A baked chickpea tart finished with fresh pecorino is a terrific introduction to the cooking of Australia’s godfather of contemporary Italian cuisine. Manfredi’s newest restaurant, a split-level 170-seater with a curved wall of windows overlooking Pyrmont Bay, is named after the Futurist Italian painter Giacomo Balla and is part of the Starcasino’s $925 million redevelopment. Though the space is more contemporary than classic, the kitchen isn’t playing with foams or powders. Rather, the cuisine—for instance, the Prosecco-cured trout—is a modern take on the beloved cuisine of Manfredi’s native Lombardy.
(Balla, 80 Pyrmont St., in the retail Arcade; 61-1-800-700- 700; entrées from $28)
Stefano Manfredi picks
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