Review: Ormeggio opens Sotto Sopra, its wood-fired trattoria in Newport
Sotto Sopra, Ormeggio’s new trattoria in Newport is as red-hot as the wood-fired oven.
Manly
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DON’T saunter in for a takeaway pizza, as one surfie dude did, Sotto Sopra isn’t a pizzeria.
Newport’s newest eatery is as red hot as its wood-fired oven. But don’t expect suburban rustic with red-checked table cloths and dangling chianti bottles at this recently-opened trattoria.
Sotto Sopra is classy, glassy and semi-industrial with curved floor-to-ceiling windows, tiled table tops, whitewashed palings, zinc pendant lights, concrete polished floors and a bespoke timber and glass table for group bookings.
Its beating heart is elevated — the kitchen had to comply to flood plain building restrictions, so cooking is on the upper level, while dining is on ground level. This upstairs-downstairs, topsy-turvy kind of thing also ties neatly in with the restaurant’s name.
Sotto Sopra is Italian for upside down.
It also comes with big-name pulling power. Sotto Sopra is Alessandro Pavoni and his team’s latest restaurant. Team Ormeggio wanted another casual addition on the northern beaches and one that was preferably on the water like Ormeggio and Chiosco at The Spit.
Sites proved impossible to come by, so a main road alternative in Newport began taking shape, slowly working towards the February 2017 unveiling.
Old faces have moved around; new ones have come on-board. Chiosco by Ormeggio’s head chef Mattia Rossi has gone to Newport as patron/chef, Flavia Beniamini is the pastry chef and Jonah’s sommelier Luke Collard is back as Ormeggio Group’s sommelier, so it’s not that surprising that Sotto Sopra has already generated quite a buzz from locals and foodies from across Sydney.
Tuesday night is pretty lively when we turn up. It’s an open space, but it’s surprisingly not that noisy, even with the multitude of hard surfaces. Service is in full swing and that’s friendly and professional. Staff know their stuff and talk with passion about the opening, the food, the two sharing feasts and the extensive wine list.
The wine is a good place to start. Only the $9 a glass house wine isn’t Italian, and 30 Italian wines are available by the glass. Collard takes diners on a regional Italian wine tour and details a number under headings. Nine whites are `Complex and Interesting’; and 14 reds are `Full-bodied, Rich and Structured’. Prices range from $39 for Ormeggio’s house wine, up to $240 for a bottle of Nino Negri ‘Sfursat Nebbiolo.
Our pockets aren’t that deep, so we plump for something cheaper and one of Collard’s recommendations, a $18 glass of Lombardian Barbera to go with the wood-fired eggplant parmigiana. This dish happened by accident while the kitchen was playing around with dishes in the wood-fired oven, we’re told.
The kitchen has given this classic a rework, sending downstairs fancy white plates with thick slices of soft, smoky eggplant. The dish is topped with smoked cheddar, San Marzano tomato, basil oil, mint leaves and colatura di alici. These ingredients make this dish sing with flavour.
Colatura di alici for the uninitiated — and that includes us — is fish sauce. Fish sauce is not new to Italian cooking, Rossi is from Rome and the Romans were perking up dinner time with garum, a fermented anchovy sauce, more than 2000 years ago.
Spaghetti mancini is a modern meal showcasing Italian tradition and Australian seafood. Its industrial-strength sauce flavoured with Port Lincoln sardines, black garlic and crunchy textured breadcrumbs will divide pasta fans. It’s intense, embracing and so Italian.
Chicken cacciatora comes to the table in a cast iron pot and a warning. This simple and satisfying dish, straight from the woodfired oven is piping hot, and a welcome return to hearty rustic flavours — sage, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, capers, green olives and parsley.
For something sweet, there are five desserts or cheese. The pot of custard with berries and herbs is light and lemony, while those with bigger appetites can share a caramelised seasonal fruit tart with homemade gelato.
Alternatively there’s everone’s favourite tiramisu al cucchioio. This dessert is creamy, light and deliciously more-ish with layers of mascarpone, coffee and dark, bitter cocoa sprinkled on the top. It’s even spooned out at the table from the big, metal tin. Nonna would be pleased.
Even with the abundance of fancy ingredients on the menu and a flash fitout, Sotto Sopra is still at heart a trattoria.
Welcome to Newport.
Essentials
Sotto Sopra
316-324 Barrenjoey Rd, G04 The Palms, Newport
Bookings: 9997 7009
Go for: eggplant parmigiana, $20; chicken cacciatora, $36; chef’s sharing feast, $69
BYO: Tuesday night
Best bit: Imaginative food, Italian wine list, great service
Worst bit: Getting to Newport, wooden bench seats
Bottom line: $142 for two
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