Machiavelli

Ph: 9299 3748; 123 Clarence St, Sydney 2000 www.machiavelli.com.au

Italian, $$
Open Lunch Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm Dinner Mon-Fri 6-9.30pm, Closed All public holidays; Licensed; AE DC MC V
Chef Laurent Cambon (29-11-08) Owner Giovanna Toppi & Caterina Tarchi (29-11-08)

Mietta's Review
This Sydney institution is still a place to plot and to spy (and be spied upon). In the downstairs dining area lawyer and banker types tuck into one of the best antipastos or Caesar salads in the CBD, whilst being looked down upon by politicans, past and present, from huge photos adorning the walls. The waiters (who have been here for years) really know what they are doing. Good value for good Italian style food. A great place for a boisterous power lunch.

Other published opinions

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 13/20 "Governments may change (occasionally anyway) - and the princes of business, too - but Machiavelli ain't going nowhere. Neither is the loyal lunch tribe, who cram into this legendary below-stairs restaurant for food that isn't changing any time soon"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 13/20 "There are institutions and then there's Machiavelli, named in honour of the world's first great political spinner"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 Score: 12/20 "When the portraits of politicians that had adorned the walls for the past 17 years came down in early 2006, to be replaced by photographs of Australia's most famous - and infamous - powerbrokers, it was a telling comment on who are the new princes (and princesses) in this city."

SBS Eating Guide to Sydney 2005 "We've got a touch of nostalgia for some of the older-style Italian spots around town, not the least because they've continued their own traditions without bowing to fashion and shortlived trends. Machiavelli falls squarely into this category. Here you get old-fashioned service from waiters who take their job seriously and know what they're doing."

SMH Good Food Guide 2005 Score 12/20 "OK, so you probably know that the walls of this subterranean icon are lined with images of politicians past and present (as are some of the tables). Then there are the waiters in smart ties and waistcoats (many old enough to have voted for Gough), a centrepiece antipasto table with prosciutti hanging overhead, and the gueridon trolley. Together they lend the open-plan room an aura of respectability from a time just beyond fashion."

SMH GFG 2004, Score 13/20,'The welcome is suitably for all...Waiters rush about with characteristic flair...The menu too is timeless...A restaurant for the traditionalists, for steak diane, strawberry flambe,and true power lunches.'