Gambero Rosso, Italy's 'bible' of food and wine, has named four Australian establishments in Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart among the best Italian restaurants in the world outside of Italy.
For the second consecutive year Sydney's LuMi Bar and Dining and Surry Hills' pizzeria Al Taglio were included in the best fine dining and the best pizzerias lists respectively.
The newest Australian additions to the most recent Gambero Rosso rankings are Hobart's Fico as one of the best bistros/trattorias and Brisbane's 1889 Enoteca for its wine list.
But hundreds of Italian restaurants have been established in Australia since Italians began migrating here in the 20th century, so what attracted Gambero Rosso to these four restaurants?
When it comes to food, experimentation and blend of Italian traditions with Australian ingredients and culinary trends evidently excited the critics, while a traditional approach to wine helped 1889 Enoteca make the list.
LuMi's fine-dining dive in into experimentation
LuMi, in the central Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, was named for the second year in a row amongst the best fine-dining Italian restaurants in the world.
"We offer a contamination of Italian cuisine with ingredients and techniques from Asia and in particular Japan, while always sourcing fresh Australian ingredients," LuMi chef Federico Zanellato tells SBS Italian.
LuMi's Macadamia chawanmushi with spanner crab, lemon myrtle and finger lime Source: Supplied
He says he is comfortable subverting Italian traditions by presenting a fine-dining selection where Italy, Japan and Australia co-exist and, according to Italian critics, thrive.
Pizza is the plate for Al Taglio
Al Taglio is a small pizzeria in the heart of Sydney's hipster hub Surry Hills, and chef Enrico Sgarbossa was happy to find his restaurant on the 15-strong list of the best pizzerias in the world once more.
"We offer traditional and reinvented Italian recipes served on a 'dish' that is indeed pizza base. So in this week's menu we have the carbonara, a great Italian pasta recipe revisited as a pizza. In the past we had also amatriciana," says Sgarbossa.
Al Taglio's Pizza with ricotta milk base, creamed barramundi, polenta chips, cherry tomato & a pinch of parsley Source: Supplied
In preparing his pizzas, Enrico is not afraid to use unorthodox ingredients from Australia, such as barramundi, kangaroo, and even Australian sea urchin.
Fico's 'fun-dining' in Tasmania
The combination of Tasmanian and Italian elements is one of the main features of Fico, reflecting the heritage of its owners, Napoli-born Federica Andrisani and her partner Oskar Rossi, whose hometown is Hobart.
"In Tasmania it is not difficult to combine Italian cuisine with Australian products," says Fico chef Andrisani. "We do not do classic Italian cuisine, the techniques are classic (pasta al dente, risotto 'all'onda') but in our menu you cannot find the Bolognese or if you find it, maybe the meat is wallaby."
Fico's head chefs and owners Federica Andrisani and Oskar Rossi Source: Official website
She defines Fico's approach to modern cuisine as 'fun-dining'.
"We decided not to do 'fine-dining' because it was too boring for us. Instead we decided to do 'fun-dining', which is to make people have fun with what we do from food, to music, to service."
When it comes to wine, tradition wins out for 1889 Enoteca
Those Gambero Rosso critics show little appetite for experimentation when it comes to wine, however. Making the best wine lists category is Brisbane's 1889 Enoteca ('enoteca' meaning 'wine bar' in Italian).
Its owner, Dan Clark, is as Australian as much of the produce used to prepare food in his establishment is, but his wine list is uncompromisingly Italian.
Clark says his wine list is almost 100 per cent Italian and based on a regional approach.
1889 Enoteca Source: Facebook
"The beauty of Italian wine is that there are so many varieties that you can never get bored and that appeals to the Australian palate."
