Sophomore albums can be notoriously tricky. They often arrive with built-in expectations: was the original a one-off, or has the talent evolved? Can the follow-up still command attention when the landscape has — inevitably — shifted, and new stars are vying for the spotlight? These questions loom even larger when the sequel lands more than two decades after a debut that's still considered a classic. Flaminia, the new harbourside restaurant from Giovanni Pilu and Marilyn Annecchini, answers these questions with quiet confidence. Perched above Circular Quay in the Pullman Quay Grand, it feels less like an attempt to outdo the pair's much-loved Pilu at Freshwater and more like a considered companion piece — a continuation of the same story rather than reinvention for its own sake. It also completes a trio of new venues from Accor's new in-house hospitality arm, Table For, following the launch of Bar Allora with The Maybe Group on Bond Street and, just upstairs from Flaminia, Acapulco El Vista, where The Maybe Group handles the drinks and Pilu oversees the food. [caption id="attachment_1051732" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] With a name taken from the ship that brought the Pilu family from Italy to Sydney in 1959, Flaminia is anchored in personal history and a sense of passage between shores. That idea carries through to the menu, which charts its way across Italy's great port cities as it presents start-to-finish culinary journeys through Caligari, Naples, Venice, Genoa and Palermo. It's a playful — and refreshingly transparent — structure that also puts local produce front and centre: the crudo selection, for example, features Spencer Gulf kingfish and Bermagui yellowfin, while mains include a Venitian-style murray cod, gently cooked with spinach, lemon and white wine, and an order-ahead maialetto arrosto— a slow-roasted Western Plains half suckling pig served with roast potatoes for groups of up to five. Drinks follow the same shoreline sensibility, tracing Italy's coast from Liguria down to Sicily with a focus on Sardinian varieties and the occasional antipodean label in the mix. Cocktails — like a lavender and Cynar spritz, a pesto-spiked bloody mary and a Mirto Rosso sour — are built for long lunches and sun-soaked aperitivo sessions. [caption id="attachment_1051756" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] It all takes place in a cleverly designed dining room by Studio Gram, where soft timber, textured stone and sculptural curves subtly reference a ship's interior without ever lapsing into theme, and creating an atmosphere that feels relaxed but polished. There's an ease to it all — the kind that comes from a team no longer trying to prove anything. If Pilu at Freshwater was the breakout debut, Flaminia feels like the confident follow-up. [caption id="attachment_1051728" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] Images: Nikki To.
