de Vine Food & Wine is Sydney's longest-running and oldest continuously trading wine bar on Market Street in the city. This busy wine bar and restaurant has the Southern Hemisphere's largest collection of amaro and is run by two brothers. It has been operating in the city for over 20 years which is no mean feat in fickle Sydney. Come along and see what the food and drink is like.
The last time I visited de Vine Food & Wine was a few years ago for a drink with friends after a restaurant had told us that we had to leave because our assigned time of 1 and a half hours was up. de Vine Food & Wine was open and the service super friendly which felt much more welcoming than the place we had just left.
As we had just gone for a drink, I had no idea that de Vine Food & Wine had a full restaurant menu with rustic Italian dishes. It is run by brothers Julian and Anthony Izzillo who previously owned Wildfire at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay and have also recently opened the new Bar Benevento around the corner (Benevento is where their father is from in Italy).
de Vine Food & Wine first opened in 2003 but was taken over by the brothers 11 years ago. In the kitchen they have Chef Tim Fisher who has worked overseas, most notably at the Michelin starred Osteria Lucio in Dublin.
Amaro is a popular digestive in Italy, used before meals to stimulate the appetite or after meals to settle the stomach. One wall sports many of their bottles of Amaro - when they first started their Amaro collection, bottles were procured on overseas trips, taken in suitcases. As a result, some Amaros are only available at de Vine Food & Wine. Their wine list focuses on natural wines with 30 available by the glass.
It's busy this Friday night - the wine bar's proximity to the State Theatre means that there is also a pre-theatre menu. Service is absolutely lovely from all of the staff that we encounter.
Amaros are often woven into their cocktails like one of their signature cocktails, the Olive Oil Sour which is one of the most uniquely gorgeous cocktails that we've tried this year. It's a creation by Julian and is made with olive oil from ancient UNESCO protected olive trees and pineapple amaro. The actual olive oil from Southern Italy is more expensive than the Amaro. The olive oil is emulsified with egg white and although just 7.5mls of this olive oil is used, it gives it a distinctly buttery texture with the flavour of extra virgin olive oil. I order the Junglebird mocktail with bitter aperitivo, pineapple, orange and lime but then quickly steal much of Mr NQN's Olive Oil Sour.
Our first bite is one of the cicchetti or snacks. The chicken skin idea came from a bar takeover they did with Chef Dave Verheul from Embla in Melbourne. It features chicken skin removed from the chicken breast and then flattened and crisped up like a cracker and topped with squiggles of anchovy cream and then topped with chicory with hints of lemon. I love the lemony herbs that balance the crispy chicken skin and savoury anchovy cream.
I absolutely love porchetta and while you can usually get prosciutto and salami on an Italian menu, when I saw that there was thinly sliced porchetta on the menu I had to order it. This classic porchetta is house made and sliced to order and is divine and made to have with their house made focaccia.
The focaccia is made in giant sheets and is a combination of soft and structural. It's served with grated truffles, Coppertree Butter with truffle pecorino cheese that seasons the butter perfectly.
Mr NQN is not the biggest eater of beef but these tender wagyu skewers are one of his favourite dishes. It's a David Blackmore 9+ Flank that is thinly sliced and skewered and served with a pink centre so that it melts in the mouth. It is served with salsa verde and a red wine jus made with chicken stock so that it has an intensity of flavour but it isn't too strong.
de Vine's zucchini flowers are also very popular. They're filled with ricotta and a centre of smoked scamorza cheese (like a smoked mozzarella) in a tomato sauce with black olive crumb for flavour. These are crisp and tasty and we like the combination of cheeses inside the flowers.
The arancini are tomato risotto balls with a smoked scamorza centre and grated pecorino cheese with a lovely little cheese pull.
All of the pastas are made fresh daily in the mornings and the vegetarian ravioli one is filled with taleggio and eggplant with soft, skinned cherry tomatoes on top and a buttery sauce. These are such lovely little parcels and the only issue is if you share it, who gets the last ravioli!
Because Mr NQN and I are opposites, I gravitated towards the pappardelle with wagyu beef ragu enriched with smoked pancetta with house made ribbon pasta. This dish has been on the menu for 10 years and they can't take it off as it is so popular and I can see why. It's a generous serve with an abundance of rich, beefy ragu.
de Vine Food & Wine are also known for their enormous Cotoletta alla Milanese or pounded and breaded pork cutlet that is served with baby capers, crisp sage leaves and pan fried in olive oil and burnt butter. You can smell the glorious scent of browned butter as soon as it hits the table. We squeeze some lemon over the cotoletta and pair it with some of that lovely chicken red wine jus.
The fried polenta here is served not as logs but as little squares to maximise the crispiness. It is served with fermented chilli aioli with grated cheese on top.
We only have room for one dessert and we try the Budino or pudding. This is a butterscotch pudding made with Amaro with a rich salted caramel sauce, a quenelle of crème fraîche on top and then a sprinkling of salt. The salted caramel and salt balance the rich butterscotch pudding spiked with Amaro. But of course!
And finish off with a glass of Amaro, served chilled at -9C!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like amaros? And do you finish your meal with a digestive?
NQN and Mr NQN were guests of de Vine Food & Wine but all opinions remain her own.
de Vine Food & Wine
32 Market St, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 5943 7667
Opening hours:
- Monday to Wednesday: 11:45am to 10:30pm
- Thursday to Friday: 11:45am to 11pm
- Saturday: 4pm to 11pm
- Sunday and public holidays: closed
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