Pino's Vino e Cucina al Mare, Cronulla

Much loved Italian restaurant Pino's Vino e Cucina has just opened another branch in Sydney's Sutherland Shire. With Cronulla beach within easy walking distance, the focus here is on fresh seafood and is inspired by Puglia. Their seafood platter is a fresh take on a classic seafood platter and there is house made pasta as well as meat and seafood dishes. Come along and see what this new restaurant is like.

The last time we went to Pino's in Alexandria was in February 2020. The setting was straight from Italy with warm tones, deferential service and delicious food. The setting for Pino's Vino e Cucina al Mare (of the sea) is Cronulla's Old Library building on Surf Road which is bright, breezy and coastal. Pino's replaces restaurant "1908 Cronulla" and the building dates as far back as 1908 where it was built as a Methodist church. There are floor to ceiling windows, exposed timber beams and tall ceilings in a glasshouse style setting, handmade terracotta tiles from Italy and bespoke terracotta sconces. There is bar seating, outdoor seating and a hidden away enclave that is a bit quieter in the back.

Owner Matteo Margiotta chose Cronulla, "Because my family and I moved here five years ago when our first daughter, Aurora, was born. I grew up far from my extended family and with my wife’s family being from the Shire, it was important to me that our girls have close relationships with their relatives. Family is everything to me." Pino's is actually named after Matteo's father. "This restaurant embodies the best memories from 2021, when my wife and two daughters and I spent three unforgettable weeks in Puglia for my brother’s wedding. We rented a beautiful house by the sea, and that’s the feeling I want our Cronulla restaurant to have," says Matteo who has lived in Australia for the past 14 years. The Executive Chef here is Cristiano Patacca, formerly of OTTO and est. who is across both restaurants.

While the wine cellar has 1700 bottles, Mr NQN chooses the non alcoholic cider from the Huon Valley in Tasmania while I have a non alcoholic soft drink with Beesbucha, raspberry, banana and mango that is a nice balance of sweetness and flavours. Beesbucha is a non alcohlic fermented honey drink.

We start with bread and olives - it's two slices of sourdough and house made foccacia with extra virgin olive oil. The olives are a house marinated mix of olives marinated in lemon and rosemary.

Then we try the fried parmigiano balls that are crispy on the outside with parmigiano and filled on the inside with smoked scarmoza. These are tasty little bites to keep our hunger at bay while we wait for the seafood platter.

Our seafood platter arrives in a cloud of dry ice. Forget preconceptions of seafood platters with both fresh and fried seafood. This seafood platter is all about the freshest raw seafood from oysters, scallops, amaebi prawns and caviar and tuna tartare toast. All of these items can be ordered separately or together as the platter.

We start with the oysters, half a dozen East33 Sydney rock oysters with a gorgeous Italian "ponzu" dressing, a nice change from mignonette made with shallots, walnut oil and citrus (seriously, use this on everything). Then we segue onto the Abrolhos half shell scallops on a bed of Jerusalem artichoke puree and walnut oil that are fresh and creamy.

Then dip the tiny, raw, shelled amaebi prawns into the buttermilk dressing with green apple and dill oil and try not to lose too many of the avruga caviar beads. And then finish on the wonderful yellow fin tuna tartare on toast with smoked bell pepper and a slice of lardo on top (I also added some of that Italian ponzu on top just to finish it off). Sublime.

We could have been happy with the seafood platter but curiosity beckoned us to try some of the house made pasta. While we are supposed to be sharing Mr NQN is quite stubbornly unwilling to give up the Maccheroncini alla vodka with spanner crab. And I get it, this dish is so full of flavour and colour that he ends up scraping the bowl for the sauce and then grabbing the bread to make a scarpetta for the sauce lest a drop go back to the kitchen.

As for me I have the Pici cacio e pepe. The waiter warns us that as it is a semolina pasta it is more al dente than other pasta which I really love (I make semolina pasta at home I love it that much). This dish starts with a thin slice of provolone or scamorza on the bottom, then top it with cacio e pepe pasta and finish with a Fiandino cream and more black pepper on top. While the cheese is rich and creamy, this pasta is all about that wonderful texture that gives a lovely bite back without ever feeling undercooked. Matteo describes it as, "A perfect combination of influences from both Tuscany and Rome. Like me (from Rome) and good friend and executive chef Cristiano, who is from Tuscany."

There are a couple of desserts that we would have tried but by now we are very full so we decide to split the tiramisu. Pino's tiramisu is the original recipe that they’ve been serving since 2016. This is a generously portioned sized, actually ideal for 2 to share (or even 3) with soaked sponge fingers, mascarpone and chocolate chips on top-the chocolate on top is inspired by how Chef Cristiano's mother does it. After lunch it's a walk back to the car where it feels like we are on holiday.

So tell me Dear Reader, what do you like in a seafood platter? Do holidays inspire you to cook certain foods?