Restaurant review: Ormeggio

Ormeggio mostly downplays the emotional and spontaneous aspects of dining in deference to technical accuracy.

Ormeggio is smartly furnished, the nautical aspect pleasing if you like boats. Picture: Jane Dempster

Our waiter is taciturn. Humourless, even. It’s a condition that persists all night and seems to rub off on the others. But when he says our menu is “a trip to Italy”, I want to chuckle. Am I Rob Brydon or Steve Coogan? Will there be winding roads, an open-top Mini? Prosecco on the beach?

Sadly, Ormeggio is not nearly as much fun as the TV series, or even the movie. This is a little corner of Italy where the joy, the verve and the dolce vita have left and gone abroad in search of a brighter future.

Ormeggio is a restaurant well known in Sydney for its contemporary take on Italy. It’s located at a marina in Mosman and just try getting there by taxi if you don’t know the turf. Suffice to say we were ejected from the cab 10 minutes before setting foot in the restaurant after a hilarious high-tide crossing of Spit Road via a flooded underpass. It’s opposite restaurateur and chef Alex Pavoni’s new trattoria, Chiosco by Ormeggio, and I couldn’t help but wonder as the meal progressed solemnly if having his name on four restaurants wasn’t taking its toll.

The modern room is smartly furnished, the nautical aspect pleasing if you like boats. It’s not a huge space. But for me, there was nothing funny about cleaning tables with a squirty bottle. Not in a place that costs a minimum of $250 per couple before you’ve had a sip.

It’s a pity they’ve decided to downplay the emotional and spontaneous aspects of a dining experience in deference to technical accuracy (mostly): much of the rather progressive food is splendid and, as the concept suggests, takes inspiration from various bits of the chef’s homeland. Snacks inspired by different regions are all presented in value-added manner: parmesan crisps sandwiching frozen, chilli-touched sweet corn parfait (on marble); a kind of polenta taco shell with veal tartare-like vitello tonnato (wedged in a piece of tree branch); and something like a giant walnut shell filled with quartz to showcase big, deep fried eggplant parmigiana nuggets with mozzarella espuma and basil oil. Not delicate, but the flavours and technique are impressive.

The Italian (or Italy-inspired) wine list is comprehensive and the bottle we choose is roughly triple what it cost the restaurant. Par for the course.

Risotto at Ormeggio, Sydney. Picture: Jane Dempster

Everything with seafood sings. The diced yellowfin crudo piled over Bronte pistachio cream with a salty slug of salmon roe is a wonderful dish; crisps made with sweet potato and mussels add something special. A dish of cold spaghetti in mussel cream, peppered with raw, diced prawn and finished with seaweed powder and bottarga is sublime. And excellent, discretely grained risotto (pictured) of chopped southern calamari riffs on Venetian risi e bisi — rice and peas — with dots of green pea, squid ink and paprika gel. It’s almost too precious. Almost.

What stark contrast, then, to a plate of rather forgettable, velveteen braised wagyu cheek with plum sauce and slices of crunchy pickled turnip and new ingredient du jour, Mexican cucumber. I just didn’t get it.

Still, there’s a seasonal dessert of fig and persimmon in fruity/acidic aged balsamic, smothered in a texturally amazing liquid nitrogen mascarpone snow that slowly dissolves to a creamy finish in your mouth: it’s worth the trip all on its own. Proving this is no fluke, petit four of mango sorbet dipped in a shell of caramelised white chocolate is a hell of a way to go out.

But is it enough? Maybe on the north shore. It’s a trip, but I’m not sure it’s a memorable journey.

Ormeggio
Address: D’Albora Marinas, Spit Road, Mosman | Contact: [phone]; ormeggio.com.au | Hours: Lunch Fri-Sun; dinner Wed-Sun | Typical prices: Set menus $125, $145 and $175 | Like this? Try … LuMi Bar & Dining, Sydney | Summary: More work trip than holiday | Score: 3 out of 5