Braddon might be where all the cool kids of food and drink are hanging out, but it’s also home to Italian and Sons, a modern trattoria serving up the kind of classic Italian fare that we all crave when the mercury drops. It’s a warm, casual spot that means you can just pop in for a plate of pasta and some wine – you don’t need an occasion to dine here, but it’s also very popular, so booking is the smart move.
Perhaps you want to start your meal with an orb of cream-filled fresh burrata on a plinth of caponata. Or you can get that same unctuous eggplant and capsicum mélange with the daily fish on our visit. Or maybe you want to start out fresh and clean with little oily fillets of sardines in a salad of zingy tangle of cured onions, orange, pine nuts and currants.
Pasta fans should not go past the fat tortellini that almost look more like double-stuffed ravioli, filled with sweet pumpkin puree and bathed in burnt sage butter with a double cheese hit of parmesan and dollops of shredded burrata on top. Saving yourself for the meat course? The Wednesday special of pepper crusted beef fillet comes with a triple threat umami base of creamy porcini, horseradish and bone marrow.
If you’re a savoury person maybe you add an order of cured meats in place of dessert, but if sugar is your poison you won’t want to miss the housemade gelati – the chocolate version is black as night, rich as a Kardashian and so cocoa heavy it rides a fine line between sweet and earthy.
Pair your whole evening with local wines or an Italian drop – along with the convivial service come spot-on recommendations that ensure you get exactly what your want when going out for Italian.