Is there a culinary love affair that flies under our radar like the one between Italy and the Middle East? Sure, our cravings for the perfect risotto don’t often overlap with the urge for a late-night shawarma. But if you look closer at Italian favourites such as arancini, that deep-fried combination of rice, saffron and raisins, or sfoliatelle, a shell-shaped pastry stuffed with ricotta and candied orange peel, you can see hints of Beirut, Istanbul, Damascus. This is mostly thanks to the Arab traders that once settled in Southern Italy and whose legacy lives on.
This partly inspired Riccardo Roberti, the owner of Isaac, a Redfern restaurant that serves up Italian comfort food with nods to the flavours and textures of the Middle East. Roberti stumbled on the possibility of combining these cuisines while travelling around Turkey. He soon realised that these food cultures had been informing each other for 1,000 years.
“The Romans were the first to discover all these beautiful Middle Eastern spices and infuse them in their cooking,” he tells SBS. “And my mum is a trained chef who’s worked her entire life in restaurants. She’s told me that it’s an ancient tradition to combine the two cultures. She’s from Naples and lots of Neapolitan cooking includes spices like cumin and cardamom.
Warm chicpea dip arrives with Afghan bread for dipping. Source: Isaac Restaurant
“I’m an Italian chef who’s been cooking Italian food for 30 years but my partner is Middle Eastern,” Roberti explains. “Some years back, we travelled around Turkey and that’s when I discovered Middle Eastern spices and realised I’d love to introduce them into my cooking. By chance, when I was negotiating the lease, I befriended a chef called Samuel Bull who’s also classically trained in Italian cooking. He also has a Middle Eastern wife and by chance, he had the same passion as myself.”
Isaac, a sleek, inviting space that includes an (impressive!) floor made from smashed marble, is the result of this collaboration between Riccardo and head chef Bull — whose menu ranks pleasure and provenance over fussy techniques. Think Iraqi spiced chicken with roast potato and garlic sauce, cauliflower fritti crowned with chilli and mint labne, clams with ‘njuda (the spreadable Calabrian salumi that’s currently having a renaissance) and fish smeared with muhamarra, a classic capsicum and walnut dip with roots in Aleppo, Syria.
The standout? Lamb ragout stuffed into oversized shell pasta, covered with Fontina cheese and Grana Padano and baked in the oven. It’s the ultimate in Italian comfort food. “Samuel has total control of the kitchen and he’s the genius behind that dish!” laughs Roberti, who says that the team at Isaac is also hoping to launch a Middle Eastern breakfast. He also recommends the buffalo haloumi, flown in from an independent dairy in Noosa Sounds.
Dessert lives up to Isaac’s passion for cultural fusion.
“The name Isaac stands for Italian, Australian and Syrian Cuisine,” he explains. “If you take our cannoli for example, it’s a classic Italian dish but we’ve weaved the flavours of baklava — nut and cardamom cream — through it. There’ll be a bit of a trick going on in your mind.”
99 Redfern Street, Redfern, NSW
