A wonderful thing about Sydney in recent years with its inner city developments is that on returning each time after a year or so overseas, whole new areas have sprung up with hubs of quality food and drink options.
There’s Barangaroo of course, a whole new city within a city that feels a mix between Hong Kong, Sydney and Brisbane, and also Spice Alley, a Singapore style hawker centre (but more jujjy with hanging lanterns and artworks) where you can chow down on Vietnamese, Japanese, Cantanese, Malasian, Thai and more, washing it all down in Gin Lane. Exploring the area on a past visit, my friend led me into an old rum store, transformed into a snazzy new food precinct. I discovered and wrote about the French restaurant Bistro Gravoche (a great address for a little champagne and some oysters to lift the spirits at any time of the year).
Thinking of heading back to Bistro Gravoche to catch up with a long lost friend, I’m disappointed when it’s full on the night I’ve chosen… then am proposed ‘how about Sicilian? Olio Kensington Street is downstairs’. Pourquoi pas, I think, perchè no?
It’s quite wonderful being able to find Sicily just downstairs from Lyon! We’re seated by the window overlooking the inner city rooftops in the industrial chic, high ceilinged establishment with exposed brick and concrete surfaces, and where we can see the chefs circling the kitchen and bar staff with appropriate accents floating around the room. They whip up some cocktails for starters, which, by the way, you mustn’t skip over as they’re made with amore– we go for the Mary Rose (Bombay Sapphire gin, raspberry, rosemary syrup and rose water foam) and the Pink Grapefruit Spritz (Regal Rouge wild rose, cold pressed pink grapefruit, aperol and sparkling wine). Delizioso.
Olio means Olive Oil and we’re served some of the stash from Olio’s award winning Sicilian born chef Lino Sauro’s family farm. It’s full bodied and rich with an intense eye watering kick and we dunk in more Italian bread for another hit while perusing the menu.
While we’re tempted by the Capasanta (barely cooked hokkaido scallops, black garlic, pine nuts, and butternut squash cream), we’re off to see some blues after so decide to go straight to mains. We share the Raviolo Norma (huge, homemade egg raviolo filled with tomato mousse, smoked eggplant purée and aged ricotta cheese) and the barramundi (grilled Humpty Doo barramundi with Sicilian caponata and pistachio sauce) washed down with glasses of the 2012 Dei Principi di Spadafora IGP Don Pietro Rosso – Cab. Sauv., Nero d’Avola – Sicily (Mediterraneans drink red wine with seafood so there’s no need to think you need to match the fish with white).
It’s the perfect meal for our catch up- extremely fresh, flavoursome and generous in size. We munch, chat, and suddenly see the time. No time for dessert?! We decide that we will just need to come back again to try the Tiramisu and the Cannolo Siciliano (crispy wafer filled with ricotta cream & candied citrus, blood orange sauce and Bronte Pistachio Gelato). Lucky for us, the chefs treat us to a taste of sweet vanilla delight topped with raspberry in the meantime.
Feel like trying this restaurant for yourself? Check their menu and book a table at Oilo Kensington here. Buon appetito!
