Now that I no longer work in the city centre itself, I savour each chance to visit the city during the day. And in December, there’s an even better reason to visit, but more on that later. Today Darcie from Zing has asked Christie from Fig and Cherry and I to lunch at Pendolino, a very Melbourne-esque Italian Restaurant located on the 2nd floor of the Strand Arcade. Knowing that I can’t eat a large lunch, I’ve skipped breakfast so that I am suitably hungry when I arrive.

In the front there is the cafe and wine bar section and further in is the darkly lit, and I do mean darkly lit, restaurant section with the strategically and occasionally placed spotlight making up for the firmly shut blinds.  All I can think of is how hard it will be to take photos in, but I’m sure everyone else is thinking how romantic it is for a dinner (however lunch with your colleagues might not be so romantic!). There are also fabulous lights and the space is warmly and chicly decorated.

We choose a range of dishes – there are entrees as well as pastas and risottos (that come in an entree and main size), meat mains and desserts as well as a fantastic sounding cheese platter with 4 different types of cheese. It’s hard to choose and made even harder when the waiter comes by and lets us know of the specials so I leave myself to Christie’s recommendations as this is her fourth visit here. Some dishes are accompanied by a particular type of olive oil, like a wine accompanies a dish. Olives and olive oil, we’re to find out, are the theme here.

Bread and olives

Speaking of the little buggers, there’s a small plate of the tiniest olives – the Piccoline olives from Victoria which are an exercise in quality over quantity. They are small but they’re absolutely delicious, probably one of the nicest olives I’ve had. The bread and olive oil are good too although we all get different types of bread (I get Olive and a white sourdough).

Olive Oil tasting room

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Let me start off by saying that I’m not really the person for loud, rowdy restaurants where people are bellowing across the floor at each other, no matter how good naturedly it may be. Witness my discomfort at the Italian Bowl. So when I’m told that Bertoni’s in Balmain is a home style Italian cafe I’m a little nervous at the idea of a repeat Italian Bowl episode. I’m comforted by Bertoni’s being voted Sydney’s Favourite Cafe in the SMH Good Food Guide and NSW’s Best Cafe in Delicious. I also notice that they have a branch at Mosman which I’ve failed to notice completely.

It’s Balmain Rozelle’s Food Week and some establishments are having more luck than other fulfiling their programs. Indeed, I went to Victoire on Friday to be told that everything had sold out except for the pissaladiere and when I went to the church on Sunday for their afternoon tea, there was not a single soul there so we figured they must have called it off. A tad inconvenient for those of us that have traveled for the experience *grumble grumble*.

We walked past Bertoni’s on Friday and it was packed to the rafters with a line and people on milk crates outside and a long communal table balancing a crowd with elbows touching. And on this Sunday there was a huge crowd too. But after a little boutique browsing we walk back past there and the whole communal table has cleared. Ahhh luck! We grab a seat as fast as we can and I go to the counter to order. There is a special deal on for Food Week with a special panini filled with Italian sausage, cheese, caponota and topped with spicy sausage along with a coffee for $10. I order that with Bert or is it Tony? In any case, he’s a very genial and friendly guy who just oozes genuine Italian charm. Not over the top but just sincerely lovely. I ask what else is good and he goes through the pasta selection with me which features beef tortellini with ragu, ravioli with pumpkin and cheese and baby spinach leaves, meatballs and penne. Unfortunately they’re out of the Osso Buco, one of my favourite items and an absolute steal at $10 with a side.

I ask about the sweets and he tells me that they’re bought in as they tried to make them themselves but found that they just weren’t as good as the ones that they bought in from the Italian company who had been making Italian sweets for 50 years and I like his honesty. However all of the sauces and pastas are made in the kitchen in the back by their mother and they also sell their bottled sauces like the Sugo del Giardino made for generations, as well as EVO Olio Di Campagna, Balsamic Del Modeno, pasta, crostini and coffee.

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There’s very little that can go wrong with a view like this. The view uninterruptus from Icebergs has got to be one of the most iconic Sydney vistas, that of Bondi beach. Icerbegs opened with a splash and since then reviews on the ground have been mixed but the chef Maurizio Terzini still received his two chefs hat this year from the SMH.

We’ve booked for 6.30pm, a little early we know but seeing the view as it descends from daylight to twilight to the fall of darkness is something quite spectacular and I find that watching a pool of glossy black water isn’t quite as exciting as seeing it develop to hand.

Its surprisingly busy with diners given the early timeslot. We’re ushered to the best seat in the house, right next to the window. Service is efficient if not especially warm and relaxed, the staff seems a little stressed out and serious.

Sourdough bread and olive oil is brought to the table while we ponder the menu and the scenery. Along with the menu items, there are quite a few additions to the menu for the evening with 3 entrees, 2 mains and 2 extra desserts. I find that the entrees are beckoning me more as they seem more creative so I order one of the special additions to the menu suggested by our waitress: scallop sashimi with crispy garlic, marjoram and grissini $32 and a regular entree: crab, soft polenta, garlic, chili, lemon $28. Blythe orders the figs with gorgonzola, ricotta, walnut and honey $26 and the Flinders Island Salt Crusted Suckling Lamb and mache salad $48. She’s intrigued by the idea of Polenta chips with sour cream $14 which she saw on the website which are actually from the bar menu so we order those.

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