Pilu at Akuna Bay

What is it about Italian chefs and the water? Alessandro Pavoni​ has enlivened The Spit with Ormeggio and Chiosco while Federico Zanellato has Pyrmont Bay sewn up with LuMi​. Maurice Terzini remains King of Bondi with Icebergs and Da Orazio​ and Giovanni Pilu​, whose restaurant Pilu at Freshwater has long been the jewel of Harbord, is also staking claim on Akuna Bay.      

What is it they say? It's all about the journey, not the destination? Well, in this case, they're wrong. It's entirely about the destination. Set right on Akuna Bay in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, it's big country out here among the rolling hills, and tree-lined Hawkesbury River, where yachts sit patiently waiting for their owners. Board short-clad sea dogs attend to them with scrubbing brushes and bare feet. Yachties' kids throw stale bread into the water, causing violent fish-feeding frenzies.

It's Sunday lunch only here. That's one sitting only, once a week. So the burden of expectation is understandably high for the kitchen. Don't expect a facsimile of Giovanni Pilu's Freshwater digs. Yes, there are Sardinian touches on the menu (carta di musica to start on the antipasti plate, fregola a little later on) but this is more of a casual long lunch feast. Emphasis on the long – service here, though some of the friendliest you're likely to experience – isn't swift.

That translates as a sort of feasting menu where you might start with some salami from the pork kings up at Salumi Australia, maybe some oiled-and-grilled eggplant (my friend says it looks "droopy and depressed", I'm going with relaxed), mixed green olives, focaccia and Sardinian crisp bread. Maybe you'll start with some Sydney rocks (ours are from Pambula) but maybe you'll choose not to. We certainly can't work out where all the brine's gone from ours, or why they're served with a bowl of vinaigrette and no spoon.  

All's forgiven with the appearance of the fregola. Big ups for whichever Italian ninja is wielding the knife in that kitchen. A minuscule dice of zucchini backs up tender, giving little pieces of squid cut into about the same size and shape as the Sardinian pasta nublets, making for a very nice sleight of tentacle. Everything's crunched up with pangrattato (poor man's parmesan, made with dried breadcrumbs) and a scattering of cress.       

I'm yet to be proven wrong in the disappointment stakes when it comes to a main protein corse I've really loved in an Italian restaurant, short of a massive bistecca fiorentina. And the paprika-rubbed spatchcock served with two charred red chillis (why?) doesn't really do a huge amount to diss my theory.    

Dessert is surprisingly fiddly, compared to the fairly casual, homestyle attitude to the rest of the meal. Here, a board comes out with a couple of austere chocolate biscuits, a couple of wedges of tiramisu and some almond sponge. I can't help feeling it might be a little more badass to just plonk a bottle of vin santo dessert wine on the table and a plate of biscotti and have at it.

This is a lunch adventure in a secluded pocket of northern Sydney – that means zero reception on the phone, which also means no chance of calling the guy with the "For Sale" sign on his boat. For some crazy reason, no matter how many times I beg, my dining buddy refuses to yell out of the window, "Hey mate, how much for the tub?"

THE LOWDOWN
Pro tip Keep $12 handy for the fee to get into the national park – you don't want to get caught short after that long and winding adventure through Terrey Hills and all the way through all that scrubby national park.
Try this The fregola is a drive-back-for-it highlight 
Like this? Can't make Sunday lunch? Try Pilu at Freshwater for week-long deliciousness. Moore Road, Freshwater, 02 9938 3331