Osteria Carbone

Osteria Carbone reads the Mediterranean into Sydney Harbour, matching Sicily's love of the sea to one of the world's great waterfronts. This is Southern Italian, seafood-led cooking at its most confident — bright, briny and generous — served in a Smart Casual room that has been Fully Scored for its authenticity. The harbour is the view; Sicily is the flavour.

Chef Antonio Bruno is Sicilian, and his cooking is a homecoming by proxy. His spaghetti ai ricci di mare — dressed simply with fresh sea urchin, garlic and chilli — is the dish that made the room's name, a plate that lives or dies on the quality of the catch and the restraint of the hand. A sweet-and-sour caponata Siciliana and a ricotta-filled cannolo finished with Bronte pistachio complete an island journey from antipasto to dolce.

The list stays true to the terroir, led by a volcanic Etna Rosso whose ash-and-cherry character was made for grilled fish and rich sauces alike. Sicilian Bronte pistachio and San Marzano tomatoes ground the kitchen in genuine Italian provenance, the sourcing discipline behind its Melius score.

Family-friendly and built around a serious wine focus, Osteria Carbone is where Sydney goes for authentic Sicilian seafood without pretension. It captures something essential about the Italian south — that the finest cooking often comes from the simplest treatment of the best ingredients — and does it with the harbour glittering just beyond the glass.