The Pernice is an Italian restaurant located at The Journey Cafe in Sydenham, with a passion for sustainable cooking. The restaurant sources ingredients from local suppliers as often as possible, and prioritises producers that use sustainable and regenerative farming, foraging and fishing practices.
You’ll find The Pernice open on select dates at The Journey Cafe on the corner of Kirkdale and Halifax Street. The cafe’s smart tiled front gives way to a lovely period building that retains its large arched windows, bathing the dining room in natural light throughout the day. The Pernice serves dinner in the evening, dipping into a compact menu of classic Italian antipasti, pasta and desserts.
Starters include nibbles like Nocellara olives alongside some fresh, seasonal salads, like a black garlic panzanella, and a salad of nectarine with lambs leaf, tarragon, stracciatella and hot honey.
Pasta dishes are the star attraction here, and they cover all the most comforting bases. There’s a carbonara, made with spaghetti and topped with confit egg yolk, beetroot and goat’s cheese ravioli with aged balsamic, rocket and hazelnut, and a classic sausage and fennel pasta with spinach, tomato and mascarpone. For fans of a rich ragu, the pulled beef ragu is braised for 24 hours before being tossed with pappardelle, and there’s another lovely vegetarian option in the form of gnocchetti sardi with pea, basil, pistachio and ricotta salata pesto.
Desserts keep things simple with bay leaf ice cream affogato and chocolate tart, or a cheese course. To drink you can expect a compact wine list of largely organic Italian wines, as well as a handful of beers.