Bacco Osteria e Espresso opens in Sydney CBD

After four years, two sets of operators and a very tricky exhaust system, one of Sydney's longest and most difficult restaurant births is finally over. Bacco Osteria e Espresso, a co-production from Vini's Andrew Cibej and the co-owners of China Lane and Mercado restaurants, has opened its first stage.

The crew from Fratelli Paradiso originally planned to launch in the Ash Street site, next to Felix restaurant, but years of design and planning issues over the complex exhaust saw them eventually jettison the project.

"It's the most difficult site I've ever tackled, absolutely. There was the exhaust, which took years, and other factors," says veteran restaurateur and Bacco co-owner Steve Anastasiou. Former Movida Sydney head chef Scott Williams has been drafted to run the Bacco kitchen. The plan is to open the espresso bar, the restaurant and aperitivo bar in the following week. Vini's gnocchi is the only dish that will make the trip downtown to Bacco.

Cibej says he's given Williams plenty of autonomy with the menu: "He has great knowledge and enthusiasm for food. There's a freshness to Scott's cooking, but at the same time he's respectful of tradition and flavour combinations. He cooked a tagliatelle dish for us with sardines, currants and chilli that I really hope makes the menu at some stage."

Bacco will bake all its own bread, with house-made panini already available in the espresso bar. "It has taken a while to open, its like building a pyramid," Cibej says.

Espresso bar, Monday-Friday, 7am-5pm; restaurant (opens late May), Monday-Friday, noon-late; Saturday, 5.30pm-midnight.

Shop 1/1 Ash Street, Sydney