Sarti Restaurant Bar

Hot

by John Lethlean - The Age
Melbourne Magazine, October 2007.

Let's talk about combos shall we? Not drum and guitars; foods, flavours and textures. Like the made-in-heaven combo of venison and beetroot. Like raw ocean trout and wasabi tobiki, better known as flying fish roe. Like rabbit and globe artichoke. Lamb, anchovy and white wine truffled pecorino. Duck and fresh crushed peas. Or pistachio panna cotta and popcorn. OK - the latter's a little unconventional, particularly when it involves a super-sensuous panna cotta alongside salty/sweet toffee-laden popped corn. But the rest is all about understanding what has always worked, and how it can be exploited for a public hungry for new ideas that work around trusted relationships. Especially those with an Italian connection.

It's just one of the things making Sarti one of the busiest, most interesting dining rooms in Melbourne's CBD right now. Food that sings old songs in a new key.

Sarti has been tuning up for a long time, always close to being special but never quite hitting the perfect note despite its unique rooftop terrace, delightful fresh moody interiors, cool bar, smart wait staff and informed wine service. There was a bit of chemistry lacking. Suddenly, it's happened with chef Riccardo Momesso buying into the deal with proprietor Joe Mammone, the good-looking, indisputably Italian looking man on the floor not in uniform.

With Momesso finally harnessed to a kitchen he can finally call his own, Sarti has food pitched at just the right level, a creative Italian thing that threatens to eclipse sister restaurant Il Bacaro as the eating house of choice between the two. (Momesso was head chef at Il Bacaro for nearly five years, before opening SOS and Bottega, so it's not surprising the water is muddied.)

Hit Sarti on a Saturday night and you'll see what I mean. Tables on the terrace full; both halves of the dinning room fully occupied; and a slew of young folk either standing around the central bar with cocktails or perched at stools, snacking and scoffing Italian wine under the dim lights. It's a testing environment for a restaurant, but one that shows little sign of overcoming either kitchen or front of house. Sarti runs like a well-oiled machina. And Momesso's menu reads like a dream: he has a way of expressing food ideas - say "Wagyu carpaccio and porcini zabaglione" - that gets you in, but the structure is unconventional. In place of entrees are stuzzichini, small dishes designed for sharing. Sliced raw venison, for example, smeared with a silken celeriac puree, shards of crisp dehydrated beetroot, chunks of pickled beets, drizzles of red juice and crimson/green baby beetroot shoots. There's something petite about Momesso's dishes, almost feminine. (Paradoxically, in real life he's a huntin' and shootin', old-school Italian who makes his own salumi and loves meat. He was wasted at SOS.)

The pasta section brings similar joy, but portion sizes are not vast. Spaghetti jumbled with a combo of braised rabbit meat, quartered globe artichoke and an improbable sprinkling of ground amaretti - almond biscuit - is superb; so is the combo of duck ragu, crushed fresh peas and triangles of flat pasta rolled from a dough of polenta and flour. And, when you get to the big dishes, his gently salty/fruity braise of baby lamb pieces in white wine and anchovy, finished with slow-cooked potato, labascioni (similar to baby pickled onions from Italy) and coarsely shredded truffled pecorino, is one of the most heavenly combos in Melbourne, a triumph of simpatico.

Even desserts twist traditional combos cleverly and handsomely - that fabulous pale green panna cotta, or Momesso's salty version of a Lolly Gobble Bliss Bomb.

A hint of modernity; a trusted combination of flavours handled in a new way. A chef who may just be producing his best work yet... it's an attractive combo.