Osteria Balla

There's nothing more celebratory than eating by the water in summer. For many of us, it validates the whole idea of living in Sydney. So why am I not in Bondi, Cronulla or Avalon for Good Living's summer edition? Because Sydney has a new patch of water to eat by.

The tables lining the long, slow curve of huge glass-cantilevered windows in Stefano Manfredi's new Osteria Balla [and at the adjacent Black by Ezard] offer extremely validating and hitherto inaccessible views of Pyrmont Bay.

That said, sun, sea and sails set the scene for one of the most joyous things you can eat in summer: whole grilled fish. This simplest of all meals is one of the real luxuries of the modern world. Some excellent fish is available around town but too often it is served filleted, dumbed-down due to cartilogenophobia (fear of bones).

At Osteria Balla, there is always a wood-grilled fish of the day that is exactly that - fish, simply grilled over wood, left whole. And here it comes: a fair-sized John Dory ($45) caught off the south coast, served with a big lemon wedge and little bowls of salmoriglio, the Calabrese dressing of herbs, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic, and salsa verde. It is done supremely well, cooked until the skin is crusty and smoky, flesh parting from the bone at the touch of a knife, with integrity of flavour that you only get when something is cooked nose-to-tail.

It's typical of Stefano Manfredi's casual but intellectualised approach to Italian cooking, in which produce, freshness and flavour are deliberately prioritised before sleight of hand. It's good to have him back in town. There he was, apparently content with his lot as executive chef of Manfredi at Bellsat Killcare Heights on the central coast, when the Star made him the Godfather offer. Together they built Balla, a massive, 160-seater split-level room awash with light by day and moodily broody by night.

The name comes from the Italian futurist artist Giacomo Balla, a conceit taken up by designer Luigi Rosselli and parlayed into a dazzling geometric ceiling, imposing terrazzo columns, hand-blown amber glass lights and webbed and slanted dining chairs. It's all very modernist. Even the cutlery is set, annoyingly, at an angle.

Manfredi and head chef Gabriele Taddeucci present a timeless Italian menu, running from antipasti to salumi to pasta to fish to meat. Lightly spiced prosciutto from Kogarah's Pino Tomini Foresti ($9) comes freshly, finely sliced and folded over itself, served with crisp, hand-rolled grissini. Another starter of grilled veal tongue needs more acidity than it gets from a drizzled salsa verde ($9).

Anyone who remembers the Manfredi way with house-made pasta at Restaurant Manfredi or Bel Mondo should go for the plump, lovely agnolotti verdi ($25), which parcels up wild greens in admirably fine pasta, on a homely tomato sugo. There's an occasional modernist gesture, such as the house-made maccheroncini (yes, they have their own extrusion machine), cooked al dente and tossed in butter with fresh yabbies ($26) and black and white sesame seeds. These are common in Italian baking but I question if they add anything here.

The grill is put to good use with everything from prawns to a huge 800-gram Florentine-style T-bone. Quail ($24) comes off it to be topped with crisp sage leaves and circled by reduced balsamic vinegar; and grilled lamb shoulder ($39) is sliced tagliata-style, carpeted with herb-flecked breadcrumbs that contrast nicely with the giving meat.

A vast wine list comes via iPad, with relatively diner-friendly software, but you can also go offline and interface with the sommelier, allowing Fabio Danzi to draw on his own database for a high-impact 2009 Manni Nossing Kerner, an intense, herbaceous white from the Sudtirol at $22 a glass, or a complex, savoury 2009 Pra Ca Morandina Valpolicella ($89) with body to burn. Other staff cover the ground but still seem to be playing catch-up.

Zuccotto - a festive Florentine domed cake - is strikingly layered with sponge, chocolate, ricotta and mascarpone, and served with boozy cherries ($18). It's very Christmassy and, in spite of its creamy richness, wonderfully light.

Balla could have gone upmarket and fancy but that's not the Manfredi way. Instead, it brings to Sydney relatively simple, recognisably Italian food built on quality prime ingredients and a bustly, big-time, business-like dining experience. And, of course, those wonderful floor-to-ceiling windows, open to the view we never knew we had.

tdurack@smh.com.au

Osteria Balla

Address Level G, the Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont, 1800 700 700, star.com.au/dine /signature-dining/balla.html

Open Lunch Tues-Fri; Dinner Mon-Sat

Licensed Yes

Cost About $140 for two, plus drinks