WHO
Simon Johnson, fine food impresario from Alexandria
WHERE
Uccello at the Ivy
WHY
"Because David Lovett is one of the best Italian cooks in the country at the moment.
To me it's really about the food. The dining space is a pleasant place to be, but it's about the food, the attention to detail. It's about the simplicity of simple, produce-driven food that David just seems to grasp and puts on the plate. He stretches the boundaries and plays around with things. People said Justin Hemmes had overextended, but when you talk to the staff there, it is about Justin's attention to detail and the disciplines they have about everything – delivering for the people that go there. It's not expensive, it's very approachable."
WHAT
"The last time I went, we had burrata with prosciutto and rose oil – an unexpected combination but it absolutely worked. It wasn't too much, it was just a hint of rose.
And the best bollito mixto – I took Antonio Carluccio and he thought it was amazing too. Such a classic Italian dish. This amazing broth, then it had everything, all the components: beautiful tongue, veal, carrots, leeks, served with a beautiful salsa verde. It was truly yummy.
Tripe – not many restaurants serve it and boy it's good. Honeycomb tripe in a tomatoey, raguey sauce, it was so delicious.
In Italy, the main dishes let you down; it's pretty bloody ordinary. David's food doesn't let you down."
ABOUT
"At home we're very much produce driven, in that Mediterranean style. I'll cook anything from beautiful fish – anything from red emperor to sand whiting, whatever it is – it's what's best and freshest, that's what you choose.
I often just do some yummy anchovies and a salsa verde; just layer anchovies down with parsley, serve with crusty bread. Lovely thing to start with.
Winter is all about getting lovely oxtail, roasting it, getting fat off that, then slow cooking it for six hours; those sorts of things, served with yummy mashed potato.
It's our 25th anniversary and I've been collaborating with a few artists to come up with a few labels for some of our iconic products. John Olsen is doing a Panettone box for us, which is looking just incredible. It's also in collaboration with the gut foundation. I'm a big supporter; all about healthy living, and 5 per cent of the sales go to charity."
Uccello, 4/320 George Street, 9240 3000, merivale.com.au/uccello
3.5 STARS OUT OF FIVE
Antipasti, $17 - $42; mains, $21 - $96; desserts, $9 - $30. $120 for two, plus wine.
At the Ivy, which I'll forever associate with work Christmas parties, it's best to take the lift straight to the top couple of floors. Nothing new there – the top is always the land of rooftops, penthouses and hidden decadence. At the Justin Hemmes flagship, it's where fine dining meets the famous – or infamous – rooftop swimming pool. And as showiness is what this megaclub is all about, the upper floors are where it's best to view and be viewed – particularly from the relatively safe confines of Uccello, its smart Italian.
The window-fronted room has a solid, tried-and-tested Audi feel to it: nothing whimsical, nothing not studiously planned. It's neat in that just-so way that unites all Hemmes ventures, this time with muted colours and decorations and tableware you half expect to be able to buy from an in-meal shopping guide at the back of the menu. Above all, it's warm and welcoming.
That it has a view onto a goldfish bowl of bronzed beauties and lads come a warm summer's evening is an added bonus, if that's your thing.
Go past the glowing stone oven and counters of olive-dotted focaccia to find the comfy curved banquettes. Our waiter is busy and relaxed at once, and most of our fellow diners are suited.
Uccello has as vast a wine list as big, well-organised food empires can manage, but when in Rome… we tried a Merivale shiraz at a very reasonable $40.
Our raw tuna was brilliantly pepped up by marjoram, its heavy floral notes a lovely change to the citrus or Japanese spins on raw fish. Its flatbread partner is just right – crunch where crunch is due. There are oysters, scampi and Ortiz anchovy on chef David Lovett's antipasti menu, too. But my evening's start was most indelibly shaped by the focaccia: olive oily and fattening and salty and sweet at the same time, it was really very good.
For primi we went for the casarecce with pork sausage, red wine and tomatoes. The meat, disintegrated from sausage to a comfort-foody mince state, had its delicious anise edge, a flavour that is an instant signpost to Italian hills.
Nearly $70 worth of steak was a decadent move. Rich and glossy, the sirloin was impeccable in the fatty, gelatinous way that only grain-fed cattle can be. Its gutsy rocket and parmesan side and hunk of lemon did all it could to bounce off the saturates, but this is the kind of meat that dominates all else. A special-occasion dish.
A side of fried cauliflower with breadcrumbs was nicely al dente. Take a step away from some of the usuals and there's also beef tripe (a favourite of Simon Johnson's) and lamb shoulder on the menu, and spatchcock and pigeon. Rainbow trout is served with olives, capers and pinenuts.
There's been a run on I Love this Place tiramisu samplings of late. I leave each wanting a glug of liquor added to my coffee-soaked biscuits and less of the fluffed cream –no doubt a reflection on my taste buds rather than craftsmanship. For those who love their cream floaty, their biscuits not overwhelmed and their desserts on the runny side, this is for you.
On this drizzly night there's no forgetting we're not in Cinque Terre on a warm summer's evening, but Uccello is a neat and finely-tuned place with more than a dollop of the Mediterranean's showier sides flowing through its DNA.
