Italian restaurants in Australia
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A
Brunetti
Bustling from dawn to midnight, Brunetti is a mini-Roman empire. It’s famous for its coffee, granitas and authentic pasticceria (pastries). Bain-marie meals can be on the stodgy side (and sometimes that’s just what the locals want) but the toasted tremezzini always please.
reviewed
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B
Italian Waiters Club
Down a laneway and up some stairs, the inside of the Italian Waiters Club will make you feel like you stepped into another era. Opened in 1947, it still bears '50s drapes, wood panelling and Laminex tables. Once only for Italian and Spanish waiters to unwind after work over a game of scopa (a card game) and a glass of wine, now everyone from suits to students is allowed in for hearty plates of red-sauce pasta and the regularly changing roster of specials.
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C
Grossi Florentino Grill
The Grill won’t wow you with culinary curiosity, but it does offer an authentic regional Italian menu with metropolitan flair and great produce. The Cellar Bar next door is brooding, intimate and affordable: a great place to have a quick bowl of pasta and a glass of pinot grigio. Service is snappy and professional. If you’re into grand statements (with mains hitting the $50 mark), upstairs is an opulent fine dining stalwart.
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D
Bar Reggio
Most of East Sydney’s celebrated Italian restaurants have closed or gone upmarket, but blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Bar Reggio has retained a beautiful budget atmosphere. The walls are plastered with Ferrari flags and Rome murals, and the pasta, pizza, meat and fish dishes have stood the test of time. Closed on Sundays (church!).
reviewed
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E
Hugo’s Bar Pizza
This indoor-outdoor neighbourhood nook has been seducing pizza fans with its delicious discs and home-style Italian fare. The marble-fronted bar and sunken velvet lounge spell luxury, but the menu won’t break the bank. Try the puttanesca pizza. If you feel like a drink, try Hugo’s Lounge Bar upstairs.
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F
Giuseppe, Arnaldo and Sons
Prodigal (and preternaturally talented) Maurizio Terzini sold Melbourne’s café e cucina concept to Sydney and now he’s brought North Bondi Italian back south. It’s a splendid space – with the drama of a marble bar hung with small goods and a spot-lit bread station – and but be prepared for some noise and bustle. Food is enticing, stunningly fresh and exciting, while retaining a produce-driven simplicity. The menu is flexible and great for sharing.
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G
Journal Canteen
Journal Canteen, tucked away up an obscure flight of stairs off the CAE building foyer, is no secret. It’s packed to the rafters each lunchtime with diners lapping up Rosa Mitchell’s sensational Sicilian-style antipasto plates, pastas, roasts and ragus. Be spared the agony of choice: Rosa bases her few offerings on what is fresh and seasonal on any given day. There’s a $30 degustation deal, which comes with a complimentary caffitere -brewed coffee.
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H
Otto
Forget the glamorous waterfront location and the A-list crowd – Otto will be remembered for single-handedly dragging Sydney’s Italian cooking into the new century. Dishes such as strozzapreti con gamberi (artisan pasta with fresh Yamba prawns, tomato, chilli and black olives) define culinary perfection. Bookings essential.
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I
Grappa
The culinary highlight of Leichhardt, Grappa has an open kitchen, a snazzy bar and cream leather seats – it’s the setting for rich, succulent dishes (such as baked snapper in a rock-salt crust) and bounteous wood-fired pizzas. If it’s warm, sit outside on the terrace, sip chianti and think of Tuscany. Ahhh, Tuscany…
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J
Buon Ricordo
Remember the good old days, when local restaurateurs knew you well enough to select your meal for you? Well, Buon Ricordo is very 'good old days'. Let bearded chef Armando Percuoco decide whether you want the zuppa di pesce or the tagliata con rucola. The best Italian in Sydney? Reservations essential.
reviewed
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Casa Nostra
Step across the Todd River and into 1970s Italy at this old-school pizza and pasta joint. Madly popular on the weekends (bookings recommended) it is wonderfully cosy with red and white checked tablecloths, and plastic grape vines hanging from the ceiling. Order the famously delectable vanilla slice early as they run out the door. Note that it's BYO vino.
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L
Bel Mondo
Expect Mediterranean cuisine perfectly executed by chef Andy Ball in dramatic surrounds - space, views, elegance and pizzazz; very Sydney. For a more relaxed meal, the cool and casual bar is perfect for an after-work bite or a late-night supper.
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M
Carlton Espresso
Piadinas and panini are stuffed with a wonderful array of fillings and the little tarts and biscotti are homemade. This place brims with contemporary Italian brio – a nice change from the drab nostalgia found elsewhere.
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Santa Lucia
Canberra's first Italian restaurant is three decades old and still going strong. Generous pasta dishes with rich sauces are delivered to the patent red-and-white-checked tablecloths, and there are kid's meals for $10 to $12.
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O
Dish
Ivy-clad walls and floor-to-ceiling glass create an atrium atmosphere at this dishy restaurant. The equally sophisticated cuisine includes pan-roasted eye fillet with potato, onion and bacon croquette.
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La Tavola
The tacky decor is all part of the Italian experience at this restaurant dishing up favourites such as chicken al funghi, pepper steak, saltimbocca, a darn good La Tavola Special pizza and the like.
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P
Nonna’s
This ever-popular eatery serves classic Italian food at reasonable prices.
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Q
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Cipriani
The casual elegance, attentive service, smooth lines and warm Tuscan tones only hint at the dining delight that is Cipriani. Specialities include homemade sausages, such as the delicious chicken, rocket and ricotta salsicce, and the traditional Italian pork sausage served with a roasted capsicum relish or creamy mashed potato. There's also a mouth-watering range of pizzas and an extensive wine list with quality wines available by the glass.
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A Tavola
This is the best pasta you’ll ever have (we’re serious…forget Napoli). The menu will only have three or four dishes to choose from, but they’ll all be fantastic. The wine list is equally considered and concise. Don’t be afraid to bump elbows with your co-diners at the long communal table – chances are they’ll be too absorbed by the taste synapses firing inside their brains to notice.
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Sarti Restaurant Bar
There’s a lot of ciao bella schmooze going on, but the menu doesn’t just flirt – it delivers. A joyful mix of the knowingly modern and rustically nostalgic: wild harvested venison is prettily parsed with pickled beetroot, celeriac puree and crispy beets or a perfect pistachio panna cotta is embellished with salted popcorn. Or a plate of pasta ($24) on the terrace makes for a soothing city lunch.
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U
Café Veloce
Tucked at the back of Dutton’s, this Fender Katsalidis shrine to auto design (and car lust in general) turns out perfect house-baked pasticceria, eggs and interesting breakfast dishes like baked ricotta served with fresh berries. Lunches (reminiscent of classic Café e Cucina fare) are more than good enough to assuage the sight of baby boomers getting gooey over classic Porsches.
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V
Sugo
Despite being incongruously cast next to a real-estate office in a butt-ugly ’70s brick building, Sugo is all class. There are a couple of sassy pastas and risottos on the menu, but channel your hunger towards the pizzas ($11 to $14) – authentic, thin and supertasty. The Mare e Monti (prawns, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, garlic and chilli) will make you renounce chunky modern crusts for all time.
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W
Pizza e Birra
Bentwood chairs clatter across the polished concrete floor; friends laugh, clink glasses and unwind; waiters spin, smile and style. Pizza e Birra is the perfect neighbourhood bistro, with enough style to be cool, and enough familiarity to be comfortable. Try the classic Capricciosa pizza – tomato, mozzarella, rocket, prosciutto and parmesan – washed down with a cold Peroni.
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X
Pizza e Birra
The old train station’s great bones and the sharp, graphic fit-out make for a lovely night out. Sit under black-and-white photos straight from the Cinecittà archives and eat hand-stretched, wood-fired pizzas (both tradizionali, with tomato sugo, and bianche, without) or venture on through their mains of pastas, grills and tasty salads.
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