Ambience was everything: the water glistened with the reflection of the pale orange sun setting in the distance. Knives and forks chimed as patrons tucked eagerly into their food. People chattered excitedly, and a handful of celebrities mingled with those of lesser note; but the seductive sound of water lapping against the boats docked in the marina was all I could hear; food is all I saw.
It was the evening the official launch of Ormeggio, the new restaurant opened by chef Alessandro Pavoni and his business partner, Frasier Guthrie, at the d'Albora Marina at The Spit, in Sydney's lower North Shore.
After enjoying the beautiful view, it was hard not to notice the restaurant's coastal interior design which was brought to life by d'Albora Marina's architect Bill Loader, with a bit of inspiration from Fraser's sister, Laurie Daubney.
The interior of the restaurant had a casual but classy coastal look and feel. The timber floors, chairs and tables and the large bi-fold doors that transformed the restaurant into a large open area overlooking the d'Albora Marina in the summer time, or a cozy four-walled restaurant during the winter, add character.
White peacock logos could be seen on some of the windows, an in-joke between Pavoni and his wife (and anyone who can speak Italian) - 'pavoni' means peacock in Italian.
The more I learned about Ormeggio, the more I became intrigued with it.
Perhaps it was the scenic views, the food, the atmosphere, the reasonable prices or even the friendly staff. Or maybe it was a combination of all of this. But beyond that, I loved the story of how Ormeggio (Italian for 'berth' or 'mooring'), came to be.
It all started with love.
In 2002, Alessandro met his future wife Anna, during a working trip to Australia and they fell in love. At the time, Alessandro only spoke Italian and Anna spoke English and French. Soon after meeting, Alessandro went back to Italy and Anna went to Europe and they visited each other as much as they could. Alessandro showed Anna his culture and his passion for cooking regional Italian food. Flash forward seven years, and Alessandro had gone from being a chef at the Harbour Kitchen and Bar at the Park Hyatt in Sydney to co-owning his own restaurant with his best friend Fraser Guthrie.
But as much as he loves his wife, Alessandro laughed at the notion that his food might have a little bit of Australian influence.
"No way! It is authentic regional Italian food. I love my wife and her culture, but I also love my food," he said.
"The only thing that is Aussie is my staff, who are multicultural."
To stay true to his Italian heritage and still support Australian businesses, Alessandro sources his fresh produces from Italian suppliers in Australia.
The menu had a variety of wines, sea food, pasta and desert dishes that ranged from a sword fish dish to a traditional Italian spit roast meal.
Going through the meals was an adventure for the taste buds. For appetisers, we had seafood such as oysters and prawns, and a special kind of bread. The pig lard on bite size toasted bread drizzled with honey were also well received.
Then there was the spit roast and buffet. It seemed the further you went down the buffet line the more complex - scarce - the food. The smoked egg plant, the Brescian roast meat which is a traditional Brescian spit roast with chicken, pork, rabbit and quail, and the bread sticks wrapped in prosciutto were consumed rather quickly.
Dessert was then brought out, bite size tiramisu in tiny edible chocolate cups. There was debate around the table whether they tasted like proper tiramisu, with the only Italian on the table saying no and the rest of us at odds with each other. Our disagreement on the flavours seemed to fade away as we couldn't help ourselves eating more and more of them - for tasting purposes of course.
I made my way over to Alessandro at the end of the evening, to congratulate him on a job well done. Tired from the strenuous but successful launch party, he looked at me and said he was living his dream. True to his Italian heritage, he said thank you and gave me a kiss on each cheek.
I almost forgot I was in Australia. Almost.