NewsBite

Advertisement

Why it’s worth building a long weekend around this slick trattoria in a shopping mall

Wollongong is currently experiencing a food and wine boom. You really should go.

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Restaurant Santino is a slick trattoria in a retail mall.
1 / 7Restaurant Santino is a slick trattoria in a retail mall.Jennifer Soo
Almond ricotta with asparagus, melon and parsley oil.
2 / 7Almond ricotta with asparagus, melon and parsley oil.Jennifer Soo
“Bloody good” vanilla panna cotta with rhubarb and olive oil.
3 / 7“Bloody good” vanilla panna cotta with rhubarb and olive oil.Jennifer Soo
Go-to dish: Octopus with polenta, ’nduja and carrot.
4 / 7Go-to dish: Octopus with polenta, ’nduja and carrot.Jennifer Soo
Restaurant Santino’s mood-lit interior and open kitchen.
5 / 7Restaurant Santino’s mood-lit interior and open kitchen.Jennifer Soo
Pappardelle with beef shin ragu, parmesan foam and oregano.
6 / 7Pappardelle with beef shin ragu, parmesan foam and oregano.Jennifer Soo
Spatchcock with sweet-sour agrodolce sauce.
7 / 7Spatchcock with sweet-sour agrodolce sauce.Jennifer Soo

Good Food hat15/20

Italian$$

“I’m heading to Wollongong for the day. Where’s good to eat?” is a question I must be asked at least once a fortnight. Why do I have so many friends travelling to the Illawarra? I suppose they’re just really into coal and surf beaches.

If it’s a natural wine-obsessed mate who’s asking – the one with a thing for house-made XO sauce and parfait on doughnuts – I’ll recommend the smoky, ferment-forward set menu at Babyface Kitchen. For anyone simply keen for a good red, some pasta and a nice spot to sit, it’s Restaurant Santino all the way.

I imagine most Santino newcomers must stop near the entrance, check Google Maps and scan the surrounding laneway up and down before asking, “Are you sure this is the place?” It’s in a retail mall of no architectural importance, not far from a Just Jeans and Platypus Shoes. I usually like restaurants to have a sense of place, but management has made the right decision to hide the outside world once you’re seated.

Advertisement
“For a good red, some pasta and a nice spot to sit, it’s Restaurant Santino all the way.”

And what nice seats they are. In lieu of windows, there are tabletop candles and warm light from an open kitchen. There’s marble and brass and dark-timber booths, and a dirty martini ($24) feels like the first order of business. It’s the sort
of slick trattoria you’re more likely to find in New York than Naples and while Sydney has at least two dozen versions of the exact same concept, Wollongong has one.

Brothers Fred and Kevin Duarte opened Restaurant Santino in 2021, buoyed by the success of Kneading Ruby, their nearby pizzeria. Chef Jake Rosen’s menu is all modern-Italian comfort, meaning lots of things to swipe bread through, a few
house-made pastas and some weighty mains.

Spatchcock with sweet-sour agrodolce sauce.
Spatchcock with sweet-sour agrodolce sauce.Jennifer Soo

The $140 bistecca is a bit too weighty and pricey for our table, but a roast spatchcock with pine nuts ($42) is so fat and juicy, there’s not much need for steak anyway. The bird is pan-fried in garlic oil for extra-golden skin and comes to the table sticky with raisins and sweet-sour agrodolce sauce. With a couple of small plates to start, one couple could share the spatchcock and call it a substantial dinner.

Advertisement

Baccala mantecato ($14) – Venetian whipped salt cod – is the right garlic-loaded snack to kick things off, and a good lug of parsley oil graces the dip with direct, condensed flavour.

The same emerald-green oil is pooled around a vegan “ricotta” made from almonds, in turn topped with asparagus and mandolined honeydew melon ($22). Peak-season heirloom tomatoes are layered across a creamy tonnato (tuna) sauce ($20). It’s all smart, simple stuff I’d happily return to, and service is generally top-notch.

Under-seasoned roast potatoes ($12) are the only letdown across a Sunday lunch.

Go-to dish: Octopus with polenta, ’nduja and carrot.
Go-to dish: Octopus with polenta, ’nduja and carrot.Jennifer Soo

Meanwhile, fennel stock-bolstered polenta is the bed for submissive (but still bitey) nubs of grilled octopus and pickled carrots drizzled with ’nduja oil ($24).

Advertisement

Thick and crusty sourdough with roast-garlic butter ($8) comes in handy at this juncture. And that bottle of red? Plenty of options exist across a mid-sized wine list, such as a spicy 2023 Gentle Folk “Vin de Sofa” ($75) made predominantly with Adelaide Hills sangiovese.

A glass of 2018 Anthony Thévenet Beaujolais ($23) travels easily between that octopus and a heaving bowl of pappardelle with long-simmered, beef-shin ragu ($32) and “parmesan foam”, which is really more of a cream, but delicious nonetheless.

Pappardelle with beef shin ragu, parmesan foam and oregano.
Pappardelle with beef shin ragu, parmesan foam and oregano.Jennifer Soo

Dessert-wise, there’s a bloody good vanilla and rhubarb panna cotta glossed with olive oil ($14), and a damn fine syrup-soaked orange cake ($14). Both sweets might have you asking to see the one-page amaro and brandy list.

So why am I telling you about a two-year-old restaurant in Wollongong? Partly because I can now copy and paste this review next time someone asks me where to eat in the region, but also because Wollongong is currently experiencing a food and wine boom. You really should go.

Advertisement

Roy’s Restobar opened close to Santino in November, for instance, and its raw snapper with hot mustard is the most exciting wine-bar crudo I’ve eaten in a long time. Black Cockatoo serves killer cocktails. Opus Coffee’s bagel with house-smoked salmon is the kind of brunch you could eat three days in a row and Ain’t Nonna’s offers more in the way of cracking pasta and roast chook.

I should also mention Rosie’s Proper Fish & Chips in nearby Coledale, now frying local potatoes in beef dripping.

The state’s third-largest city is certainly worth building a Saturday around, but a long weekend would be so much better.

The low-down

Vibe: Mood-lit bolthole for a big night out or relaxed pasta-based lunch

Go-to dish: Octopus with polenta, ’nduja and carrot ($24)

Drinks: Sharp cocktails and a good mix of natural and classic wines, including a few aged bottles in the cellar

Cost: About $130 for two, excluding drinks

Advertisement

Continue this series

Your April hit list: The hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out, right now
Up next
Chip butty with gravy sauce.

‘So damn good’: The chip butty our reviewer ordered five times in three days

From carb-loaded marvels to the Bradman burger, there’s plenty to lap up at this family-friendly cafe.

Ataklet Be-yeayntu (vegetarian platter).

Laughter, music, spice: Rally a group for a hands-on feast instead of a weekend pub feed

Ethiopian cuisine is built around kinship and sharing, so head to Blacktown for a taste and get ready to roll up your sleeves.

Previous
Casa Esquina’s sprawling indoor-outdoor vibe has a special sense of freedom.

This indoor-outdoor Argentinian-inspired grillfest boasts Balmain-to-Buenos Aires vibes

Casa Esquina’s menu includes 10 different dishes from the parrilla, from Gundagai lamb tomahawk chops to a one-kilo dry-aged Ranger’s Valley Black Market rib-eye.

See all stories
Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/why-it-s-worth-building-a-long-weekend-around-this-slick-trattoria-in-a-shopping-mall-20240313-p5fc5b.html