Just Opened: Rovollo, Sydney

They eagerly anticipated opening of Rovollo restaurant is here. From the same team as Mille Ville and Rosie Campbell's both in Surry Hills, Rovollo is the Esper Hospitality group's first foray in the CBD. With attention grabbing dishes like Pici Carbonara served out of a wheel of parmesan that is first set alight to perfectly cooked steaks, the crispiest chilli truffle honey potatoes and a 24 layer chocolate cake, there's a lot to like here.

Rovollo is cosy, seating just 75 people, so diners are advised to book ahead of time. Rovollo combines a restaurant and wine bar with a 250 strong wine list and is located on the ground floor at the 25 Martin Place complex in Sydney's CBD. Look up and have admire the 10 metre hand painted ceiling mural designed by Ell Wilkinson, the partner of Esper's co-founder Andrew Wallace. Ell also hand drew all of the venue's coaster designs. Then there's the the Moya Delany showpiece lighting pendant made from an old parachute.

There are indoor and outdoor tables available, the outdoor ones with heating next to them. The Head Chef is Zane Buchanan and the Executive Chef is Cami Feliciano. Rovollo was the surname of the owner of a restaurant in Italy that the family that own Esper group dined at. It was one of those old-school Italian diners rich with warmth and genuine hospitality and they wanted to echo that spirit with this restaurant.

Service is charmingly Italian and we start with cocktails. It's the Venezia for Mr NQN with white peach, citrus, ginger, Aperol and rose. For me it's the non-alcoholic Piemonte mocktail with chamomile, verjus salted soda and white peach cordial which I enjoy as it has a nice salty kick to it.

We order a couple of snacks while we are deciding on mains. The focaccia and peperonata arrives together. The peperonata comes as soft, melting strands of capsicum on a bed of lusciously creamy whipped ricotta ringed with olive oil. The focaccia could use a bit of salt and this is crisp rather than the spongy, soft varieties that you often see.

The beef tartare is a standout with rump beef, anchovy, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco and oyster sauce and shavings of cured egg yolk and horseradish for a light peppery flavour. It's decorated with edible flowers with potato crisps for crunch. It’s perfectly seasoned, luscious and moreish and I make a deal to swap back with Mr NQN for his half.

He prefers the yellowfin tuna crudo only by a smidge. The sashimi grade tuna crudo is dressed with kombu, chives and eschallot and served with skinned cherry tomatoes with shaved bottarga and citrus segments and roasted chilli oil.

The food and restaurant world currently loves a trolley and I am no exception. The signature dish (and yes there is one even in this early stage) is the Pici carbonara. Diners may notice the giant 20kg parmigiano reggiano cheese wheel on a trolley. They set this alight with rum to enhance the flavour and then place the already cooked pici pasta with a sauce made of egg yolks, Pecorino Romano and black pepper in it. Then they scrape the sides of parmigiano cheese so that little pieces of rubbly cheese dislodge and season the pasta. This is then plated up and then topped with crisp guanciale and a raw egg yolk.

The pici gives the carbonara more substantialness and it is one of my favourite pastas because I love its chewiness and al dente texture. The sauce is quite thick and on the saltier side and the guanciale is very crispy with the texture of a crisp.

It’s a tough choice between another pasta or steak but we were recommended the F1 or first generation wagyu rump cap and it is glorious. Even Mr NQN who is not a big steak eater considers this one of his favourites because it has no gristle or sinew, just perfectly tender steak. It is on the pricier end of the steak menu but it is F1 wagyu. There’s a choice of three sauces: green peppercorn, red wine or Bearnaise (the latter not available today) so we try the other two. The red wine sauce goes very well with it.

Another must order is the crispy kipfler potatoes because you need potatoes with a steak. These are unlike any others. They are smashed so that the skins are crisp but they’re drenched in a chilli truffle honey. I cannot stop eating these and I am now spiralling on a hunt for truffle honey to recreate these at home.

There are four deserts on the menu including the classic Italian dessert of tiramisu. The tiramisu has layers of zabaglione with crushed hazelnuts and a white chocolate crumble on top. It's not overly different from other tiramisus but the hazelnut and white chocolate crumble does add some crunch.

There was no way that we would pass up the spectacular 25 layer chocolate cake that takes between 4-5 hours to make without any interruptions. This comes as a slender, tall slice cut from an enormous cake with all 25 layers accounted for (both frosting and cake). This cake is made in-house daily using a base that is a hybrid between mud and sponge cake using a 70% dark chocolate from French manufacturer Weiss, a bean to bar couverture chocolate manufacturer. The rich chocolate cake is layered with a dark chocolate cremeux frosting and comes with a side of rosemary berry sauce that lightens the rich chocolate cake up. The serve is enough for two although I think I end up enjoying most of this myself. Executive Chef Cami Feliciano was aiming for a cake with a homely feel, but that was technically complex to make.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you get excited when they bring a trolley out at a restaurant? What has been the most exciting trolley you've seen?

NQN and Mr NQN were guests of Rovollo but all opinions remain her own.

Rovollo

Tenancy 7.11/25 Martin Pl, Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: (02) 7234 1388

Monday - Friday 12pm - Midnight

Saturday 4pm - Midnight