Pino's Ristorante Pizzeria, Crows Nest

Pino's Ristorante Pizzeria has been around for over 40 years, so I have no idea what it was like back in the day. Despite the negative comments on Urbanspoon that its standards have slipped (particularly in relation to service and the wait for food), our group of 6 had a pretty good Saturday dinner there.
 
We were seated upstairs, near a long table of about 16 people who were celebrating a birthday. They talked really loudly and blew those annoying whistles, but we somehow managed to tune them out. Framed photos of Florence provided a good conversation base, and we chattered easily until the pizzas arrived (about 15 to 20 minutes).

The rocket salad was really simple - a lot of rocket leaves, some shaved Parmesan, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We took out the pine nuts because of Shell's allergies, but I don't think it made too much of a difference to us carnivorous ladies. Clearly, the salad was pretty much ordered so we could say we had our 5 veg (5 rocket leaves!).

Rocket salad ($14.00)

Ordered 3 large pizzas. The pizza base is soft despite being thin crust (if you're a fan of thin and crispy, you're going to be disappointed, but I personally like softer doughs because they're less dry, and these pizzas were certainly not dry). The cheese melted over the top added a lovely richness.

The pizzas were (in order of photos)
1. Pollo - Chicken, avocado and sundried tomato
Safe combination, tasty nonetheless

2. Salami e Tartufo - Salami, mushroom, bocconcini, white truffle oil
Turned out to be my favourite pizza that night.. I'm a huge mushroom lover, and that truffle oil brought me to fungus heaven <3

3. Porcini e Salsiccia - mushroom, Sardinian pork sausage, cheese and basil (that little sprig on top)
Though the toppings sounded similar to the salami pizza, they were vastly different. The pork sausage had a minced up texture, and it was probably the driest of the 3 pizzas.

Pollo pizza - Large ($25.00)

Salami e Tartufo ($26.00)

Porcini e Salsiccia - Large ($27.00)

Corkage felt pretty steep, considering my friend brought one bottle of wine and not all of us drank - over $20 ($3.50pp x 6). But then again, I never BYO so I don't know if that's a reasonable price?

Bravo Trattoria (59 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest)

We opted to have ice cream at Bravo Trattoria, just a couple of doors down from Pino's. A little expensive - 2 scoops for $6.80, but the gelato's great. Had 1 scoop of taro and 1 scoop of ferrero rocher, which were delicious in their own right - but probably not the best combination to have side by side :/

Since taro is my favourite frozen yoghurt flavour, I was glad that this tasted just like it, except for the creamier gelato texture. The ferrero rocher was nutty, chocolatey and oh so very rich. Looking back in hindsight, I should have traded off the taro for the coffee flavour, since coffee and ferrero rocher balls are such excellent companions.

Poor Shell couldn't have any dessert there because of her nut allergy - she asked the charming European waiter if the tiramisu had nuts, had her hopes raised up when he said he didn't think so, but which then got cruelly dashed when he delivered the bad news a few minutes later. We were reassured that they do have nut-free coffee, though!

Ice cream @ Bravo Trattoria ($6.80)

York Trading & Co, Sydney CBD

I first noticed York Trading & Co (and the new nearby sushi place) looking out from my bus on weekday mornings. Although it looks like a bar, the fact never quite sunk in because the coffee and breakfast grabbers impressed me with associations of the morning.

Regardless, I've since realised they serve liquor and not-so-breakfasty food. The concept is simple - it's New York themed, fittingly on York Street and caters for both the sharers and the selfish (or more accurately, the germaphobes). Being a bar, it was too dimly lit for me to bother taking photos of the premises, which was divided into a narrow bar area and a more open restaurant section. My friend hadn't made a reservation, so a table wasn't an option. Instead, we perched ourselves precariously on the slightly wobbly bar stools.

A quick glance at the menu revealed there were no specials that day - the caption for Friday was something like "because you deserve a drink".

"Since we need a drink at the end of the week, we should be paying full prices," one person mused. My dad would certainly applaud the business sense of levying the captive market!

At the time of ordering, I was feeling ravenous, cantankerous, and certainly did not want to share. I didn't want a heavy meal, though, since one drink is enough to make me half-full. Instead, I selected the "roast pumpkin, smoked mozzarella and guacamole piadina", thinking it would be similar to a panini. Turns out it's more like a quesadilla of flatbread, or an Italian version of naan bread cum cheese melt. Sounds obscure, but it was prettttyyy good. Though the pureed pumpkin was sweet, it wasn't overly so. In any case, it was offset by the richness of the cheese and avocado. Portion-wise, it's great for sharing, but you can also eat it on your own - it certainly made me full!
 

Pumpkin piadina ($15.00)

Having a penchant for cocktails, I also had the "I Heart NY" and the "YT Pharmaceutical Stimulant".

"I Heart NY": Apple jack brandy, blood orange liqueur, passionfruit, orange citrate bitters. As its contents suggests, this one was heavy on the citrus. Strong lemony flavours abounded.

I Heart NY ($18.00)

"YT Pharmaceutical Stimulant": Very fun to say. Basically an espresso martini- Campos coffee, vodka, coffee liqueur and vanilla. Strong coffee taste, not that creamy - the top layer of foam isn't as thick as it looks. Halfway through and I couldn't finish as it was too sweet. Pity because it's actually quite nice.

YT Pharmaceutical Stimulant ($18.00)

Cocco's Pizzeria, Crows Nest

Cocco's Pizzeria is situated along one of the main strips of cafes in Crows Nest, just a couple of shop lots away from Bavarian Bier Cafe. There aren't many square metres of floorspace inside, but they have two levels, which means that private dining is definitely an option. Even without hiring the restaurant, the environment is intimate and casual, and, surprisingly (since it was a Sunday night and the food is pretty good), most of the tables were empty.

Exterior

 We took a pretty long time to decide what we wanted to have, but the staff were really accommodating and friendly. As an aside, we decided to share some dishes amongst the four of us, which, once served, came with serving utensils without us having to ask. It's attention to detail like these that really boosts my appreciation for service provided (especially when you're being charged average prices).

First up was the basket of 4 pieces of garlic bread. It was fairly average - white bread and a standard mixture of garlic butter spread. Nevertheless, it was mostly soft, wasn't as oily as per usual, and it was a nice filler before the mains arrived.

Garlic bread ($5.90)

Some of our other friends offered us their 'Bianca' pizza - garlic and herb pizza crust sliced up into numerous pieces, served with 2 types of dip - olive and chilli. It actually gave me a bit of food envy when I compared it to our garlic bread - the Bianca tasted a lot more 'gourmet' and the accompanying pastes were mouthwatering.

'Bianca' pizza ($12.90)

We ordered two pasta dishes - gnocchi and ravioli, one entree-sized and one main meal.

The gnocchi was prepared with gorgonzola cheese and cream sauce. It was soft and chewy, but not to the extent that it turned gluggy. Overall, it was made well and, despite the richness of the sauce, it didn't give me that sick feeling that I often get after eating too much of creamy pasta dishes (like penne bosciola done badly).

Gnocchi gorgonzola (main size) ($22.90)

Our pumpkin ravioli came with butter sage sauce, which was light and didn't overpower the pumpkin. Considering we were sharing these dishes, I felt like hoarding it all to myself - it was that addictive!

Ravioli alla zucca (entree size) ($18.90)

Our last dish was a tomato-based seafood pizza, which consisted of mozzarella cheese, anchovies, baby clams, prawns and garlic. Although the pizza base is thin, it isn't crispy and is bready and soft. It wasn't very oily and it was quite enjoyable. The anchovies were very salty, but there wasn't that much of it (and I'm not an anchovy fan anyway, so I'm probably biased), and the other toppings balanced out the flavours quite well.

Frutta di mare ($23.90)

At the end of our dinner, we were offered the dessert and coffee menu. Although the items on the menu looked tempting, all of us were just too full to think about ordering anything else. Excluding the Bianca pizza, the bill came to about $18 between the four of us, which is great value for excellent pasta, decent portions, and friendly service.

Jamie's Italian, Wynyard

Having heard good things about Jamie's Italian, I finally decided to brave the queues and pay a lunch visit. Since it opens at 11.30am, we were sure that there would be a line when we decided to arrive around noon but were pleasantly surprised to find that the lunch crowd did not hit the restaurant until around 1pm.

Bar on lower ground

 The name "Jamie's Italian" boasts two obvious things:

1. Jamie Oliver's name:

Known for his cooking shows and generosity with herbs, it isn't surprising that he expanded his reach to Sydney. Despite his noted absence from the premises, the decor consists of shelves of Jamie Oliver books, clusters of dried chilli, and garlands of garlic.

Bar on upper floor

2. Italian food:

Unfortunately, the adjective 'rustic' is thrown around so glibly that some restaurants claiming to produce such seem to force it, charging fine dining prices for countryside inspired cooking. Jamie's Italian is more affordable than that, but  my experience makes me question whether the quality of the fare justifies the prices.

Hand-made pasta

Jamie's Italian has a system where patrons are greeted at the front and asked to wait until another member of staff can take them to their table. It was slightly awkward but we didn't have to wait for too long, as the restaurant was only about 1/3 full at the time, and the staff are pretty friendly.

We were seated at the top, which gave us a pretty nice view of what was going on below. From my vantage point, I could observe yet another showcase of cookbooks. The bread made everything feel a lot cosier though!

View from the top

We were allowed to take our time ordering and when we did, the waiter served us with a complimentary bucket of bread, consisting of thin slices of turkish pide, a bit of bread stick, a thin crispy 'music' bread, and some sort of white bread (which I couldn't specifically identify). It was accompanied by balsamic vinegar and olive oil, which is just the way I like my bread!

Bread

Balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Next came the polenta chips, crunchy on the outside and squishy inside, with a bit of cheese and herbs sprinkled on top. As is usually the case with polenta, it quickly gives you a 'full' carby feeling, and after a while it seemed to taste quite bland. There was quite a lot of polenta as well - too much for two people to stomach.

Polenta chips ($8.50)

Our second antipasti dish was the baked mushrooms - Swiss brown mushrooms with smoked buffalo mozzarella. I was expecting to receive a whole baked mushroom with cheese on top, but a dish resembling a pie came to us. The bottom of the dish was lined with flat music bread that emerged over the sides. Sliced mushrooms were laid over the top with dry melted cheese binding them together. Though it looks and sounds tasty, everything (including the mushroom and cheese) was very dry. This limited the flavours that could have been extracted by the palate and I was pretty disappointed.

Baked mushrooms ($14.50)

We also ordered two entree sized pasta dishes to share. The wait in between the entrees and the pasta was quite long - more than half an hour. We asked one of the waiters to check on our order and he said it would only be a few minutes more (leading us to suspect that they had forgotten about us).

 The first pasta dish I tried was the black angel spaghetti, consisting of squid ink pasta and scallops. The menu also says that it includes garlic, chilli, anchovies, wine and capers. I probably detected garlic, but all else eluded me (I certainly didn't taste any chilli!). The scallops were done pretty well - moist, not too dry. The pasta, however, was undercooked - part of it was very doughy, while the rest of the time, it was hard and crunchy. The accompanying sauce was strangely very sour - I'm not sure if it was the wine or if they added lemon juice.

Black angel spaghetti ($14.00)

I had a similar experience with the second pasta dish - buffalo ricotta ravioli with creamed ricotta, lemon, parmesan and mint - in that the ravioli was hard and chewy around the edges. The flavours were more faithful to the ingredients listed in the menu - and yes, the sauce was sour.

Buffalo ricotta ravioli ($14.00)

Moving on, I ordered a flat white, having heard that their Musetti coffee is superb. The flat white had a very thick layer of foam (an amount closer to a cappuccino) - correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought flat whites were supposed to have less foam?

Flat white ($4.35)

For dessert, I had the peach and almond tart - a frangipane tart with preserved peaches, whipped cream and honey, which was not bad, although a little heavy. There was a strong almond meal flavour and they were generous with the amount of strawberries in the cream. It would have been nicer if the whipped cream was chilled more (it felt like it was sitting at room temperature).

Peach and almond tart ($9.00)

I also sampled my friend's tiramisu. It had a strong coffee flavour, which I quite liked, but it contained more cream than cake.

Tiramisu ($9.00)

Overall, I think Jamie's Italian is overrated. The food is interesting but a bit of a let down, and for the price, you're better off eating elsewhere.

The Larder, Otto Ristorante, Woolloomooloo

The Larder is a pop-up extension of Otto Ristorante, situated right next to it at Finger Bay Wharf and open only on week days until the 27th of September. I'd heard of its provision of rustic fare for low prices (low for Otto, in any case) and was looking forward to satisfying my tastebuds with hearty dishes. The food was sadly left wanting.


The waitress explained that the menu is designed for sharing, so we ordered 3 savoury dishes, holding off from any desserts in the event that we'd stuffed ourselves too much - which we did.

The first to arrive was the pork rillette sandwich with dijon mustard and gherkins, served on a wooden board. It looked incredibly inviting but as I bit into it, I was greeted with carbon. Turning over the top layer of bread, I found the entire underside to be burnt. I sent it back to the kitchen and they prepared another half, the waitress explaining to me that the burnt part comes from the bread being toasted on the grill. I  appreciate the grill marks on food as much as the next foodie, but eating pricey burnt toast isn't very pleasurable.

The pork rillette was slightly cold at room temperature, reminding me of a tuna sandwich in both flavour and texture. Overall, it was alright - edible, slightly bland... Not great.

Pork rillette sandwich ($16)

Next came the john dory and chips with tartar sauce, the highlight of the dinner. The fish was light, fresh and cooked to perfection. The batter was crisp with just the right amount of seasoning (which tasted like chicken salt). The herby tartar sauce was refreshing and complemented the fish well. However, the fish was let down by the chips - soft and not particularly appetising.

Fish and chips ($26)

Finally, the chicken skewers with peri peri sauce arrived. Given the price, I'd expected either very tasty chicken or more than 4 skewers. Evidently neither expectation was fulfilled. The chicken was moist but the meat that wasn't covered by the tangy sauce had a strong gassy (as from a gas-stove) flavour.

Chicken skewers ($26)

We decided not to stay for dessert as the sandwich and fish and chips were more than enough to fill our stomachs.

The staff is friendly and the concept of The Larder is packaged very prettily - casual dining with views of the wharf, candles, a cosy ambience, and food presented in pans/ boards/ charming plates. Would I return? Probably not.