REVIEWS

	Service as smart as the surrounds delivers a familiar looking menu, reflecting all the  latest ingredients and food fads. But it's owner/chef Thomas Johns' masterful twist  of tastes and textures that lifts things to another plane...
	SMH Good Food Guide 2008 Review: 15.5/20

		Sophisticated, complex and balanced tastes, clever saucing and sparkling witty presentation are the hallmarks of Thomas Johns' modern European cooking. In just three years he has created a restaurant for Sydney to savour...
		SMH Good Food Guide 2007 Review: 16/20

		Thomas Johns’s food is a joy to behold. Pello is what dining in Sydney so often isn’t: prices are reasonable for the quality on display, floor staff are friendly and knowledgeable… The whole package is one to savour and celebrate.
		SMH Good Food Guide 2006 Review: 16/20

		For two years or so, Thomas Johns (ex-Aria) has been doing good work here and everybody’s been very respectful. But his cooking demonstrates a degree of skill and imagination that deserves more praise than it gets.
		SMH Good Food Guide 2005 Review: 15/20

		Consistently very good, the place itself is a smart interpretation on the modern inner-urban bistro...The menu, too, is smart, with a half dozen appetisers for those who can't manage entrees... But it's when you get to mains that you really start to appreciate Thomas John's imaginative way with fresh produce... Service is polite and brisk and smart all-over.
		SMH Good Food Guide 2004 Review: 14/20

		Thomas, the owner’s, philosophy is, “to use fresh ingredients to make flavoursome food – with a twist”. The twist is evident in clever techniques and combinations that work well in every dish.
		Sydney Weekender, Channel 7, 9/4/2005 Reporter: Luke Dyer

		There is much to admire since chef Thomas Johns took ownership in mid-2004. The menu sings with lovely harmonies... The flavours are simple yet cleverly interwoven.
		Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide 2005 Review: 1 Black Star

		The delicacy of each dish and the reliably fresh flavours elevate Pello's food high above that of its East Sydney neighbours...The wine list has a good selection of boutique Australian producers. Service generally, and wine service in particular, is friendly, efficient and unobtrusive.
		Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide 2004 Review: 1 Black Star

		The food is seriously creative… presented with flair, and great value for such fine produce.
		Kerry Boyne, Sunday Magazine Review: 8/10

		A gem amoung a clutch of bowl & fork pasta joints… a simple contemporary bistro that beams attention to detail
		Cuisine , July 2004 Review: 7.5

		It’s a cornucopia of flavours and textures that looks too good to eat… sublime and like everything else we’ve had a coup of the imagination
		eatanddrink.com.au August 2004

		Thomas Johns writes produce-driven menus of modern Australian food which are up to the minute, simple and directional. Once at Aria, Thomas Johns is a chef to watch, on the way up …. There are a lot of exciting things going on at Pello.
		Simon Johnson 2004

		...at a price that makes meals of comparable quality around town seem greedy. Here, probably due to the amount of competition on the doorstep, you get far more than you expect for less than you’d thought you’d pay. That makes it more of a once-a-week rather than once-a-year experience. If only they’d opened just around the corner from me.
		Mathew Evans, SMH Good Living, 16/7/2002 Review: 14/20

		This newish kid on the block is the slickest restaurant seen on Stanley Street in living memory. And there’s substance to go with the style … the service and the décor are smarter than the price point demands.
		Sunday Life 19/1/2003

		it's got a lovely atmosphere, it's loud and busy, and it's a great place to people-watch. THE food is excellent: it's definitely the place to go right now.
		Michael Anderson, Chief Concierge, Observatory Hotel The London Times 29/12/2002