ormeggio at the spit

ormeggio at the spit is in one of those sydney locations where a restaurant in the wrong hands could easily have ended up ordinary, overpriced and trading on its perfect location. ormeggio restaurant is neither – it’s a cool sydney restaurant  with contemporary northern italian food in an iconic location. ormeggio reaffirms why we’re lucky to have top chefs with vision and who have brought their expertise to make sydney one of the worlds top food destination. alessandro pavoni   alessandro pavoni was born and trained in brescia in lombardy in northern italy.  he moved to sydney in 2003 and became executive chef at the famous park hyatt hotel in the heritage area of the rocks in sydney cbd in 2005,  and later went on to open ormeggio at the spit in 2009 (ormeggio in italian is mooring).   before that, alessandro worked at la rotonde in france and two michelin-starred villa fiordaliso on lake garda, italy and as well as restaurant lido in bermuda.   wallaby battuta – watermelon rind amar

one of the most beautiful risottos i’ve ever eaten. cooked to perfection, the rice had a wonderful texture and bite to it. there was a huge hit of tomato from the tomato consomme followed by aromatic basil and creamy mozzarella. quite the opposite of my dish with its big punchy flavours but i loved them both in their own right.

somewhere romantic, still, with good food and a nice view to linger over. ormeggio at the spit ticked all the boxes. ormeggio is a two hated contemporary italian restaurant with a stunning waterside setting in mosman. it is said that the italian chef and owner, alessandro pavoni, with his team of chefs boast 39 michelin stars between them. that is certainly reflected in their offering of exciting dishes. we started with a warm rye sourdough that has the crunchiest crust and we knew we are in good hands.

not great. great location. lovely staff. 6 course sunday dinner- woeful. from the tomato dish to the dessert of iceream ball with coffee and cut pieces of banana- pretty terrible. like one dish- the tortellini - that was it. all agreed- two hats not deserved. the chefs degustation is a big waste of $...
won't be returning.

went here for christmas dinner with some friends. the food was great,service good,price reasonable and a great view under the spit bridge overlooking middle harbour.we will be back again soon......

they have a vegetarian menu. you have to ask for it. it is fantastic food. well worth the money. the service is very good. if you want a 4 star vegetarian's night out. you have found your venue.

the food and experience was nice, but i feel it was overrated. strongly recommend the carpaccio. maybe better to come for dinner?

we all left hungry. with 4 friends i had lunch at ormeggio. we thought the special lunch, rissotto, glass of wine and coffee for $39 sounded good until we saw the size of the helpings!!
it was so small and at no more than the equivilent of an entree, the "main", at $22, ($39 minus $13 a for glass of wine and minus $4 for coffee) was overpriced. it tasted only ok but where were the prawns?
inside the ambience was nothing special unless you like to look at a flashy, moored boat, and it was noisy.
we had no complaints about the staff. the waitress gave glowing descriptions of the $18 desserts. i wonder what size they were? we were too wary to give them a try.
none of us will go there again.

amazing meal and service. had 6 course degustation and it was the best meal i have had in a long time.

the best italian in the country. this place is truly special.
every time i have been there i have been amazed at how good the service, the food, the presentation and the location is.

it's easy to see why this little gem on the north shore has earned a chef's hat the last two years running. everything is so polished and professional, the whole operation is a credit to pavoni and his team. i don't need to tell you what a great chef alessandro is or about his tireless charity work or the fact that he has had to accomplish all that he has with numerous serious health issues because that's not why you should come and dine here.

now, federico zanellato is the head chef of the one-hatted ormeggio at the spit. i recently had a nice chat with federico about his inspirations and love for food.

we wistfully imagined ourselves in another life “how the other half live”, and then we enjoyed a beautiful meal.

absolutely beautiful dinner. we had secondi & dolci. flavours were amazing and dessert just topped it off. will be back!

service is attentive without being overbearing and crucially, the degustation was well timed. dishes were delivered at a pace leisurely enough to contemplate the dish just consumed but not so long that we had to gaze towards the kitchen in anticipation of the next. the only thing i was left anticipating was my next visit.