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Freddie Green’s opens at Green Square

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Chicken cotoletta, burnt butter, sage, capers, lemon and rocket.
Chicken cotoletta, burnt butter, sage, capers, lemon and rocket.Supplied

Freddie Green's opens at Green Square this week, the Italian restaurant with the Anglo-sounding moniker receiving its culinary inspiration from an unlikely place: a French fine diner.

Owner James Metcalfe says the now-defunct Becasse, where he earned two hats as head chef, started out heavily French, but became more modern European and Italian as it went on.

His Italian dishes are clever and Insta-candy while never straying too far from the essence and simplicity of Italian cooking.

Freddie Green's is the third venue opened by Metcalfe's JRM Hospitality.
Freddie Green's is the third venue opened by Metcalfe's JRM Hospitality.Supplied
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One dish he describes as "a bit like a bolognese but not". The kitchen slow-roasts wagyu, then cuts it up into chunks and mixes it with the house-made tomato sauce.

Metcalfe hasn't saddled up alone. He has recruited head chef Concetta Bille, who grew up in a food-leaning Sicilian family (is there any other kind?) before stepping out professionally at North Bondi Italian, Lotus and Mark & Vinny's Spaghetti & Spritz.

Her cannoli with whipped vanilla ricotta or dark chocolate mascarpone are on the opening menu at Freddie Green's, alongside classic pizza (half price between 5 and 6pm on weekdays) and a Metcalfe favourite, squid ink linguine with spanner crab.

Pumpkin risotto, basil, braised radicchio, balsamic-glazed fried sprouts.
Pumpkin risotto, basil, braised radicchio, balsamic-glazed fried sprouts.Supplied

Freddie Green's is the third venue opened by Metcalfe's JRM Hospitality, following hot on the heels of Saint George Dining in Chippendale and Pyrmont coffee shop W & Co.

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Earlier this year the chef took a spin around Italy, so diners can expect to see classics including potato pizza and chicken cotoletta on the menu.

And the name? Frederick Green was lord mayor of Alexandria in the 1930s and '40s.

With projections Green Square will have a population density higher than New York City by 2030, the 69-seat Freddie Green's is a food pioneer in an area about to get a whole lot busier.

"Luckily we're close to the train station," Metcalfe says.

Open breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

18 O'Riordan Street, Green Square, freddiegreens.com.au

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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