Latest news with #OsteriaMucca
Time Out
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Osteria Mucca
✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here. There are a lot of beautiful dining rooms in Sydney – the kind that, when you step inside, whisk you away to another world; where thoughts of to-do lists and Everest-like piles of laundry melt away like lemon granita under the Amalfi sun. Bennelong, tucked within the city's white sails, is one of them. So too is the coastal kitsch of Sean's in Bondi. Osteria Mucca, a charming trattoria from the Continental Deli crew that opened in April this year, is another such room. Found on Newtown 's happening Australia Street, the 50-seat Italian restaurant had a past life as a butcher. Those 115-year-old forest-green-and-white tiles are the originals. Candles flicker on top of white tablecloths, Art Deco-style vintage lights hang from the ceiling – creating the perfect dinner-date glow – and vintage plates jazz up the walls. This is the work of Sarah Doyle, co-owner and creative director of Paisano & Daughters, who has a knack for creating venues with their own soul. (It just takes one peep into siblings and neighbours – eclectic fisherman's den Mister Grotto, honey-hued plant celebration Flora, and Continental Deli with its big Euro energy – to fully appreciate her talent.) The room feels like an occasion, so we bypass the Limoncello Spritz and Mucca Martini in favour of a glass of Sella & Mosca's sparkling from Sardinia, poured (and appreciated) tableside. Cheers. The timeless space isn't the only thing I'm a big fan of Leading the kitchen is Janina Allende, who ran the pass at Sydney favourite Pellegrino 2000 for more than two years, and also spent time on the pans at Alberto's Lounge and Bar Vincent. At Osteria Mucca, Allende is spotlighting regional Italian classics, with home-style recipes and handmade pasta. In a nod to the restaurant's former life – and because the group knows their way around meat (Osteria Mucca shares DNA with the award-winning Porteño) – they also do all their butchery in-house. FYI – 'Mucca' means 'cow' in Italian. But we start with land and sea – a riff on puntarelle alla Romana, which sees ribbon-like curls of the slightly bitter, crunchy and cool puntarelle coated in a punchy anchovy dressing tempered with creamy, veneer-white buffalo mozzarella. So good. Meanwhile, hunks of pickled cauliflower, carrot and onion rest atop a smooth, nutty fava bean dip doused in olive oil, and are best mopped up with a crusty ciabatta roll that the team source from Brickfields. Next comes our cotechino – a dish that tastes both new and familiar. Soft, house-made pork sausage meat fragrant with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg rests on a bed of slow-cooked buttery-sweet lentils and vegetables. It's adorned with a vivid salsa verde, chewy mustard fruits and delicate shavings of horseradish. Originating from northern Italy, cotechino con lenticchie is traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve; the coin-shaped lentils symbolising wealth and prosperity. I say to our waiter it tastes like Christmas, and he says it's a hit then, too. Also a hit: our bottle of 2022 Montesecondo Rosso sangiovese from Tuscany that's cherry-red and lovely with soft tannins. Ping-pong-shaped balls of ricotta gnudi, so soft you can cut them with a spoon, sit in a pool of browned butter and topped with crisp sage leaves and thin shavings of lemon rind that cleverly cut through and lift. This, and whatever season of Survivor, and you can stick a fork in me – I'm done Formidable pastry chef Lauren Eldridge is behind the desserts at Osteria Mucca (and the three other Paisano & Daughters venues), which features house-made gelato (right now it's grapefruit); cassata with ricotta, chocolate and candied fruit; and bonèt alla Piemontese – a chocolate and amaretti custard topped with marsala Chantilly. If I wasn't stuffed like a, well, gnudi, I'd go for one of those. On this Tuesday night, the room hums with songs my grandparents would have danced to, the clink of glassware and the laughter of friends. There's not a table free. I say goodbye to the team, pull on my coat, step into the fresh night air – and glance back one last time. For a few hours it was all about that bellissimo dining room, those knockout gnudi and the person across from me. That's the power of a great restaurant. Now, back to life admin.
Time Out
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
This charming new Italian spot by the Continental Deli crew is now open in a old Newtown butcher
Osteria Mucca, a 50-seat Italian restaurant by the Continental Deli team, has opened on Newtown 's lively Australia Street, joining also-new siblings: sunshine-warm veg diner Flora and seafood party Mister Grotto. Meaning "cow" in Italian, the charming trattoria is housed in a former butcher shop and is serving up regional Italian classics and home-style recipes, including handmade pasta, beautiful charcuterie and cuts from its in-house butchery. Leading the kitchen at Osteria Mucca is head chef Janina Allende, who's bringing a wealth of experience from running the kitchen at popular Pellegrino 2000 for more than two years, as well as spending time on the pans at Alberto's Lounge and Bar Vincent. 'Her vision for Mucca centres on creating honest, carefully crafted dishes that highlight regional flavours, with a deep commitment to technique, seasonal produce and knowing the origins of every ingredient,' the team has said. Opening menu highlights include pickled vegetables with fava bean purée; gnudi with brown butter and sage; lamb tartare with rocket and pecorino; veal tongue with salsa verde; and house-made sausage. Florence's famous T-bone steak, bistecca alla Fiorentina, is also on the menu, and big enough to share between two. And we'd find it hard not to finish with a scoop (or three) of gelato. Drinks-wise, expect wines produced by small, family-run Italian vineyards, alongside party-ready aperitivo cocktails and digestivi. Just like all of Paisano & Daughters' venues – which also include the brand-new boutique Australia Street Suites – the design at Osteria Mucca is a knockout, thanks to co-owner and creative director Sarah Doyle. Forest-green-and-white chequered floors are complemented by vintage lighting, crisp white tablecloths and tiled walls. Walking into the light-filled space feels like taking a step back in time – it's one of the most beautiful dining rooms we've seen lately.
