Well, well, well. How nice, that despite being bogged down in all of this lockout mire, there’s still room in the CBD for a big, sexy venue like Lot. 1 Sydney — a stunning, three-storey Italian eatery and cocktail bar that looks like the sort of place Gordon Gecko would sip Campari in.

And in a space, no less, that Gecko would most certainly also approve — the heritage-listed John Solomon building that once housed the National Cash Reserve.

The latest hospitality venture from the Di Stefano family, they of the Primo coffee empire, Lot. 1 was conceived to pay homage to “the best of European service and architectural grandeur, the ease and sociability of Italian food, and the New York edge in the bar areas”, and seven months in they’re nailing it.

First, the service is excellent to the point of astonishing — we trudged in with no reservation but were accommodated by a flurry of waitstaff like we were ageing relatives who had recently come into money.

The interiors are jaw-dropping, with the Sydney design firm Enter Projects, headed up by Patrick Keane, commissioned to bring the 945sq m space into the new millennium.

The most striking aspect is the opulent, curved timber geometries that sweep around the ceiling, inspired apparently by the swirls and patterns that lace a latte or a flat white coffee.

The lighting is moody and flattering and just enough of the kitchen is visible so you can spy on the chefs busy at work without hearing the clang of pots and pans.

We’re advised executive chef Adam Swanson, a bit of a local legend in Adelaide where he’s dubbed the “pasta king”, is on an overseas fact-finding mission so we’re in the hands of his head chef (and childhood pal) Ricardo Cavuto, who arrived here via a stint at the nearby GPO Grand.

Together the two have delivered a gloriously simple menu of Italian dishes (divided into starters, pastas, mains and desserts) as well as some decadent left-field things such as Giaveri Beluga (30gm for $225), wild boar cacciatore and truffle salami.

We start with a divine creation called Funghi Del Bosco ($26) — a plate scattered with several types of mushroom cooked in various ways and finished with spinach leaves and a drizzle of truffle oil. The centrepiece is a giant king brown mushroom which is blackened in the pan, meaty in texture and tastes like eye fillet.

The pasta course of fregola (a type of soaked semolina) comes served swimming in a rich scampi, saffron and prawn bisque and is topped with shelled prawns from the Spencer Gulf ($44).

It’s one of those rare, perfect seafood bisques that prompts brief delusions that you could recreate it at home. You couldn’t.

A generous portion of black cobia kingfish is pan-seared and then baked until pink before it is served on some charred finger fennel and globe artichoke, along with little balsamic pearls that deliver a nice, salty pop in the mouth.

But in terms of the ideal winter dish, there’s beef cheeks ($38) slow-cooked in chianti for four hours which are served with a reduction of the sauce they’re cooked in along with some braised radicchio and heirloom carrots. Heavenly.

The only blip comes with the tiramisu which is overly loaded with mascarpone and cream and not enough sponge.

Two more bars are yet to open in this cavernous 400-seater which provides a good excuse to return as soon as possible. Not that you will need it.

Originally published on dailytelegraph.com.au