Bottarga

Outstanding fusion headlined by fine wine.

November 18, 2024

1 / 8Gorgonzola ice cream with cherry compote.Supplied

2 / 8Bottarga offers a daily apertivo and snack menu.Supplied

4 / 8Cuttlefish ink and lime linguine with spanner crab.Bonnie Savage

5 / 8Culurgiones in Thai red curry.Bonnie Savage

6 / 8Mushroom and comte pithivier..Bonnie Savage

7 / 8Akoya oysters with garlic “pearls”.Bonnie Savage

8 / 8Burratina with braised onion and fennel.Bonnie Savage

15/20

Italian$$

Two words: gorgonzola gelato. It shouldn’t work but it does, particularly teamed with sticky cherry jam in a box of shortcrust chocolate pastry.

It’s the kind of culinary wizardry this 18-seater seems to churn out with its eyes closed. Bare concrete and black marble set the stage for Italian-born chef-owner Federico Bizzaro, who interlaces Asian and Australian flavours with those of his motherland.

Silky scallop crudo pairs with a shock of hot-pink whipped karasumi (the Japanese dried mullet roe) bolstered by native lime, samphire and karkalla. Fennel and Geraldton wax punctuate fresh burrata, while beautifully formed tortelli are filled with creamy squacquerone and stinging nettles.

Golden chicken breast is stuffed with rabbit farce and drizzled in shiitake and shimeji jus. Efficient owner-sommelier Somi Paremanee cleverly pairs it with a chianti from a small Tuscan vineyard.