Conte, Sydney

Conte Sydney has just opened in Barrack Place in Sydney's CBD and is said to be the world's first negroni bar with over 40 negronis available on their menu including a $1,000 negroni. Along with cocktails there's a menu full of Italian dishes like meats sliced from the Berkel, seafood crudo, lobster risotto and meats as well as a Negroni tiramisu (naturally). So what is Conte Sydney like? Find out more and why you should save it for a special night out.

The afternoon of the day we are going to Conte, my Italian neighbour Paolo rings my doorbell. He and his wife Rita are on a walk and stop by. He asks where we are going this evening for my birthday and I tell him. "That sounds very nice. Did you know that Conte is Italian for count or baron," he says making a fancy gesture. And as he suggested, Conte is lushly outfitted with tall red velvet curtains, Verde Alpe marble, brass, Milanese brand Fornasetti wallpapers and dramatically high 9 metre ceilings.

The owners of Conte are couple Raffaelle Lombardi and Victoria Hampshire who first opened Bar Conte in Surry Hills in 2022. Its popularity convinced them that a city venue was the next step. He grew up on the Amalfi Coast and the interiors are her design. The chef and venue partner is Steven De Vecchi with Chef Giacomo Rilievo, formerly of LuMi Dining.

We slide into a booth right at the end of a restaurant although many guests head straight to the bar for one of Enzo's cocktails. Upstairs is a private dining space and on the wall is an enormous sized Campari print, a rare piece from 1921 by Leonetto Cappiello. The menu is all Italian from Berkel sliced meats to formaggio plus a raw seafood platter, entrees, pastas and meats. The bar also has an extensive selection of Italian Vermouth, Amari digestives and Italian Gin.

Their Negroni XIIII with the $1,000 price tag is billed as not just a cocktail but an experience. It is created with Cognac Louis XIII by Rémy Martin, Campari Bitter (1966 Vintage), and Cinzano 1757 Vermouth (1970 Vintage) served in a baccarat cut crystal glass. You do have to preorder it and 3 have been sold since the restaurant opened just a few weeks ago.

An affordable option to this is the Negroni experience called "Three Shades of Negroni" that we end up sharing. It features 3 Negronis in green, white and red to reflect the Italian flag matched with canapes. Bar manager Enzo Tana brings it over. The first is "Verde" with Monkey 47 gin, Bordiga Verde bitter, Mancino Sakura Vermouth and Green Chartreuse with a tartare of red prawns with pickle jalapeño, salmon roe and bottarga. The second is "Bianco" with Ilegal Mezcal Joven, Cocchi Americano, Noilly Prat, Galliano float and Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit with taleggio cheese.

The third is "Rosso" with a 15 year single malt, Mulassano bitter liqueur, Cocchi Dopo Teatro, Liquore Strega, Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit with a garnish of burnt thyme and pink grapefruit with a peaked whisky Lagavulin16 in an atomizer on the side to add smokiness if you so choose. This comes with a timbale of wagyu tartare, persimmon, chives and parmigiano. I'm not normally a Negroni aficionado, in fact I usually find them too strong, however Mr NQN really enjoys them. But this could definitely make a Negroni lover out of me especially when it is paired with food. The food pairings are a perfect match really enhancing the flavours of the Negronis and I find myself enjoying the distinct flavours of each one.

The entrees arrive and we start with the seafood mixed crudo with raw seafood like W.A. jumbo scampi, Caviar, East 33 oysters, red prawns, Abrolhos scallops and ginger dressing on the side. The ginger dressing makes the raw seafood pop and we really enjoy this sumptuous raw platter fit for a birthday treat. It's also surprisingly quite filling with the enormous raw scallops and scampi as well as sweet amaebi prawns. While it is pricey, you do get a 10g/0.3oz tin of caviar and we finish off with caviar bumps with the Black River Oscietra caviar.

Our lovely waiter also recommended the Fritto Misto to complement the raw platter for a mix of cold and hot seafood. It's a variety of seafood from tiny school prawns, tiny fish and calamari with a delicious nduja mayonnaise on the side.

Make sure to order the house made focaccia that comes out warm with Coratina olive oil and balsamic to make yourself a delicious little sandwich with the fried seafood and nduja mayonnaise.

We were tossing up whether to get pasta or meat but we decided on pastas. The busiate pasta is a spiral pasta shaped like a telephone cord served with a tomato based sauce, bisque, plenty of little prawns, an nduja crumb and a large, succulent prawn on top. This is divine and I can see why it is the most popular pasta here. The nduja crumb adds an umami intensity and the prawns add texture to this dish while the pasta is perfectly cooked.

As for Mr NQN he loves the lamb ragu pappardelle with a tomato based sauce. The pappardelle is quite thick in texture but the lamb is soft and luscious. This is an intensely rich dish, perfectly suited to cold evenings.

The bowl of chips is another recommendation from our waiter. The serving is generous with plenty of shaved pecorino on top. It comes with a truffle oil aioli on the side that truthfully it doesn't really need.

A must order is the Negroni tiramisu which we share because we are so full. The pastry chef Martina Goti created this negroni tiramisu that was designed to honour the bar. Pastry chef Ludmila Cittadini describes it as, "Composed of a cream mascarpone Negroni and sponge soaked in a coffee syrup and Negroni." The two pastry chefs tested several recipes to get the perfect balance of flavours. And while the cream is light it also gives the bitterness of the citrus and cocktail a softer edge to it.