For decades Lucio Galletto and Armando Percuoco worked to bring the wonders of Italian cuisine to Sydney diners at their respective restaurants, Lucio’s and Buon Ricordo, which both opened in Paddington in the ’80s. Lucio’s closed in 2021, and Percuoco stepped away from Buon Ricordo in 2018. So an upcoming lunch series at waterfront restaurant A’Mare offers a rare opportunity to dine on the food of these two legends. The lunches are follow-ups to one earlier this year with another influential Italian chef, Giovanni Pilu, of Pilu at Freshwater.
“When I came to Australia 20 years ago these three chefs were the maestros of Italian cuisine in Sydney,” Alessandro Pavoni, chef and restaurateur of A’Mare, tells Broadsheet. “They influenced my vision of Italian cuisine outside of Italy. I was new to Australia. I was young. I had learned from the best chefs in Italy about new cutting-edge techniques and modernist viewpoints. I was dismissive of my ‘traditional cuisine’ roots.
“Outside of Italy I realised that the viewpoint of people is different to within Italy. The modern cuisine was not seen as ‘real Italian’, but the traditional Italian was loved. But I also realised it was not as well known as it should have been from a regional sense. It motivated me to return to learning more about classic regional Italian, and in fact that has more and more become the direction I love to explore.”
Each chef will work with Pavoni and his team to create a multi-course menu that reflects the area of Italy they’re from. Galletto’s lunch on June 4 will celebrate the cuisine of Liguria, while Percuoco’s menu on July 30 will be dedicated to Naples.
“A’Mare is an assembly of classic Italian dishes, not a specific regional focus,” says Pavoni. “I’m from Lombardy, our executive chef Marco [Putzolu] is Sardinian, our team is from all over Italy and so are excited to suggest traditional dishes they miss from home. It means it’s a much wider canvas on which we can draw.”
Diners excited to taste Galletto’s food again will be treated to dishes such as octopus carpaccio with Ligurian olives, trenette with pesto made tableside à la A’Mare’s signature pesto pasta dish, and chestnut pudding for dessert. Percuoco’s menu will be confirmed closer to his cameo. An optional wine pairing is also available.
Pavoni says he looks forward to hosting them in his kitchen. “I had the opportunity to admire them close up through CIRA, our Council of Italian Restaurants of Australia. That was a wonderful experience for me in my first years. They became great friends and mentors to me, and I’m excited to work with them again.”
Lucio Galletto will cook at A’Mare on June 4 and Armando Percuoco on July 30. Tickets are $190 per person and include a glass of prosecco on arrival.
crownsydney.com.au