Fettuccini, with scallop boudin and xo sauce
Update June 2019: Sadly, ACME has closed. No more macaroni with pig’s head and egg yolk.
ACME is proving that when Italian and Asian food styles pop out a baby it’s smart, sophisticated and a whole lot delicious.
This Rushcutter’s Bay restaurant has been on my need-to-try list for a while now, so I was a wee bit excited to finally make a house call last week.
A dinner with mates
There’s fun energy about ACME. Maybe it’s the industrial chic interior with distressed walls; the busy open kitchen; the mix of booth, bar and table seating; or the incredibly friendly service.
When I rang on Thursday to see if they could squeeze in a booking for six that Saturday night, their response was: “Why not. Let’s make it work”. Then when I confirmed via text (their request), after conferring with the group, the reply message looked a little something like this:
“Hi!!! Sorry it’s taken me a lifetime to see this message!! That’s perfect!! What’s your name my friend?! Mine is Cam, just so we can meet via text!”
Cam, of course, is one of the four founding partners behind ACME: Andy Emerson, Cam Fairbairn, Mitch Orr and Ed Loveday. All of whom have earned their stripes in some of Sydney’s best-known restaurants. And, if you wondered where the moniker ACME came from, take a look at the first letter of each four names.
Image credit: The Building Guild
East and West unites on a plate
Italian and Asian are my two favourite gastronomic styles. So, if I’m honest, I was a little nervous about combining the two. It’s like introducing two different groups of really good friends – if they don’t get along it’s an awkward situation.
Luckily, Italian and Asian play nice on the plate – or at least they do when they’re introduced by ACME’s kitchen wizards. So how does it all work? Well there’s stracciatella cheese adorned with beetroot and tamarillo dressing. The fusilli pasta comes mixed in with borlotti bean miso, olive and tomato. Meanwhile, the strozzapretti pasta comes topped with soy bean sprout kimchi, garlic chives and Korean chilli. Every dish is unique, full of flavour (albeit on the rich side) and designed to be shared.
The carefully-curated, small menu changes all the time. Although there is one signature dish in for the long haul – the macaroni, with pig’s head and egg yolk, which is like a carbonara over-indulgence. It’s a definite highlight, as is Danny’s prawn cakes.
ACME doesn’t have a website – which blows my Millennial mind – so you can’t research the menu beforehand. Although they do have an Instagram profile – just don’t use it when trying to decide what to order. Our waitress instructed us to promptly close down Instagram because she is much more interactive and helpful – can’t argue with that.
Macaroni, with pig’s head and egg yolk
ACME is…
Good fun and unlike anything else you’ll find in Sydney. But you have to be prepared for something out of the norm.
Although, it’s not cheap – I’d budget $100pp – and servings are small. This made it ultra hard to order for a group of six – having to get multiple serves of the same dish if we wanted more than a mouthful. In hindsight, we probably should have thrown our food choices to the wind with the $65pp ‘crush me’ chef’s menu. It would have been around the same price and much easier than using a spreadsheet to order.
Also be prepared that you are crudely booted out come 11pm (when ACME’s liquor license expires). Fortunately, the neighbouring suburb of Darlinghurst isn’t short of good drinkeries with a longer booze license – we headed to wine bar Black Bottle for a little nightcap.
ACME isn’t new. It’s been around the Sydney scene for coming up four years now – I’m clearly a little late to the party – but it’s still a good, fun, delicious bet.
P.s. I have to apologise there aren’t more or better photos. The sign of a good meal, right, when you’re too distracted eating to take photos? Although not sure I’m going to be crowned food blogger of the year at this rate…
ACME | 60 Bayswater Road, Rushcutter’s Bay, New South Wales
Phone: 0435 940 884
facebook.com/acmesydney
Great article.