Redfern’s newest wine bar-restaurant is big on personality and flavour, plus great cocktails, mystery wine and head-scratching dish names.
15/20
Italian$$
Is there a food more fun to say than “gabagool”? “Pamplemousse” and “periwinkle” probably come a close second and third, and everyone loves a good “baba ghanoush”, but surely nothing beats “gabagool”. Stop reading now and have a crack in your best Adam Sandler. What a hoot. It’s an Italian-Americanisation of pork cold-cut capicola, by the way (Sopranos fans know), and you can scarf down a whopping platter of the stuff at Redfern’s newest wine bar and restaurant.
Attenzione! opened a few weeks ago at the site formerly home to The Sunshine Inn. Four youngish mates are running the show – Felix Colman, Toby Stansfield, Toby Davis and Dexter Kim – and the joint is designed, according to the press release, to channel backstreet Paris bistros and regional Italian enotecas. And, wouldn’t you know it, it does.
But Attenzione! also feels very Redfern Now. A second-date spot with honeyed light, natural wine and framed photographs of leathered, sunbaking Italians. A place for wet martinis and hand-cut chips ($15). A house of Talking Heads, pasta and cured meat.
The owners could have listed the $22 plate of gabagool as “coppa”, its more common name in Australia, but where’s the joy in that?
The joint is designed to channel backstreet Paris bistros and Italian enotecas. And, wouldn’t you know it, it does.
Some of Attenzione’s more enigmatic ingredients and dish names are also a nifty way to get guests interacting with the informed staff and asking questions like, “What the heck is this ‘Pico XL’ for $30?”
“That’s our oversized version of pici, a fat and chewy handrolled pasta from Siena,” is the answer you might receive. “It looks like a single strand of spaghetti that’s really let itself go, and we change up its sauce every few days. At the moment, we’re serving it with capers and a fruity Amatriciana.”
“Okay, sounds great. We have to get it.”
You probably don’t, though. It’s an eye-catching dish (made for social media, perhaps) but the texture soon becomes a bit of a stodge slog.
I’m way more into the mandilli di seta ($34) – al dente handkerchief-style pasta glossed with butter and humming with an anchovy flavour not dissimilar to Vegemite. A last-second grating of lemon zest adds spark, and although I’ve known bowls of All-Bran that have looked more interesting, you’ve got to respect the restraint to not dress it up with finger lime or other jazz-hand garnishes.
Stansfield leads the kitchen and his grilled beef tongue ($27) alone is worth booking a spot at the bar for. (Tables exist, but they can be a little too cosy; give me the spacious counter and easy amaro access instead.) The ribbon-thin slices of tongue practically vibrate with flavour, thanks to an oil-rich mix of garlic, ginger and chilli salted for up to three weeks, while small discs of turnip-like jicama provide refreshment and crunch.
Because it’s state law that every natural wine bar must now feature chicken skin or fat or both on the menu, there are super-crisp crackers of dehydrated chook skin sandwiching smoked trout pâté ($10 each). Highly tasty gear, albeit difficult to crunch down on without making a mess of creamed fish.
Meanwhile, a crusty lattice of fougasse bread ($10) is on hand to ferry that coppa, or soak up the long-flavoured oils left over from melting taleggio cheese and soft-cooked leeks covered in a blizzard of fresh black truffle ($34).
Calamari with chargrilled napa cabbage ($26) sounds promising on paper, but needs more acid and tang. Chicken breast ($42) has enticingly wrinkled, golden, lightly charred skin – and I dig its vibrant green chicory, horseradish and goji berry sauce – but, at the end of the day, it’s hard to get too excited about chicken breast. I’m sorry, gym people.
There’s a bloody good steak diane ($55) though, and a $50 pork chop deftly grilled on the bone and bolstered by a balanced scallop cream that’s not too scallop-y.
Despite a few glitches here and there, Attenzione! is a place I want to return to again. Great cocktails. Terrific wine. Crown Lager on the beer list, ha!
And a big thumbs up for the opportunity to guess the country and grape of a daily-changing mystery wine, and enjoy the glass for free if you’re right (otherwise cough up $20). My Montepulciano guess was off the mark last week (it was a Barbera, the Monte of the north), but hey, you know, speaking of fun words to say …
The low-down
Vibe: Inviting Italian-ish wine bar that’s big on personality and flavour
Go-to dish: Grilled beef tongue, jicama and salted chilli ($27)
Drinks: Sake, amaro and whisky bulk out a wide-ranging list of independent Australian, French and Italian winemakers, with a particular focus on nebbiolo
Cost: About $170 for two, excluding drinks
This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine
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Callan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.
