In Italian, Antica means ancient. It sums up new restaurant Antica's dedication to recreating traditional and ancient Italian meals, while incorporating fresh local Australian ingredients. And when we say Italian meals, we don’t mean the tourist-trap stuff you order from restaurants lining the walkway to the Trevi Fountain, like spaghetti and meatballs or carbonara with cream. Think gorgeous rustic plates that you could only dream of sampling thanks to nonna’s cooking, Tuscan vineyards with teeny-tiny menus, and now, in North Sydney. Ringing further true to the namesake is Antica’s location in Montrose House – a heritage-listed building that's more than a 100 years old.
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Antica is by the same team behind the award-winning Entrata Restaurant. The name of the game here is fancy Italian food, without all the frills – just good quality ingredients like creamy stracciatella cheese, Wagyu beef cheek, tomato sugo and sage. Mains include a risotto alla milanese with osso buco, which sees thick slabs of saucy braised veal shanks resting on a bed of golden-hued saffron risotto; and the tortelli delicately stuffed with a ricotta cheese, zucchini and, the star of the show, spanner crab, all in a white wine sauce.
We won’t blame you if the classy Art Deco-style dining room inspires you to order a tipple or two. Signature cocktails include the Fields Forever – a blend of strawberry lemongrass infused vodka, ginger syrup, yuzu liqueur, lemon juice and strawberries; and you can’t go wrong with an Espresso Martini. If it’s vino you’re after, have fun choosing out of 300 drops from all over Italy.
To that we say: saluti.
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