Lombardo’s, Dural
Sydney’s Hills District is alive with the taste of fine Australian cuisine
Located 3 Allen Way, Dural NSW 2158
Lombardo’s is a relatively young restaurant situated in Dural. Although the Hills District is a trek from Sydney’s CBD, it is well worth the visit to escape the bustling urban life and recuperate in the calm and quiet nature of suburban Sydney.
One of the best things about Lombardo’s was the convenient parking located right outside the restaurant. The restaurant itself is a two storey affair, with an interesting foliage décor and proud signage lining the front. The open kitchen is located on the bottom floor, with lots of its fresh and colourful produce on display. The arrangement of its products appeared to be an homage to its previous life as a fresh seafood retailer. Now, as the name implies, it is an Italian-themed restaurant, though its menu still retains some heroic items from its past iteration.
“The restaurant itself is a two storey affair, with an interesting foliage décor and proud signage lining the front.”
We were seated upstairs. The tables and chairs were comfortable, and the décor was simple yet elegant. There was plenty of variety on the menu. The service was impeccable, with good recommendations as to the combinations of various food items. In the end, we decided on two entrees and two main dishes.
The pancetta wrapped scallops were a delight. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and the slight saltiness of the pancetta offered not only an additional flavour, but also an additional texture. The cauliflower puree was smooth and fulsome. The garnishes on top would become a recurring theme throughout the meal, again adding more interesting textures.
“The pancetta wrapped scallops were a delight. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and the slight saltiness of the pancetta offered not only an additional flavour, but also an additional texture.”
The other entrée that we ordered was the pork belly with fennel puree and apple compote. The pork belly was cooked really well, and pulled apart with absolute ease. The cut of pork chosen for this was also perfect for us, because we do prefer a slightly thinner skin. Fennel is not a flavour that we typically like, so it was fortunate that this particular puree was rather subtle in flavour. Apple compote is a typical pairing with pork belly, adding natural sweetness to the otherwise salty dish. The portion size, notably, was very big for an entrée.
“The pork belly was cooked really well, and pulled apart with absolute ease and the apple compote added a natural sweetness.”
One of the mains that we ordered was the linguine arrabbiata with tiger prawns. Now, this will undoubtedly be a divisive opinion: the pasta was incredibly smooth thanks to the liberal helping of olive oil permeating the dish. People will either love it or hate it, because even when you’ve finished the pasta, the bottom of the plate still had plenty of the oil mixture in it. At the same time, the oil was used as a facilitator for the rest of the dressing, which consisted of copious amounts of garlic, fine chilli, eshalots and herbs. This dressing tasted fantastic, with very complex and multilayered flavours. The tiger prawns, when paired with the garlic mixture, were beautiful as well.
The other main that we ordered was the crispy skin barramundi with pea mash and citrus butter. At first glance, the skin was scored to create little gaps. It was an improvement in presentation, and also offered another interesting net-like texture with every bite. The barramundi was cooked well, with no hint of muddy flavour as can happen with this fish. It’s quite a meaty fish, which therefore made it go well with the pea mash. The pea mash notably was very rich in flavour. Citrus butter was spread around the outside, to add to taste, again provide another element of balance to the dish. I think that a little bit of it is enough; while the citrus flavour was a very welcome additional component, the buttery taste is something that we only normally like a little bit. Therefore, it was a very good decision to place it on the outside.
Overall
Lombardo’s is an excellent place to dine. With so many different dishes to try, it was a difficult choice, but we had made the right one in terms of what to order, as the portion sizes and flavours were perfect for us. One of the best things about the dishes that we ordered today were the commendable balance of different flavour elements (acidity, sweetness, saltiness) and also textures. The attention to detail is most definitely praiseworthy, and the presentation showed sophistication and experience.
Overall rating: Mindblown
Service: 4/5
LeeLoo and Tommy H dined as guests
