By David Matthews

Copyright smh

Perry has done Italian before, having run Rosetta in Melbourne and then Sydney. Both sold and eventually closed, but it’s great to see him back at it. Rosetta hewed classic, and Gran Torino does too, relying on impeccable sourcing and stripped-back presentation over 21st-century twists.

If you liked Rosetta, you will like Gran Torino. Not least because Richard Purdue, Perry’s wingman there and then at Margaret, is running the kitchen. The pair haven’t so much drawn inspiration from Rosetta as straight-up ripped dishes. The vitello tonnato? Rosetta tonnato. Squid-ink spaghetti alla chitarra tossed with an oily rubble of pistachios and prawns? Rosetta too. Sicilian cassata? Trippa alla romana? Pretty much the same, although the tripe could have more bite, especially at $39 (it used to be $19).

But then if you like Margaret, Gran Torino is for you too. Margaret’s head chef Ervin Mumajesi has taken Song Bird chef Mark Lee’s place (Lee’s gone the other way, taking Mumajesi’s role at Margaret), and there are striking similarities across the menus. Margaret’s Mishima bresaola with quince and olive oil? Gran Torino does it with parmesan, letting the sweet, complex folds of house-cured meat come to the foreground. The sweet Sardinian sauce of onion, pine nuts and currants served with swordfish? Here it is with bigeye tuna.

Is this laziness, a lack of ambition? Maybe it’s just good business: Margaret is already a hit, and the locals seem to have decided that their Chanel and Bottega Veneta look good with pasta and a spritz.