Uccello

The Ivy Pool Club is one of the showier spots in Sydney, featuring private cabanas, inflatable swans and a host of pretty young things. It'd be easy to assume that the overlooking restaurant offers more style than substance. Fortunately, that is far from the case at Uccello. David Lovett stepped into some big shoes when he took over from esteemed chef Eugenio Riva, but he's filling them with aplomb. For starters, fritto misto di mare is a beautifully crisped homage to the Italian stalwart, with teeny school prawns, calamari, whitebait and fish playing nicely with super-thin potatoes. In a tagliatelle dish, the sweetness of scampi and marjoram is offset by the bite of peppercorns. Every dish is a knockout. A mixed grill of pork chop, sausage and quail is dressed simply with oregano, while a rich veal shin is sharpened with gremolata. Torta di verona - pandoro, mascarpone and amaretto - seals the deal, while Franck Moreau's wine list is heavenly.