Classico Moderno
172 - 174 Liverpool St
Darlinghurst, NSW
Classico Moderno is the brainchild of chef Bryan Gerlini, who has designed this pop up restaurant to represent dishes from his Italian hometown in the Emilia-Romagna region. Originally intended to be a degustation, Bryan is adding a la carte dining as a menu offering, as he realises sometimes Sydney-siders don't always have time to sit down and enjoy 6 courses. However, we strongly recommend that you make time! This pop up is located centrally in Darlinghurst and is quite large, and charmingly decorated.
To begin, we had cannoli mortadella - beautifully presented in a simple slate dish, these cannoli were savoury - made from a crispy balsamic pastry rolled in pistachio, and filled with mortadella mousse. Light, full of flavour and a mouthful that makes you think 'wow!', these were a fantastic start to our degustation.
We followed the 'Emilia' degustation - derived from meat found on the land. We had wine to match, which was a strong and full bodied red from Italy. We enjoyed the Benvenuti emilia - this came in a lentil slider bun and paidona flat bread, filled with prosciutto and melted Stracchino cheese. YUM! This was full of flavour and we probably could have eaten just these all night.
To follow, we enjoyed the Parmigiana de Melanzane. This beautifully presented dish came with home baked foccacia bread, along with a dish filled with eggplant skin puree, buffalo mozzarella, Parmesan crust, roasted tomatoes and basil. This dish was incredible, with subtle yet complementing flavours, and a unique twist on a traditional buffalo mozzarella salad.
Next was the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. Made traditionally with more meat than sauce, using beef and pork mince, this dish was rich, flavoursome and absolutely delicious. It felt and tasted truly authentic.
We were feeling quite full by this stage but the next dish whet our appetites yet again - this beautifully presented dish was Brasato al Lambrusco -slow-cooked beef cheek with rocket, lambrusco and spinach powder, this was a stunning dish both in presentation and flavour. The beef literally fell apart and the sauce and complementary vegetables provided balance to this dish.
Following the beef, we had a palate cleanser of a lovely berry sorbet, which was a perfect refresh and got us ready for dessert!
Our final dish was of course, dessert! This looked incredible, with beautiful white peaks. Soaked in alchermes liquer, this was moist, flavourful and sweet. We absolutely loved this dessert and all its elements.
Huge thank you to Bryan for looking after us so well on the evening. Also thanks to Ompty Australia for inviting us to dine at Classico Moderno. You can check out deals here.