ormeggio at the spit

exquisite. a thoroughly refined dining experience. the food exceeded all expectations - delicious, adventurous and simply the best produce andwineavailable. the service is like nothing i have previously experienced in sydney - flawless and professional, knowledgeable and attentive. to top it off, the location is superb, the decor comfortable and the ambiance was warm and not overly noisy or distracting - even when full. subtle touches like the cutlery and crockery reflected the level of attention to detail that has been invested. i would highly recommend the degustation menu with matching wines, an evening i will not soon forget. i will be back.

ormeggios at the spit breathes new life into traditional italian dishes that your nonna used to make. sensational presentation and breathtaking marina views, ormeggios did not disappoint in any way. the wait staff were highly trained and attentive, and took us through our 'trip through italy' with finesse. highly recommend the degustation 'trip through italy'. immaculate presentation of each meal and interesting takes on different meals including 'tomato and basil'. the 'apple strudel' was my favorite; a light, yet sweet arrangement playing on the ever popular apple strudel. a big mention to the oysters with lime granita- hands down best oysters i've had. fine food and greatwinematchings ensured a great night, and a definite return is on the cards.

i went to ormeggio on a sparking autumn day for a birthday lunch with my boyfriend. i couldn't be happier. gorgeous location, beautiful food and great wait staff. there was a table of 6 senior citizens nearby, one of whom was in a wheel chair, obviously out for a special and rare lunch out and our waiter was so attentive to them, cutting up one old lady's meal into bite sized pieces for her and taking such good care of them. he even wheeled her out and made sure she got in her cab safely. all done with class and aplomb. we loved our alacarte meal and thewinewas amazing. we have paid a lot more for a lot less in sydney. this place does not just trade on location but is the real deal. can't wait to go back

had the most gorgeous birthday dinner here last week. the food was exquisite, both in flavour and presentation. we had the 8 course degustation menu which is aptly called "a trip through italy". each dish is from a different region in italy and combines traditional flavours with modern twists. my absolute favourite was the battuta di manzo - the flavours and texturs were outstanding. also loved the cavoietti di bruxelle with the walnut hollandaise.
the ambience is very relaxing, warm and casual. it made me feel very relaxed and right at home. not too fancy and too uptight.
the service was great, we loved thewinesuggestions from the sommelier. our seating(excluding coffee) took almost 4 hours - the portions are small but by the end we were completely full.
my only gripe was that despite making a reservation in advance and requesting a window seat, we were seated in the middle even though there were a couple of tables free by window.

have dined at the gorgeous ormeggio many times over the past ten years, and i must say this place never fails to please! on a whim, my partner decides to take me out to dinner and as we are driving past he announces “let’s go there!” for most, it seems like careful planning has gone into the dining experience so luckily we called from the car park to find the last table still available! 

chose the 5 course menu which was just sheer perfection from start to finish. parmigiano-reggiano chip, cold mussels and an escalivada taco to whet the appetite. a very moorish olive and rosemary bread straight out of the oven, yellowfin tuna crudo, bottoni filled with more parmigiano-reggiano w roasted barley malt and then melt in the mouth charcoal wagyu w fermented black garlic. 

what alessandro pavoni doesn't about fine food andwinequite frankly, is not worth knowing. dessert was a very light dark chocolate with textures of pear and hazelnut. delicious! for those wanting a little bit more...a signature cheese box with condiments for 2 is also on offer.

sydney is blessed with many preeminent food institutions and ormeggio is certainly one of them. among all the glitzy fine dining restaurants, i could not praise ormeggio enough for some its out-of-the-world ingenuity.

two dishes which make me remember ormeggio for life - charcoal wagyu beef cheek, ocean trout roe/tuna crudo. the ocean trout roe is a perfect starter for the savoury courses with its blistering poppers and bronte pistachio. the redwinebeef cheek melts instantaneously and overcomes the "beef fat" problem which spoils my dining experience at other restaurants including sepia, est and lumi.

the other dishes are decent but not impressionable. hopefully, i can try more memorable and palatable dishes in my next visit there. orm is definitely one of the most underrated restaurants in sydney and it's worth a visit.

we had the 7 course withwinematching and had a great night. nicely plated dishes, great service, 5 out of 7 dishes were fantastic, 2 (suckling pig and the cold spaghetti) i could've passed on with the pork being slightly over cooked and extremely i mean extremely salty and the cold spaghetti was taken out a tad too early and wasn't quite al dente and was slightly undercooked however, the buitoni was cooked al dente and was amazing. both desserts were really nice and again the service was great. the view and location was also a plus :)

ormeggio at the spit in sydney was recommended to me by a foodie friend who took his daughter there for dinner a few weeks ago. i booked a table for 15 people for a celebration of the end of a building project and was told i had to have a 11 course degustation ($135/pp) and pay an 8% service charge. this seemed reasonable. on the night, we ordered a couple of bottles of bubbles, 2 white wines and two bottles of redwineas nearly every couple had a car driver and restricted alcohol . after the first course and a few drinks we were offered an extra course at $30.00 a head and again after the 9th course. the service seemed cordial and then began to get irritating and exploitative as no glass was allowed to reach half full in either the mineral water orwinedepartment in spite of waiters repeatedly being told not to fill upwineglasses by non-drinkers. at no time was mineral water requested by anyone at the table. at the end of the meal i was presented with a beverage bill for over $950 including 17 bottles of mineral water, 8 bottles of red wine, 2 bottles of bubbles and 3 bottles of whitewine– having specifically ordered about half this wine. it appeared that an empty glass was an indication to keep openingwinebottles. this was exploitative and unwarranted behaviour which spoilt a nice evening. to add insult to injury, a 1.5% credit card surcharge was added to the bill. thewinecharges per bottle were punitive as was the pricing on thewinelist. the behaviour of the waiters was unacceptable and cynical. i cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone. would suggest that any group booking be very carefully vetted to make certain you are not exploited as we were. more worrying is that people who had to drive had no idea how much they were drinking as every glass kept being filled, especially if you left the table to go to the toilet or moved around to chat – an unsafe and unsavory practice.

chef allesandro pavoni has consistently offered modern italian culinary dishes which still echo the best of the northern regions of italy.  his base of creativity and culinary delight is also iconic, near the spit bridge, in one of lower north shore sydney's most coveted spots, blessed by panoramic scenery, easy access from the city centre and yet offering diners a wonderful refuge from city life.i could see the vehicular traffic across the spit bridge from our table.    my group of three  was pretty looking forward to an evening of a surprise menu offering, willingly open to what the chef had in mind, whim and seasonal produce  - instead of being subject to a regularly repeated menu.   it was a five course affair, a starter, two mains and closed by two dessert items - the stressless sunday dinner!the greet staff set the engaging tone, and before very course dish, we were explained to in gusto and detail as to what we were about to discover, saviour and experience.   i must say it was not a degustation, with more than ample servings of each offering.  i absolutely loved the prawn tartare, garnished by parsley oil, presented in a white plate which displayed an exquisite placing of ingredients.  at the other end of the spectrum for us that evening was the risotto flavoured with pumpkin, highlighted by parmesan and graced with balsamic vinegar  - in this instance the risotto itself had a harder texture than i appreciated.   apart from that, we also had king george whiting, granita with lemoncelli and a sweet dessert utilising ricotta.    the organic sourdough was terrific as an opener - the bagna cauda - accompanied by an anchovy based dip.lighting in the restaurant was heavily subdued which can contribute to the ambiance  - here we were, huddled around our sole table lamp, and the scene is repeated across the sizeable dining area.    i did not feel as if i am placed on planks above water (ormeggio refers to moorings in italiano ) - and the washrooms are a delight, with careful and thoughtful touches of luxury and accessory.  i must say it was not easy for first timers to find the way to the restaurant entrance, as currently there is much renovation work surrounding the ormeggio,   once inside, we are embraced by vistas of the marinas, sydney middle harbour and pearl bay.    tables are tastefully separated by a good measure of personal space and this is appreciated.   as the evening wore on to close the weekend, more and more diners turned up as we commenced our visit early on a winter's evening when sunset was just after 5pm,  but it had indeed been a relatively welcoming warm night.sommelier jeremy croft directs thewinelist at the ormeggio, with choices that take a diner through the variouswinegrowing regions of italy, a rather unique experience.the ormeggio visited is located at the d'albora marinas, the spit, mosman nsw, with paid parking available on the same side of the marinas.   opening hours are from 6pm to 10pm on wednesdays; from 12 noon to 3pm and from 6pm to 10pm on thursdays and fridays; from 12 noon to 3pm and from 530pm to 10pm on saturdays; and from 12 noon to 3pm and from 6pm to 10pm on sundays.closed on mondays and tuesdays.contact +61 2 9969 4088my impressions of the ormeggio at the spit bridge, mosman nsw:ambiance:  4 out of 5

went sunday night for the 5 course menu. loved every dish except for one which was fish. all others were amazing, creative and delicious. lots ofwineand cocktail options.

went here last week and was blown away! had the degustation and every course was more stunning than the next and thewineadvice that came with it was excellent and unpretentious.

it's not cheap so don't expect much change out of $150 per head unless you skip thewineor only have one or two courses (but why would you?!). would love to check out again during the day or in summer.

majolini winery sits on the northeastern border of franciacorta and is built upon the hilly area of valle. the winery borrows from the vernacular of old farm houses and local building traditions and it is in the soil, climate of the region in which majolini’s vineyards and grapes are grown. simone maoilini from majolini is in town to showcase thewinerange and we head up to the very scenic spit up in mosman for a food andwinepairing at the hatted ormeggio at the spit. alex pavoni was also on hand to walk us through the menu ormeggio had curated to pair with the majolini wines. its amazing food and delicious wines, you really can’t ask for more. ormeggio is also currently the only restaurant in sydney serving up majolini although you are able to order these excellent italian wines online here simone maoilini’s a third generation winemaker and this was his first visit to sydney. amazing autumn weather forwineand lunch. majolini’s brut is a nice dry bubbly with a crisp finish. ormeggio bakery organic warm sourdough – homemade whipped ricotta.  we’ve had some amazing breads around sydney. there’s rockpool ‘s, cafe paci ‘s. and then there was this. rice + paprika chip, sour cream  with the majolini brut

ormeggio is a 2 hat restaurant located just before the spit bridge in mosman. it's been around for a while and the head chef alessandro pavoni is pretty well known, having appeared on masterchef and other cooking shows. the great thing about ormeggio is that it's pretty good value for money given its 2 hat status. on sunday's they do an awesome 5 course set menu called the 'stressless sunday dinner' which has 5 courses pre-selected by the chefs and costs $69 per person (or $129 for matching wines). whipped ricotta with homemade sourdough -  rustic sourdough, crunchy crust on the outside but soft and warm on the inside, this went so well with the ricotta that we actually ordered another plate of this bread. ocean trout - having not eaten at a fine dining establishment in quite some time, i'd forgotten how different the presentation and taste of the dishes can be. this trout dish brought it all back to me. such attention to detail in the plating with such delicate flavours. the balance between the fresh trout and the crunch of the tostada shards cut by the punch of the horseradish dollops. doesn't look like much to the naked eye, but it was a mouthwatering experience for the tastebuds. spaghetti carbonara - a modern twist on the classic carbonara. a twirl of spaghetti cooked al dente, with a rich cheesey sauce topped with a handful of fried lardons. mmmmmm, so simple but soooo good. beef cheeks - these braised beef cheeks in redwinejus was literally melt in the mouth goodness. with additional texture from the kale, baby corn and broccolini, this was a tasty main course. coconut crumb, gelato jelly - i'm not a big fan of desserts, but this was was super refreshing for a hot summer's night. carrot cake - ormeggi

hauty, and over priced. the food was artsy and tasted good, but the staff had attitude. we ordered 1 bottle of sparkling water at the table at start of meal and they continued to fill our glasses with sparking water throughout are time in the restaurant without asking if we wanted more....we stupidly assumed that it was free refill of some sort as we did not pay too much attention as in conversation...well when the bill came we had consumed $60 of sparkling water. we would have had another bottle ofwineinstead. bad! the menu is just stupid you have to order a sitting of 2-4 items. if you want to order a la carte it costs you the same as 2 items and it is sooooooo confusing as to what is on the menu and what to order. its not italia at all, just artsy food on a plate. if this is your thing, go, but i was uncomfortable and did not have a good experience.

special meal in a lovely location. we had a wonderful night at ormeggio on the spit last night. the small restaurant with intimate tables is lovely and overlooking the marina by sunset was nice, especially when the opened up the blinds and windows. the food was outstanding - we opted for the 8 course degustation with matching wines which was excellent. each dish was delicious with very interesting flavours and incredible display of technique. we were quite full by the end of the meal and had had just the right amount of wine, which was matched beautifully to the dishes throughout. our favourite dishes were the eggplant tortelli, the suckling pig and the veal tonnato - all were flawless. i could have done with the double desserts (one as a palate cleanser - a cheese dish would have been preferred) and the asparagus which was a little limp, but did taste delicious. our only criticism was that the matchingwinewas often poured too far in advance of the dish, so that by the time that matching food came out we had nearly finished off the medium sized matching wine. all in all, our night was 8.5/10 - we were thrilled. the waitstaff were all excellent and they made us feel welcome and made a nice fuss of my partner for his birthday.