Birthdays ending in zero & Sardinian food

I turned 60 today and, although I have long had an aversion to birthdays ending in zero, I have decided to flaunt this one.  I am sixty, I am sixty, I am sixty….

To mark this occasion I had a small birthday party yesterday at Pilu Restaurant at Freshwater Beach in Sydney where I enjoyed a magnificent meal of Sardinian food.  I don’t know much about Sardinia except that it is an island in the Mediterranean that is part of Italy where lots of very old people live. It clearly also offers gorgeous foods and wines. Pilu is one of Sydney’s top restaurants and the elevated location in an old house overlooking Freshwater Beach is just superb. The wines are magnificent – it was awarded Best Wine List in Sydney by the SMH.

We tried the degustation menu of zucchini flowers filled with ricotta, bottarga and Pecorino along with a magnificent Italian white – 2008 Argiolas Selegas – Nuragus di Cagliari.  This was followed by mussels, vongole, grape tomato and fregola soup with an almost as appetising white – 2007 Pala ‘Stellato’ – Vermentino di Sardegna,  a ravioli of potato, mint and Pecorino with butter sage and black truffles and a 2007 Kharisma ‘Natura’ Isola dei Nuraghi with a green apple sorbet.  Pure granny smith cleansing.  These white wines were spectacular.

Starting to get serious now with mullaway fillets with Vernaccia and green olives – the fish from South Australia – and some slow roasted suckling pig – Pilu’s signature dish.  A white wine with the fish a 2007 Contini ‘Karmis’ – bianco Valle Tirso and a red with the pork a 2007 Argiolis ‘Alasi’ Novello Rosso which along with the Selegas was the pick of the wines for me. Savoury with unbelievable depth.

The finale a vanilla bean pannacotta with abbamele with a sticky – a 2007 Dolianova – Moscato di Cagliari and an intense short-black coffee with a Mezzo Mirse- Tremontis digestif.

Great wines, great food and a fantastic view of the beautiful beach at Freshwater.  The fixed price degustation menu with wines $155 which was very reasonable.

I chased around the web for the wines and, in Australia, I could only find Vaucluse Cellars as a vendor.  The two Argiolis wines definitely worth chasing up.