Jason King
AmyHuangReview for il Passaggio - Bermagui NSW
April 21st 2010 23:48
I had the pleasure of going to a celebration with my folks last night to a new restaurant that has just opened in Bermagui, on the Sth Coast of NSW, Australia. The restaurant is called il Passaggio and it is an Italian Fusion restaurant located in the new, ultra modern, fully renovated Bermagui Fishing Co-Op.
A Brief History on Bermagui:
Bermagui is located between the more known towns of Bateman's Bay and Bega (famous for its cheese producing families). It is also the last emergency stop before Eden during the horrendously dangerous Sydney to Hobart yachting race.
It is thought that ‘Bermaguee’ (boat with no paddle) is derived from ‘permageua’, a word with an unknown meaning, from the vocabulary of the Dyirringany Aborigines who inhabited the area before white settlement.
The port at Bermagui was established in the 1830s for the local dairy farmers and the town, planned in 1867, quickly developed into a fishing harbour. Gold was found on the Bermagui River late in the nineteenth century but the rush was short-lived as finds were disappointing.
In spring the warm currents brought Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna close to the coast and charter boats would take divers, deep-sea and game anglers out to sea.
One of the most notable figures to exploit this aspect of Bermagui was American author of ‘westerns’, Zane Grey who wrote of his experiences in An American Angler in Australia (1937) and his posthumously published novel, Wilderness Fresh. The town park is named after him and the local hotel has photographs and memorabilia of his stay.
The crime novelist Arthur Upfield lived at Bermagui for a time in the 1950s. His novel ‘Mystery of Swordfish Reef’ (1960), starts at Bermagui with the disappearance of a boat.
The story was probably inspired by the fate of geologist Lamont Young who was sent from Sydney to inspect the new goldfields at Bermagui in 1880, and who along with four others, mysteriously disappeared. It is these goldfields where my parents actually live.
Forgive my grainy photos from the phone camera - it hates night time
il Passaggio is incredibly modern and a very ambitious restaurant for a smaller, coastal town. For a town that is limited in its choice of modern restaurants il Passaggio is first class. il Passaggio has three meanings and I wish I had asked them. One meaning is the meeting of two of the three vocal ranges in singing - could this mean a harmony which would suit the restaurant or could it mean the passage as in a place to visit on your journey or the other is the region in Italy - many thanks to my Italian friends for their help in finding a suitable meaning.
The decor and atmosphere in the restaurant are superb and one of the winners for me. Sitting in the top floor of the new complex it has uninterrupted views of Bermagui Harbour and offers indoor and outdoor seating. The other winner for me was Dan, our Mexican waiter (say it correctly people - MeHico), who joked with us and offerred service lacking in larger cities. He made the experience personal and one which people would want to repeat. For a Wednesday night dinner the place was packed and desservedly so.
The menu is on the wall with smaller printed versions for the table and offers antipasti starters and three pizza choices for entree plus a delightful yellowfin carpaccio with dill, chive and lemon - I will be having this one on my return visit. We all shared the simply named Pizza One for our entree - it was amply sized for three and consisted of pancetta, tomato, mozzarella, chilli and rocket. It was a subtle taste sensation and my only issue was that I thought it was too oily and this detracted from the flavours.
For mains they offer Pasta One, Two and Three. Mike (the stepdad) had the Pasta One - Linguine, squid, garlic, chilli, cherry tomato and lemon. Me being the restaurant reviewer got to taste everyone's meal - no wonder my weight loss is slipping Mike's pasta was moorish. It had ample squid and I am sure it also had some prawns in it. My one issue with Mike's dish was it had so much garlic in it, I mean more than I thought possible for one dish that it was all I could taste. If they backed off on the garlic a bit to me this would have been the close-to-perfect seafood pasta.
I had a divine duck breast with puy lentils, baby spinach and beetroot relish. This was such a sublte dish and the duck was cooked to perfection. I think I opened my mouth and poured the dish down in one gulp. I am used to red curry duck which is normally packed with bold, strong flavours and it took a while for me to get my head around a more subtle duck flavour but the lentils were so perfect with the duck and the beetroot relish made a tasty food trio. I would order this again.
Mum's dish was supreme. She had an eye fillet with roasted root vegetables and herb butter. It was the winner of the table. I have not seen an eye fillet this thick in a long time. It was also cooked to perfection and mum found it difficult to finish, which was great for Mike and I We also had a huge side bowl of broccoli and squash. God I love broccoli.
One of the things that may suffer for this restaurant is serving sizes. It is close to A La Carte and is more about quality as opposed to quantity. Mike's pasta was ample but Mum's and mine were perfect cuts of our respective meat with small servings of the additives (lentils, root vegetables). I have already heard of one person surprised at the sizes. While Sydneysiders and large city eaters are used to this, depending on the patrons they maybe more country-life oriented and be more used to bucket sized dishes of the food ordered. Not a major issue for me - the sizes were perfect to allow me the opportunity for dessert. I am on holidays so back off thoughts of my weight loss and exercise regime being thrown out the window - hahaha
There are three dessert choices - Dolce One, Two and Three. They all sounded delectable. There was a caramel budino with saffron poached pear - I enquired about this one as they used pears on a couple of dishes (Pizza Two was proscuitto, pear and rosemary). A budino is a semolino pudding and quite heavy. I skipped this and the Chocoloate Espresso Zabaglione and went straight to Grilled Figs with Marscapone and honey and OMG OMG - it was beautiful - one small suggestion to the restaurant if they read this - the smallest sprinkle of cinnamon on top would have elevated this dish into gastronomical heaven
The restaurant has it all, location, good food and amazing staff. It is starting out so I can see it improving over time and becoming the local "A" list restaurant. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to trying more and being served by the very sexy and friendly Dan - a very close dead ringer for Gael García Bernal with black hair
il Passaggio is located at:
Level 1, Fishermen’s
Wharf, 73-79 Lamont St,
Bermagui
Phone 6493 5753
I recommend booking and be warned - it is NOT BYO.
A Brief History on Bermagui:
Bermagui is located between the more known towns of Bateman's Bay and Bega (famous for its cheese producing families). It is also the last emergency stop before Eden during the horrendously dangerous Sydney to Hobart yachting race.
It is thought that ‘Bermaguee’ (boat with no paddle) is derived from ‘permageua’, a word with an unknown meaning, from the vocabulary of the Dyirringany Aborigines who inhabited the area before white settlement.
The port at Bermagui was established in the 1830s for the local dairy farmers and the town, planned in 1867, quickly developed into a fishing harbour. Gold was found on the Bermagui River late in the nineteenth century but the rush was short-lived as finds were disappointing.
In spring the warm currents brought Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna close to the coast and charter boats would take divers, deep-sea and game anglers out to sea.
One of the most notable figures to exploit this aspect of Bermagui was American author of ‘westerns’, Zane Grey who wrote of his experiences in An American Angler in Australia (1937) and his posthumously published novel, Wilderness Fresh. The town park is named after him and the local hotel has photographs and memorabilia of his stay.
The crime novelist Arthur Upfield lived at Bermagui for a time in the 1950s. His novel ‘Mystery of Swordfish Reef’ (1960), starts at Bermagui with the disappearance of a boat.
The story was probably inspired by the fate of geologist Lamont Young who was sent from Sydney to inspect the new goldfields at Bermagui in 1880, and who along with four others, mysteriously disappeared. It is these goldfields where my parents actually live.
Forgive my grainy photos from the phone camera - it hates night time
il Passaggio is incredibly modern and a very ambitious restaurant for a smaller, coastal town. For a town that is limited in its choice of modern restaurants il Passaggio is first class. il Passaggio has three meanings and I wish I had asked them. One meaning is the meeting of two of the three vocal ranges in singing - could this mean a harmony which would suit the restaurant or could it mean the passage as in a place to visit on your journey or the other is the region in Italy - many thanks to my Italian friends for their help in finding a suitable meaning.
The decor and atmosphere in the restaurant are superb and one of the winners for me. Sitting in the top floor of the new complex it has uninterrupted views of Bermagui Harbour and offers indoor and outdoor seating. The other winner for me was Dan, our Mexican waiter (say it correctly people - MeHico), who joked with us and offerred service lacking in larger cities. He made the experience personal and one which people would want to repeat. For a Wednesday night dinner the place was packed and desservedly so.
The menu is on the wall with smaller printed versions for the table and offers antipasti starters and three pizza choices for entree plus a delightful yellowfin carpaccio with dill, chive and lemon - I will be having this one on my return visit. We all shared the simply named Pizza One for our entree - it was amply sized for three and consisted of pancetta, tomato, mozzarella, chilli and rocket. It was a subtle taste sensation and my only issue was that I thought it was too oily and this detracted from the flavours.
For mains they offer Pasta One, Two and Three. Mike (the stepdad) had the Pasta One - Linguine, squid, garlic, chilli, cherry tomato and lemon. Me being the restaurant reviewer got to taste everyone's meal - no wonder my weight loss is slipping
Mike's pasta was moorish. It had ample squid and I am sure it also had some prawns in it. My one issue with Mike's dish was it had so much garlic in it, I mean more than I thought possible for one dish that it was all I could taste. If they backed off on the garlic a bit to me this would have been the close-to-perfect seafood pasta.
I had a divine duck breast with puy lentils, baby spinach and beetroot relish. This was such a sublte dish and the duck was cooked to perfection. I think I opened my mouth and poured the dish down in one gulp. I am used to red curry duck which is normally packed with bold, strong flavours and it took a while for me to get my head around a more subtle duck flavour but the lentils were so perfect with the duck and the beetroot relish made a tasty food trio. I would order this again.
Mum's dish was supreme. She had an eye fillet with roasted root vegetables and herb butter. It was the winner of the table. I have not seen an eye fillet this thick in a long time. It was also cooked to perfection and mum found it difficult to finish, which was great for Mike and I
We also had a huge side bowl of broccoli and squash. God I love broccoli.One of the things that may suffer for this restaurant is serving sizes. It is close to A La Carte and is more about quality as opposed to quantity. Mike's pasta was ample but Mum's and mine were perfect cuts of our respective meat with small servings of the additives (lentils, root vegetables). I have already heard of one person surprised at the sizes. While Sydneysiders and large city eaters are used to this, depending on the patrons they maybe more country-life oriented and be more used to bucket sized dishes of the food ordered. Not a major issue for me - the sizes were perfect to allow me the opportunity for dessert. I am on holidays so back off thoughts of my weight loss and exercise regime being thrown out the window - hahaha
There are three dessert choices - Dolce One, Two and Three. They all sounded delectable. There was a caramel budino with saffron poached pear - I enquired about this one as they used pears on a couple of dishes (Pizza Two was proscuitto, pear and rosemary). A budino is a semolino pudding and quite heavy. I skipped this and the Chocoloate Espresso Zabaglione and went straight to Grilled Figs with Marscapone and honey and OMG OMG - it was beautiful - one small suggestion to the restaurant if they read this - the smallest sprinkle of cinnamon on top would have elevated this dish into gastronomical heaven
The restaurant has it all, location, good food and amazing staff. It is starting out so I can see it improving over time and becoming the local "A" list restaurant. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to trying more and being served by the very sexy and friendly Dan - a very close dead ringer for Gael García Bernal with black hair
il Passaggio is located at:
Level 1, Fishermen’s
Wharf, 73-79 Lamont St,
Bermagui
Phone 6493 5753
I recommend booking and be warned - it is NOT BYO.
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