Five cotoletta worth dining for
I might be a barbarian with my unnatural love of crumbed, fried protein but goddamn it feels good to find a good one. A flavoursome crust enveloping an often sweet, juicy piece of pork or veal paired with golden fries and often a salad or something similar like shaved cabbage as well as a cracking pinot noir. It’s heaven.
Moreover, you can immediately improve the warmth of a restaurant, no matter what the dining room is like by having a cotoletta on the menu.
Bearing this in mind, one of my all-time favourites is the cotoletta at Sydney establishment De Vine…
De Vine Food and Wine
32 Market St (cnr Clarence St)
When we talk about warm, inviting rooms De Vine just about nails it.
For over two decades, this recently stylishly refurbished space has served some of Sydney’s finest food matched with a brilliant eclectic wine list from around the world.
Anthony and Julian Izzillo’s slice of Europe in Sydney’s CBD sits on a fairly nondescript corner across from a kebab shop and a Betty’s Burgers but step inside and you immediately feel at home. The restaurant’s main dining room is an intimate space ripe for quiet conversations and shared confidences yet also breezy enough to settle in for a livelier session. Conversely, the front bar with its high tables and comfortable high-backed stools is a little more relaxed and a happy place because it’s where I discovered a true paean to the art of cotoletta.
It’s a wonderful (and I don’t say this lightly) perfectly crumbed pork cutlet cooked with sage and capers and fried in burnt butter which pervades the whole dish with a gorgeous light, creamy flavour. It’s an absolute delight. Paired with golden shoestring fries and shaved cabbage done with apple cider vinegar and parmesan, it becomes a dish I long for again within hours of leaving the restaurant. It’s ideal for sharing and I yearn for it again within hours of leaving.
Cecconi’s
61 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Melbourne dining institution Cecconi’s sits in one of the nation’s best dining spaces.
Up the top end of Flinders Lane in the CBD, it’s a room built for quiet carousing or even romance.
You wander down the stairs into a warm basement haven of Melbourne style. Sydney doesn’t quite do it as well as Melbourne when it comes to creating a space like Cecconi’s. A place where Melbourne’s business, political and (dare I say it) underworld figures come to power dine but more importantly relax in a convivial, laidback atmosphere.
Tables clad in crisp, white linen matched with always attentive, friendly service make Cecconi’s an absolute Melbourne must-do multiple times.
As for my main attraction, try an extraordinarily good veal cotoletta which is accompanied by green apple, savoy cabbage and parsley salad. Double up on the salad potentially, with a garden salad of fennel, radish and house dressing and of course wonderful crunchy chips. Don’t forget a good pinot. Love the place.
The Sir George
320 Riverside Drive, Jugiong
A bit of an outlier and contained in a pub built in 1845 but the Sir George is everything you’d want a country pub and restaurant to be.
It’s in the hamlet of Jugiong on the drive from Sydney to Melbourne (or any place in-between) or even the drive to Jugiong. Yep, it’s worth a drive and stay as well – the pub has some gorgeous accommodation out the back.
This time the dining room is the great outdoors in the garden to the side of the pub. Sure there’s a dining room inside but… sitting outside surrounded by birdsong and the gentle hum of bees in the shade of a tree, with the crunch of loose fine gravel under foot is just a sublime way to wash away the hard-edge of your daily city soundtrack.
It’s a great old country pub and on a quiet weekday, a complete sanctuary. On the weekends it can fill with slightly too many families, grey nomads and bikies on tour as does the famous Long Track Pantry next door. They’re both still well worth a visit on a weekend as you make your way down the highway, but it can get slightly too busy for those who want to really feel the pace of a more bucolic existence and escape the city hubbub.
As for the main game, we’re here for the pork cotoletta. Crumbed heartily with some near whole fennel seeds in the mix and paired with cavalo nero, a rather good tomato fondue and whipped ricotta, it’s damn good food when you’re on or off the road.
Matched with a side of roasted carrots, vincotto and honey, sesame and dill plus a nice Canberra District Pinot Noir from Lerida, it’s an ideal lunch as you while away a couple of hours on a crisp Autumn day.
Market Bistro
8 Market Lane, Maroochydoore
I’m going to say Market Bistro is a place where the room is improved by having a cotoletta on the menu. It buys directly into my opening argument. The large modern space with concrete floors set around an open kitchen and bar is quite noisy most of the time because it’s packed with a fine-looking perma-tanned Sunshine Coast crowd. They’re a good-lookin’ healthy bunch which might be testament to the Queensland coastal climate and seemingly endless beaches.
The vibe is pretty lively and the food quite excellent which shows people gravitate to good food even if the restaurant sits on a trumped-up swamp in a huge architectural folly known as the new Maroochydoore CBD.
The star of the show is the herb crumbed pork cotoletta with celeriac remoulade, and lemon. Matched with roasted duck fat potatoes, rosemary and garlic it is a surefire comfort food winner. Throw in a light, savoury wine such as the 2017 Cascina Rabaglio Barbaresco DOCG from Italy’s Piedmont region and you forget where you are. Suddenly you are immediately transported to one of your happy places which, on the Sunshine Coast, is pretty much anywhere except the local airport and probably the new CBD.
Neptune’s Grotto
Cnr of Young and Bridge Streets, Sydney
A relative newcomer Neptune’s Grotto sneaks into the top 5 because it has it all including a distinctly wonderful cotoletta.
It sits just underneath the New York-influenced diner Clam Bar, which co-founders Dan Pepperell, Mikey Clift and Andy Tyson created two years ago.
Importantly, it’s a great room. A basement room there’s a little bit of Sydney gaucheness to it but it works wonderfully. Unlike Melbourne’s stylish basement that is Cecconi’s, this is an entirely different vibe although matched with solid service from a tight floor team and a kitchen on song.
Punters at the bar sit on stools gazing at their blurred reflections in a wall of wine fridges or into the bottles of spirits used to create a plethora of cocktails. It’s a room I’ve slipped into twice and genuinely love especially with the warm-humoured service from a knowledgeable and passionate team.
Importantly, as written elsewhere on Lunch, the Cotolleta alla Milanese is a showstopper. It’s arguably the best in Sydney although my snap poll of two others still rank De Vine’s higher. The batter is a winner, dusted with Parmesan and breadcrumbs enveloping an outstanding piece of veal, and combined with a luscious butter lettuce and caper vinaigrette salad, it goes down a treat especially if you throw in the crispy potatoes and garlic as well. To drink – maybe a nice little Barbera.
