3 minute read
Hunters Hill restaurants
Flanked by the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, Hunters Hill had many French and Italian associations in its early development. How appropriate, then, that the three restaurants located within a stone’s throw of one another in Hunters Hill’s historic precinct offer those very cuisines.
Le Village
This French restaurant features such classic bistro dishes as double baked cheese soufflé, chateaubriand, and crêpes Suzette, as well as traditional French favourites like croque monsieur, salad Niçoise and chicken chasseur. From time to time there are feature dishes, including seafood paella or suckling pig on a spit. The sunny sandstone-paved courtyard is popular with locals for brunch and alfresco dining.
Ottimo Italian Restaurant
The menu of this family-run, trattoriastyle restaurant with its garden courtyard appeals to all ages. Kids love the pasta, with a scoop of ice-cream for dessert, while parents enjoy such time-honoured delicacies as carpaccio, risotto, and veal cutlets done in the Milanese style. Additional choices are the daily specials, which vary according to what was freshest at the markets that morning. A personal favourite is the gnocchi with caramelised red onion, pancetta and peas.
Bistro 54
With its emphasis on locally sourced ingredients and an all-Australian wine list, the owner/chef of this contemporary Australian eatery creates artful dishes such as a deconstructed prawn cocktail, seared tuna with Russian salad and samphire, and bacon pork cutlet with sweet corn and crackling. The chef’s signature dish is salmon sashimi that is theatrically delivered in a smoke-filled glass cloche.
www.levillage.com.au 37B Alexandra St, Hunters Hill, 9817 0289 www.ottimoitaliankitchen.com.au 35 Alexandra St, Hunters Hill, 9817 1110 www.bistro54.com.au 54 Alexandra St, Hunters Hill, 9879 0067
LINKS WITH THE PAST
All three restaurants occupy buildings with strong links to the British, French and Italian founders of Hunters Hill.
Bistro 54’s sandstone and timber building was first mentioned in council records in 1878 as ‘Peter Fudge’s butchery’ and was built on land purchased by Charles Fairland in 1859. For many years Sidney Bliss had a grocery shop there, until it was converted into the long-running restaurant, Jaspers. Dining in the Stone Room is a unique experience, with the walls revealing the skilful handiwork of the colonial quarrymen and stonemasons.
Although the building that houses Le Village actually dates from the 1980s, a major restoration of the landmark Garibaldi Inn opened it onto the courtyard surrounding the Garibaldi and stands within the same property boundaries. The Garibaldi was built as a 16-room hotel in the 1860s by Giovanni (John) Cuneo. He had emigrated from Genoa in 1854 and purchased two adjoining lots on the corner of Alexandra and Ferry Streets. Once the hotel was completed in 1869, he managed it for many years and it became a centre of social life for the many Italian families in the area.
The Cuneo Building is now the home of Ottimo Italian Kitchen. It was built by Cuneo, next door to the Garibaldi, for his family to live in. Cuneo’s eldest son, Thomas, used the front portion as a butcher’s shop from the 1880s. The original building was extended to the rear in the 1970s and now encompasses the courtyard that is a popular drawcard for Ottimo.
The mid-1800s saw the Joubert brothers, Didier and Jules, emigrating from France to Sydney, purchasing farmland from British colonists in Hunters Hill and subdividing it. The Joubert’s wanted to develop a village for French settlers. They contracted a group of about 70 Italian stonemasons to construct fine houses and cottages from locally quarried sandstone. As more European immigrants arrived in Sydney, fleeing the political upheaval and famine of those times, many French and Italian families joined their fellows in Hunters Hill. They built hotels, villas, shops and churches from the honey-gold and cream stone. Many of these buildings are still standing, and have become a distinctive feature of the suburb. As well, many of the streets and geographical features carry the names of the French, Italian and British founders of Hunters Hill.
Left; The Garibaldi Inn circa 1890 (courtesy of the Hunters Hill Historical Society) and right, a photo from today.
