Our team’s favourite things at Sydney’s just-opened, Italian-American restaurant Vito’s

Set in the all-sandstone former home of Rockpool on Bridge Street in the Sydney CBD, Vito’s is among Australia’s biggest openings of the year – not to mention one of the most expensive. At over $8 million, its renovation has seen owners Sunday Co. line the heritage-listed Burns Philp Building with NSW-made joinery and furnish it with Queensland maple furniture and statement, custom-made chandeliers.

“Our vision is to create proper city institutions,” says Sunday Co. managing director Brett Sergeant. “It has to last 25 years. In my eyes, you do it once and make it timeless.”

Vito’s menu

American-Italian food is the direction, with filled and fresh pastas and wood-grilled meats taking centre stage. Vito’s menu was developed by Sunday Co.’s group culinary director, David Clarke, and executive chef Michael Fox, who brings experience from quintessential example of the category, Carbone (in Hong Kong).

I loved the thick slice of Grandma’s Bread; tomato-stained and packed with umami, it’s both chewy and crisp, with the wood-fired oven lending depth to every bite. The verdant conchiglie is as light as it looks, the shells generously filled with lobes of sweet crab and glossed in a green garlic butter that had us mopping up every last drop with fries.

Maxwell Adey, Gourmet Traveller senior food editor

Joining a signature 10-layer tower of lasagne, menu highlights include scampi and scallop crudo with orange and capers, ricotta-filled cappelletti on a rich Bolognese, and a one-kilo Angus porterhouse with Marsala sauce. Noted pastry chef Lauren Eldridge is on desserts, which include cannoli, a tricolore bombe Alaska and an Italian-American cream cake (here with coconut and black walnut).

The wood grill does beautiful work on fillets of hapuka, imbuing them with just enough smokiness that let the gentle white flesh shine, complemented by a lemon-caper brown butter. Opening a restaurant of this scale isn’t an easy feat, but Vito’s is a room with va-va-voom.

Jordan Kretchmer, Gourmet Traveller news editor

“If you’re taking familiar food, the only way you can be extraordinary and accessible is to do it better than anyone,” says Sergeant. “We ate at just about every great Italian restaurant in New York to understand the roots from which these old-school institutions came.”

A 400-strong wine list by group head sommelier Antoine Heurtier is joined by classic cocktails and, from 10.30pm, a bar menu — including an 18-inch New York pizza — is available.

Inside the restaurant

A neon sign welcomes guests to Vito’s before they step onto a 24-carat-gold-leaf-tiled mosaic. Inside, a pair of 260-kilogram chandeliers hang over oxblood leather banquettes from 21-foot-high ceilings. The details are red velvet, brass and marble.

The pictures don’t do justice to the scale and grandeur of Vito’s. On my next visit (I plan to go back to try the 10-layer lasagne), I’ll ask for a table at the edge of the mezzanine to watch all the white-jacketed action below.

Georgia Condon, Gourmet Traveller digital editor

Far from the oxymoronic “casual luxury” that entered the lexicon in recent years, Vito’s positions itself firmly at the snazzier end of the spectrum. The booking confirmation makes this crystal clear, advising guests to “dress for the occasion”.