Guy Grossi is gone. In his place, a Michelin-trained gun

It’s called landing on your feet.

When The Westin Brisbane revealed in February that the hotel and Guy Grossi wouldn’t be renewing their food and beverage partnership, triggering the closure of Settimo after three years, it was hard to imagine what could follow the celebrity chef’s Italian.

The thing is, Massimo Speroni had already started with the hotel as executive chef, overseeing food across the entire property. Speroni last did this at Rydges South Brisbane, and before that at QT Newcastle.

But he cut his teeth in Italy, most tellingly at Max Mascia’s two-Michelin star San Domenico, where Speroni has returned twice in his career – most recently for a 23-month stint as senior sous chef that ended in November last year.

In short, Speroni’s got some very serious chops. And if you got to experience his food at Bacchus, Rydges South Brisbane’s swish fine-diner, you’d know how special it could be, full of flavour, playfulness and colour.

And so you have Batica, which opened in the former Settimo space in mid-July.

It has a curious pitch, this restaurant – it’s inspired by the idea of a sabbatical rather than “trends” or “theatrics”. But that works for a restaurant in a hotel, and in turn, it works for Speroni.

“I originally accepted this position knowing there was a Guy Grossi restaurant here,” Speroni says. “But I was really accepting it for the challenge on the executive chef side, which involves three kitchen outlets. It was about two weeks in that I learnt we weren’t moving forward with the Settimo contract.

“That’s ideal for me because when I’m in this environment [of Batica], I’m relaxing – enjoying that connection with customers, and enjoying that connection with suppliers.”

To look at, Batica retains much of Settimo’s bones. The more pointed Amalfi-inspired touches have been dialled down a tad, although that’s perhaps mostly in the change of branding. It’s still a welcoming, warm space with its mix of hard and soft furnishings, but everything has been tweaked to hit the more homey vibe that Batica is aiming for.

It’s a slightly odd turn when you think about it, but The Westin has gone from hosting an Australian-born chef serving Italian food, to an Italian-born chef cooking a menu that’s broad in its influences.

The restaurant and hotel make a lot of the local produce, in an era when every head chef and their kitchen hand tend to do the same, but the debut menu of Speroni and head chef Manuele Erriu, who have worked extensively together over the years, really goes for it.

“I think of the difference in seafood between here and Italy,” Erriu says. “In Italy, there’s a lot of deep flavour to the seafood. Here, it’s about the variety with the different kinds of crustaceans and fish – it’s nice discovering something new.

“We are both from the seaside in Italy,” Speroni adds. “So we’re seafood people, and the options here are amazing, but I think it’s the beef that really sets Australia apart.”

For entree, there’s Rocky Point cobia sashimi with a herb ceviche creme acidulee, seaweed and finger lime; wild venison and gin botanical salami sourced from Saison Small Goods in Camp Hill; and emu tartare served with focaccia, dijon, muntries and native wattleseed.

For mains, there’s gnocchi served with mussels, raw ama ebi prawn and a crustacean bisque; Rocky Point blue grouper with chardonnay sauce and purple potato; and White Pyrenees lamb rump with charred leek, herb salad, sumac and a coffee jus.

There’s also an approachable beef program that ranges from a Stockyard Gold Angus flat iron steak up to a 300-gram nine-score Stockyard Kiwami Wagyu scotch fillet.

“It was about going 70 per cent with things people are familiar with, and 30 per cent something different,” Speroni says. “We have tartare, but emu tartare, and some of our beef cuts you don’t often find around in restaurants.

“You want to make people – hotel guests – comfortable. That’s central to the idea of the restaurant. But you also want to interest locals who want something different.”

Alongside the food, the previously Italian dominated wine list has been revamped more towards local drops, and includes five non-alcoholic wines, in line with The Westin’s wellness branding. Likewise, the cocktail list includes eight signatures and a focus on mocktails.

“It’s all about comfort,” Speroni says. “It’s different to when we were at Bacchus. It’s a more comfortable service, a more relaxed pace. If you want to come for one dish, you come for one dish; if you’d like to do multiple courses, we can do multiple courses.

“It’s still about presentation, but taste is most important.”