By Franz Scheurer
Every now and then I crave for some Italian food and don’t feel like cooking my own, but can’t be bothered driving across the Harbour Bridge to one of the many wonderful Italian restaurants on ‘the other side’. That’s when I need a local Italian. Obviously I have been searching for just such a place, with little luck I might add, until last night.
We went to dinner at Il Piemonte Restaurant in Terrey Hills. On the road to Akuna Bay and Coal and Candle Creek there is a little nest of restaurants: A Thai, an Austrian and an Italian. Il Piemonte’s dining room is a long, wide room with a fireplace at each end, a glass wall running the whole length of the room and half glass ceilings. It is light and friendly and you have the impression of space. There is plenty of room between tables and the welcome on arrival is professional, efficient and friendly. There is also a little courtyard, complete with waterfall, where you can eat al fresco in warmer weather. The clientele is very Anglo-Saxon, unmistakably North Shore, Private School, prim, proper and very non-ethnic… and there is live music on Saturday nights.
I’m worried!
The menu is, as it’s name suggests, Northern Italian, and there is something for every taste, including a couple of vegetarian dishes. We order some bruschetta and a plate of bresaola to share. The bruschetta is excellent as is the bresaola, served with a wonderful buffalo mozzarella and some rather ordinary tomatoes. It’s hard to get good tomatoes in Sydney at this time of the year; maybe they should simply leave them out. We follow our little appetiser with a hearty minestrone with a good spoon-full of home made pesto in it and a plate of superb potato gnocchi with pesto. I still don’t understand why Australian Italian restaurants insist on adding cream to pesto. It may taste OK, but it is hardly necessary, nor an improvement. My companion’s penne is excellent and my beef fillet with caramelised onions perfectly cooked “blue” as I ordered.
I am impressed!
The wine list is “safe” and rather boring. Even the Italian options are selected for their price and recognition of labels rather than the quality. I found it hard to order a decent glass of white wine followed by a bottle of red. The Mount Pleasant Semillon Sauvignon Blanc is OK with the appetisers and a Voyager Estate Cabernet Merlot from WA the best bottle of wine on the wine list. Mind you, most wines are in the $ 20 to $ 30 bracket and for that price range they’re OK. The grappa served with dessert, however, more than makes up for it. One of the best grappas I’ve had in Sydney. The dessert, a Crepe Suzette prepared at the table, is excellent and tangy and the homemade vanilla ice cream first class. Service throughout the night is friendly and efficient and never intrusive. Value for money is excellent.
I’ll be back!
Score: 6/10
For more information or bookings:
Il Piemonte Restaurant
Cnr. McCarrs Creek Road and Yulong Ave
Terrey Hills NSW 2084
Tel.: 02 9450 1777