City Oltra
Palazzo Salato
Dom Panino
Sydney is in the throes of an Italian dining bonanza, with a slate of new eateries adding to the already-impressive roster of venues celebrating the multifaceted cuisine of “the boot”. There’s the ambitious next step from the operators of popular Sydney wine bars, a pop-up turned semi-permanent pizzeria below Central Station, and more. Here are six new spots for a taste of la dolce vita in Sydney.
Palazzo Salato, CBD
Palazzo Salato is the first capital “R” restaurant from the Love Tilly Group – the canny operators behind Ragazzi, Fabbrica, Love, Tilly Devine and more. This time, they’ve gone large; take a seat beneath the heritage space’s soaring Victorian archways and watch a fleet of waitstaff glide around the room ferrying bottles of Barolo and plates of curly mafaldine bathing in uni butter – there’s no denying the ambition.
It’s four times larger than Ragazzi, a few streets away, with a much bigger kitchen to match. That means more room for rolling out labour-intensive stuffed pastas (scarpinocc with Andean sunrise potato, and agnolotti del plin with Wessex saddleback pork), as well as roasting pork and goat, and cooking whole fish.
Executive chef Scott McComas-Williams’s pasta game is in full flight here in dishes like casarecce with Boer goat ragu and pine nuts (we could eat it all day), and spaghetti alla chitarra spun with bottarga, and crowned with a raw egg yolk begging to be busted open. Wine is also a big focus, with around 600 bottles from regions crisscrossing Italy and occasional border-hops into France’s Jura and Beaujolais regions and beyond.
Louie, Coogee
The design at breezy new bolthole Louie might be laid-back – but it’s doing impressive, elegant takes on Italian dining, with some dishes boasting noticeably Aussie influences. Slide into a cushy green booth and kick things off with fluffy house-baked sourdough loaded up with truffle butter and a sprinkle of pecorino.
A nose-to-tail ethos means dishes regularly change, but a few – including tender lamb skewers – have cemented themselves on the menu. Several plates lean into the beachside location and are must-orders: chargrilled king prawns for starters, and Louie’s campanelle with zesty blue swimmer crab and prawn, cherry tomatoes and chilli oil. That aforementioned Aussie nostalgia is on show in a cheesy slow-fermented sourdough pull-apart that’s like a jazzed-up version of what you’d find in a country bakery.
City Oltra, Haymarket
In late 2022, the Eddy Avenue end of Central Station re-emerged from behind hoarding as a bona fide eating-and-drinking hub. City Oltra is a highlight – a pizzeria from Ben Fester and Drew Huston (ex-Dimitri’s), who used to pump out cheesy, blistered restaurant-quality pizzas from two Gozney ovens out the front of Poor Toms Gin Hall in Marrickville every Sunday. The pair also have support from said distillery for this venture.
The vibey diner, which riffs on train station canteens, is doing bigger-than-average round pizzas that lean New York-ish. The Rancho Relaxo is topped with a spiral of spicy pepperoni interspersed with cooling house-made ranch sauce. Square pizzas are thick and cheesy with crispy bottoms and come with toppings like potato pie with a house fennel-sausage mix, and a green number with a symphony of broccoli, zucchini, lemon, chilli and herbs. You can get whole pizzas – with the option to order half-and-half – but also slices to eat in or take away. There are also a bunch of local and natural wines, cocktails from Poor Toms, Grifter beers and a killer sound system put to good use during Sunday sessions.
Fabbrica, Balmain
The Love Tilly Group has been busy in 2023. Along with the grand Palazzo Salato, it has also launched a pop-up of its CBD pasta shop, wine bar and deli in Balmain’s Exchange Hotel. The grand wooden bar remains, and there’s room for around 40 people inside and outside. Inner-west diners have until at least the end of 2023 to get their fix of Fabbrica’s very cheesy, very peppery spaghetti cacio e pepe; mafaldine with ‘nduja and prawns; conchiglie with spanner crab and corn; and tonnarelli with sea urchin, chilli and garlic.
There’s also executive chef Scott McComas-Williams’s nod to the traditional pub schnitzel: a golden cotoletta alla Milanese. Co-owner Matthew Swieboda’s wine list champions organic, biodynamic and minimal-intervention drops from Italy, as well as Australian-grown Italian varieties. Eight copper taps pour schooners from local and international breweries.
Fauna, Surry Hills
While charming new Surry Hills restaurant Fauna is ostensibly Italian, a raft of other influences is melted into its seafood-forward dishes. Locally grown and native Australian ingredients are prioritised, while the Filipino roots of head chef Ace Espiritu (ex-chef de partie at Icebergs) are also incorporated.
The most head-turning dish, according to co-owner Geraint Coles, is the kangaroo tartare with nori chips, miso aioli and cured egg yolk. Italian classics include cheesy arancini stuffed with porcini mushroom, taleggio and truffle pecorino; a Balmain bug arrabbiata; and a creamy carbonara. It’s all delivered across three spaces: an intimate downstairs dining room, a homey upstairs bar, and a lush outdoor garden.
Dom Panino, Leichhardt
Fluffy, crusty panini stuffed with fillings inspired by co-owner Dom Ruggeri’s childhood – his family migrated from Sicily to Leichhardt – are the bedrock of new inner-west diner Dom Panino, which began life as a food truck at Breakfast Point before putting down roots more recently. Take, for example, the Nonna’s Nostalgia. It comes loaded with five-hour slow-cooked pork and veal bolognaise, smoked fior di latte, parmesan and rocket. It’s inspired by Ruggeri’s Nonna’s sugo, which was always bubbling away in a giant pot on Sundays.
Meanwhile, a couple of extra-saucy panini pay homage to New York. These include the Joey Vodka, which comes crowded with chicken schnitzel, spicy sopressa, buffalo mozzarella and basil, all lathered in vodka sugo, as well as the Porchetta-Bout-It, a feast of free-range slow-roasted pork, crackling, eggplant paste, pecorino cream, rocket and Kewpie chilli mayo.
Need even more Italian food in your life? Check out Sydney’s best Italian restaurants.
31 Jul 2023
27 Jul 2023
27 Jul 2023
26 Jul 2023