Bruno's knows how to party, Hunky Dory style

It's already been a year since Hunky Dory Social Club (HDSC) and downstairs restaurant Bruno's opened their doors on Sydney's Oxford Street, bringing something different in a open rooftop bar made for lazy weekend afternoons.

A year later Bruno's has a new menu and chef, Daniele Trimarchi (formerly of Fratelli Paradiso and Icebergs, and heavily tattooed). A lot of my favourites from my last visit are still on the menu but gone are the indifferent pastas.

Pleasingly, the cow hides are still on the restaurant ceiling and the crocheted black tablecloths remain beneath the glass-topped tables.

Dinner tables for the "degustation" dinner at Bruno's, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst

Following icy Tommy's Margaritas and Honey Daiquris on the HDSC rooftop with a side of live music, a crowd of media/social media types were herded down the dark stairs to Bruno's where seats were taken at mostly communal tables in anticipation of a 15-course "degustation" dinner.

Not that Bruno's offers a degustation, it was more a sampling of almost the entire menu, share platter style as I'm sure nonna would approve.

While the restaurant walls are decked out in religious artworks (owner Christopher Cinerari calls the images "powerful"), the back of the menu features Botticelli's artwork 'The Birth of Venus' which also happens to be tattooed on Cinerari's calf (Venus is the Roman goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity and military victory).

Olive misto - Pork & fennel stuffed green olives, Sambuca Gaeta olives and fennel &
chilli Sicilian olives

After the few drinks on the rooftop, most were starving and ready to rip into the 15 courses, starting with a selection of olives. While I nibbled on the fantastic grissini, I missed out on the stuffed olives which were apparently amazing. The small Gaeta olives were sweet with a light hit of Sambuca with nowhere near the flesh of the fat Sicilian olives.

Affetati misti - selection of Italian cured meats with an almond skordalia

The skordalia was the first of a few Greek hints on the menu, but the cured meats were a highlight of the evening. Truffle and fennel salamis shared the slate with bresaola, prosciutto and mortadella, all of which were superb (but granted I'm a cured meats fiend).

Nduja di casa - spicy cured pork paste, goat cheese, homemade wood-fired bread

I was super excited to see nduja come to the table, in a more presentable form than I last had (and listed in my favourite eats of 2011). This time they were three squat cylinders, garnished with almond flakes and served with the semi-soft goat's cheese and wedges of wood-fired bread.

And, as I warned those around me, it was just as spicy as I remembered and not something to be eaten while inhaling air, that's for sure. All the dishes so far were from the cicchetti menu, designed for sharing and snacking.

Insalata di lenticchia - blue lentils, goat's cheese, wood-fired baby beetroot, mint,
parsley, basil, Spanish onion, tomato

Salads made their way to the tables, starting with a lentil salad combining the classic partners of beetroot goat's cheese and an array of herbs and vegetables for a hearty side, all under squiggles of aged balsamic vinegar.

Insalata Primavera - Brussels sprout, walnut, parmesan, lemon, oil, balsamic

But I was most taken with the raw Brussels sprout salad, featuring the maligned vegetable shaved and tossed with lots of parmesan cheese, lemon and olive oil, scattered through with chopped walnuts. I don't think anyone would have trouble getting kids to eat Brussels sprouts this way.

Insalata Caprese - torn basil, buffalo mozzarella, tomato, Novello olive oil

The small Caprese salad featured diced tomato, big leaves of basil and what looked like melted mozzarella cheese. I don't know if it was a skilled hand in seasoning, but this was about the best buffalo mozzarella I've had in Sydney. I would have eaten this entire dish if it didn't seem rude in a share plates situation.

Ortolana pizza - tomato, eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, rocket, pesto

Having previously had and loved the pizzas at Bruno's, especially the bases, I think these were on par although admittedly, this was when I was starting to get distracted by the seemingly bottomless glasses of a New Zealand pinot noir.

The Ortolana pizza featured eggplant, capsicum and zucchini under a forest of rocket, and wasn't quite the best vegetarian pizza I've ever had.

Sporchino pizza - tomato, tallegio, asparagus, prosciutto, chilli

The Sporchino pizza was a simpler affair of salty prosciutto, tallegio cheese and thin rounds of asparagus. To be honest, I'm not sure if I liked the asparagus on pizza as it seems to develop a very particular, not subtle aroma.

Salmone curato con vodka - vodka & beetroot cured salmon, pickled beetroot,
watercress & horseradish cream

Almost unbelievably, the food kept coming. Thin slices of salmon cured with vodka one couldn't taste was an unexpected dish, livened by cubes of pickled beetroot and lines of mild horseradish cream.

Vitello tonatto - slow braise veal with an in-house tuna dressing

Pulling us straight back into classic Italian was the vitello tonatto: ridiculously tender braised veal smothered in a creamy, tin tuna-spiked sauce much like mayonnaise. It was so well executed that even the first-timers were nodding their heads in approval.

Calamari fritti - calamari, aioli, lemon

The convivial sharing continued as plates were passed up and down the table. The dish of lightly battered calamari strips were pleasingly soft, with a unique addition of round sweet potato crisps thrown into the jumble.

Haloumi grigliato - haloumi, roasted red peppers, salsa verde, olive oil, lime

The other Greek (technically Cypriot) touch of the night was the grilled slices of haloumi cheese, which is completely unexpected on a menu of salami and pizza. Even with salsa verde I struggle to see its place on the menu but I just can't say no to the firm, squeaky cheese.

Funghi della nonna - field mushrooms, gorgonzola, pine nuts, spinach

Grandma's mushrooms were definitely one of the more unusual dishes of the night, in a very good way. The grilled mushroom cups barely held melted gorgonzola cheese, sweetened with aged balsamic and ably supported by roasted pine nuts and wilted spinach. A vegetarian cheese-lover's delight.

Pancia di maiale - Twice cooked pork belly, braised moscato pears, pomegranate fennel
salad, crackling crumble

If the final dish wasn't pork belly, I might have said "no". However, it was pork belly so I had to manage at least a bite. The sweet, braised pear was a lovely match to the soft, fatty bricks of pork and a nice evolution from apple sauce.

Pomegranate fennel salad, served with the pork belly

At this point I barely even glanced at the pretty-in-pink pomegranate salad, and thanked my lucky stars that dessert wasn't on our menu.

The endless pinot noir continued, as did the conversation around the table, leading me to think that this was exactly what the HDSC boys had in mind.

Wining and dining at Bruno's

Tonnes of food to share amongst great company and wine, and perhaps topped and tailed with a few drinks upstairs while taking in the live music - that sure is a hunky dory night out.

Food, booze and shoes attended the Bruno's Restaurant relaunch party courtesy of Hunky Dory Social Club, with thanks to Bang PR.

 

It's all Hunky Dory at Bruno's

The curiously-named Hunky Dory Social Club had me at ‘hello’. Or rather, ‘Hunky’. What kind of place, with that name, could not be awesome? Spread over two upstairs levels – both overlooking busy Oxford Street – it is a darkly low-touch cool space that boasts one of Sydney’s very few rooftop bars.

Cocktail on the roof at Hunky Dory Social Club, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst

There’s something very movie-like about sipping cocktails on a dilapidated couch, looking up to a brightly-lit billboard and open skies, and out onto the street traffic.

The new cocktail menu was also a treat, with some heavy hitting spirits in the mix of light-hearted titles, including the Heartbreaker (featuring Hennessy VSOP, Grand Marnier, PAMA pomegranate liqueur and blueberries).

Food is available in the bar, sent up from Bruno’s – the restaurant that occupies the ground floor. But for the full menu including mains, we headed down the couple of flights of stairs and took up a spot-lit table in the charming bricked room adorned with imagery of none other than Jesus Christ, aside a crucifix and other religious wall hangings.

Insude Bruno's, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst

With its cosy seating inside as well as a communal table out the front and a couple of tables on the footpath, Bruno’s has an unassuming trattoria feel – not to mention the large, crocheted rounds of black yarn beneath the glass-topped tables.

There’s a varied menu of starters, pasta and pizza. And from one look at a pizza that made it to the upstairs bar, we were definitely getting in on this woodfired cheese and carb action.

Nduja and goat's cheese with pizza wedges

I’m currently, and have been for a good few years now, in a love affair with nduja - the Italian salami paste that is increasingly common in Sydney's Italian restaurants.

The nduja at Bruno’s is by far the spiciest version I’ve tried, causing pain just mouthfuls into my quenelle of sorts. Despite the fiery pain, it’s some pretty good nduja with discernable chilli and meat bits.

The goat’s cheese served alongside is softly soothing; following the same dairy-over-chilli philosophy as yoghurt with Indian curries, I think. There’s not quite enough of the flat bread, which are pizza base style wedges, but we make do by smearing the nduja onto the goat’s cheese and rocket leaves.

Prawn and zucchini tagliolini

We’re immediately impressed with the large-headed prawns poking out of the thin eggy pasta, with halved rounds of rather overcooked zucchini in the mix. The tagliolini noodles have a very distinct eggy flavour and could have done with a little more oil or sauce, but were entirely pleasant nonetheless.

Gigantic prawns are never my favourites, but these had great texture along with their intense flavour. I kept wishing that the zucchini was thrown in at the last few seconds rather than last few minutes, but then we had pizza to distract us.

Prosciutto pizza

The pizza arrives at the table whole; which explains the rather sharp knives we were presented with in the beginning. At first touch with the knife (not the easiest thing to slice up, mind you), the crisp yet chewy base showed no signs of sogginess and every sign of greatness. Which it was.

Despite the extremely salty addition of very good prosciutto, I couldn’t stop eating the fabulous pizza, which was lightly spread with tomato sauce with plenty of stringy cheese. This pizza was definitely up there with the best of bases, though I acknowledge that this one had the benefit of pretty dry toppings.

Which could only mean a return visit to check out potentially soggier toppings on that excellent Bruno’s base. And that’s hunky dory by me.