It’s 9.30am on Tuesday and Elvis Abrahanowicz is butchering a whole lamb for the first service at Osteria Mucca, Paisano & Daughters’ fourth and final venue to open on Australia Street in Newtown.

“It’s great for the customer and great for the chefs just to see things come in whole,” he tells Broadsheet. “You just don’t really see that stuff anymore.”

It’s been more than 14 years since Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate wowed the city with whole beasts “crucified” over flames at the original Porteno on Cleveland Street in Surry Hills. Cut to now, and the veteran restaurateur’s playbook hasn’t really changed: whether it’s legit Argentinian asado or Can-hattans at Continental Deli, Abrahanowicz still wants to show Sydney diners things they’ve never seen before.

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“We’re revisiting forgotten Italian classics. You go to a lot of these places around town and you’re having the same dishes in different rooms. We’re referring back to some of these older dishes, revisiting them using the best produce we can.”

Due to the cost and skill it demands, Abrahanowicz says nose-to-tail cooking is still rare in Sydney. But, as we reported for pescetarian pulpit Mister Grotto next door, this team doesn’t do things by halves. Mucca – Italian for “cow” – is no exception.

“We said from the start we didn’t want to just buy cold-cuts and serve them,” says head chef Janina Allende. “We wanted to think about what we could make in-house and serve that instead. Knowing that [the space] used to be a butcher shop, we’re trying to build on that legacy.”

To that end, you’ll find the aforementioned lamb diced into tartare. Or coppa di testa, a spiced “head cheese” from Emilia Romagna made from various parts of the pig’s head. And Tuscany’s Tonno del Chianti – the Ital cousin of French rillettes – made with pork shoulder, which is confited to a soft, tuna-like texture.

A transplant from Berlin, Allende sous-cheffed for Dan Pepperell at Alberto’s Lounge before heading to Merimbula to lead the kitchen at Valentina’s. The chance to work with Pepperell again drew her back to Sydney, where she was head chef at Pellegrino 2000 for two and a half years, followed by a short stint at Bar Vincent.

In other words: that’s a lotta-pasta.

And so it goes here, with options including lemony prawn spaghetti flecked with bottarga; pappardelle paired with chicken liver and mushrooms; and spinach and ricotta ravioli swimming in short-rib ragu. And, “the best gnudi in Sydney” according to Allende – the plump ricotta dumplings slicked with sage and butter.

But pasta is only the prince at Mucca; the griglia – that’s grill – is king. Take your whopping bistecca Fiorentina or di tonno (a T-bone and tuna steak, respectively) with something red from the all-Italian wine list, which features a reserve section starring Sicily’s Frank Cornelissen and cult Oslavian producers Gravner and Radikon.

Joining Mister G, Flora and the enduring Continental Deli, Mucca is the penultimate piece of the Australia Street precinct. Once three boutique suites open above the strip, it’ll complete an ambitious project that Abrahanowicz says took six years to realise. But even he – now a veteran restaurateur – couldn’t have predicted how much the industry has suffered in that time. Abrahanowicz-the-player is the same. But the game has changed completely.

“If we knew what it was going to take, to be honest, we probably wouldn’t have done it. There was just no way to know,” he says. “But once you’re in it, you’ve just gotta get through it.

“That’s why I’m here at 9.30am breaking down a lamb.”

Osteria Mucca
212 Australia Street, Newtown
(02) 9123 5503

Hours:
Mon to Fri 5.30pm–11pm
Sat & Sun midday–11pm