A journey of white, yellow, and red.
On a safari once, rumbling over the savannah in northern Uganda, a Finn in the group remarked how they missed potatoes, carrots, and meat. We laughed at the musing and earnestness of the revelation, and then began to each recall our own odd cravings. One thing that stuck from the Finn’s comment after hearing everyone else’s were the colours: white, yellow, and red. I could see and taste the simplicity, not so much in flavour, but in repetition, “is everything they eat just those colours?”, I pondered.
"one could recommend going to Cafe Paci just for the array of beverages"
Fast forward to 2019, ‘20, ‘21, and now 2022, the last few years have been a valorous stretch for chef Pasi Petänen to open and run Cafe Paci in Newtown - a restaurant reincarnated from 2013’s Cafe Paci (fico) in Darlinghurst.
On one recent visit to Paci 2.0, the muted tones of the interior instantly dulcified body and palate from exterior hustle and bustle. The voluminous wonders of the drinks list which Giorgio De Maria exquisitely crafts provided much refreshment, intrigue and interest, that one could recommend going to Cafe Paci just for the array of beverages.
To accompany the jovial imbibing, Sydney rock oysters arrived adorned by a bright orange-yellow mignonette sauce, flushed as such by colour of the cumquat, a satisfying seasonal variation to the otherwise de rigueur oyster condiment. The ‘Summer Babajuan’ [sic] flawlessly developed the meal, a munegàscu-named treat from Monaco and surrounds. Requisite golden triangles border its belly which swells of cheese, delivering a wondrous contrast to the bubbled, salted, and crisped exterior. The story goes that someone named Jean didn’t have a sauce for his ravioli, so instead sent it to the fryer, creating this ever-popular snack. One of the two best dishes that night, Cafe Paci’s barbajuan is chaperoned by a fermented chilli and olive oil condiment - absurdly superb in its simple perfection.
As you move down the menu, size and price increase, whilst colour and texture remain immutable. It was after the octopus on a bed of inconsistently cooked slices of white potato, separated by a thick white blanket-dressing, that I began to recall that Finn’s lust for what I thought of as ‘white, orange, and red’. “What had we just eaten?”, I queried a friend whom I was seated next to, and we began to unravel the similar palette of the experience. The next course we were to receive was the sourdough pasta with pear and pecorino, and we felt unsure. “Really, another white, creamy dish?”. Our senses weren’t ready, so we rectified the situation by requesting the grilled mackerel before the pasta, despite the wait staff’s persistence that it was recommended we have it before. And we were rewarded for our insistence - a butterflied mackerel which was astoundingly crisp, taut, and flat, it would have fervently impressed Melchisédech Thévenot, inventor of the spirit level.
"Perhaps we should forgive Pasi Petänen’s obsession with white, yellow, and red, and soft, creamy textures..."
Our taste buds and gullets savoured the chilli butter which was remarked by one as a ‘killer sambal’. The pepper panzanella bracing the fish was a welcome change to the otherwise in vogue tuscan salad, and it delivered incredibly - the other star of the night. This panzanella had hints of possibly fennel, which gave it a greatly welcomed and refreshing Asian lilt, one could’ve eaten a whole bowl and then some.
The sourdough pasta and special of pork belly both arrived, though no acidity in the pasta and pickled onions respectively, could provide enough punch to break through the all-white fare. Perhaps we should forgive Pasi Petänen’s obsession with white, yellow, and red, and soft, creamy textures, maybe he too misses his potatoes, carrots, and meat. The original Paci of Darlinghurt’s dishes included: oat crackers and oyster cream; rye taco with with rice pudding, egg butter and sour onions; blue swimmer crab, carrot and tarragon; and dessert of carrot, yoghurt and licorice. They all look and feel like Paci 2.0 in Newtown, albeit we’re 7-8 years on. A couple of those early dishes still feature on the Paci 2.0 menu. So it’s curious and bizarre that the recent Good Food Guide 2022 lists a restaurant that opened in 2019, which is a revamp of a restaurant from several years earlier, in its Top 5 “It-List” for Sydney’s “new and noteworthy”, alongside re-hashing its 2016 Chef of the Year as one of 2022’s top five “visionary chefs dominating kitchens”. Petänen’s vision, and execution, seems to be the same as it was in 2013 - maybe it’s good to be consistent. Or perhaps the editors of the Good Food Guide aren’t diversifying their eating styles and are set in their ways. Regardless, for where Sydney as a whole has come since 2015 in the food world, it’s not Cafe Paci as a ‘Top Five’.
Ibis Tip: Keep the barbajuan hot sauce on the table, don’t let it go to waste.
Ibis Tip: Get into the drinks list and vary your ordering from the food menu to avoid repetition in colour, texture, and taste, to get the most out of what Cafe Paci has to offer.
Image slideshow: Spot something that isn't white, yellow, and red.
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