then three courses.

The first course could be gnocchi with tomato and sheep’s milk ricotta, followed by Kurobuta pork loin with parsnips and cavolo nero and swordfish with black olives, heirloom cherry and sun-dried tomatoes, accompanied by a bowl of chips and a tart red cabbage, apple and Spanish onion salad.

Selection of hot seafood, chils and salad at Pilu at Akuna Bay.

Dessert, or dolci, is simple and delicious. And there’s two, which makes ramekins of coconut mousse with pineapple, roasted almond and lemon balm, or icing sugar-drenched squares of orange and almond cake even harder to resist.

There’s more too. Pilu has introduced a summer shared lunch with two seafood courses. Don’t expect lots of deep-fried options, Pilu prefers to let the quality seafood stand alone.

This $90 a head lunch starts with antipasto, followed by the first course, a big platter of cold seafood. Out comes a big platter of Pambula oysters with white balsamic dressing, hiramasa kingfish on crostini, Pilu’s own shaved bottarga, a jar of ocean trout rillettes with flatbread and hot smoked Ora salmon topped with crème fraîche and decorated with sprigs of micro herbs.

Serving the two courses separately seems so obvious, he says.

Cold seafood at Pilu at Akuna Bay.

The second course features a selection of hot seafood. It is a simple as prawns cooked in their shells, the Italian way, to lock in the flavours, then split in half, there are pieces of swordfish topped with tangy salsa verde and grilled baby octopus in a rustic tomato sauce and calamari dusted and lightly fried.

The course comes with chips and a big bowl of seasonal salad. The simple selection of apple, red cabbage and this slices of Spanish cuts through the richness.

The meal ends with shared desserts. It’s inspired and so perfect for a Sydney summer.

orange and almond cake and coconut mousse.