18 February 2025
24 mins Read
The best Italian restaurants in Sydney specialise in authentic cuisine that roams around all 20 regions of Italy, from the north all the way to the toe of the boot. We’re not talking pizza joints – which deserve their own sonata written in red sauce. Our ultimate guide to Sydney’s best Italian restaurants is more about antipasti, classic pasta dishes, and everything in between. Here are 36 of the best Italian restaurants in Sydney that bring the real flavours of Italy to your table.
THE SHORTLIST
Hottest dining gem: Postino Osteria
Hidden gem: Modo Mio
Best for business lunches: Bambini Trust Restaurant and Wine Room
Great for special occasions: Pino’s Vino e Cucina al Mare
Best for a romantic night out: Lana
Most Instagrammable: Neptune’s Grotto
This Italian osteria sits in a charming heritage-listed corner terrace in Surry Hills.
Pan Divino has all the charm of the sort Italian osteria you might stumble upon in a hill town in Tuscany. But rather than being in the Italian countryside, the restaurant is housed in a charming heritage-listed corner terrace in Surry Hills. Invite your nonno along to enjoy the crudo bar that is the only one of its kind in Sydney’s inner east. It’s here you will be treated to oysters shucked to order and yellowfin tuna, snapper and silver trevally dressed to impress. The intimate 1912 terrace is so homey you will feel like you’ve been invited to your benevolent uncle’s for dinner. Do as executive chef Stefano Mondonico tells you and order the bacalla, spaghetti prawns with bottarga, and gnocchi short rib ragu.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Italian Riviera
Location: 560 Crown Street, Surry Hills.
Modo Mio is a celebration of Italian cuisine.
Modo Mio translates to ‘my way’. And Castle Hill residents are thrilled that Roman chef Stefano Bozza is obsessive about his role at the helm of Modo Mio in Sydney’s western suburbs. The chef has some culinary clout: he learned his craft under three-Michelin-starred chef Niko Romito and played a pivotal role in opening Bulgari Hotel restaurants in both Beijing and Milano.
And Castle Hill’s culinary landscape is made brighter thanks to Modo Mio, which is a celebration of Italian cuisine. Bozza showcases his creativity while drawing inspiration from around Italy. Expect an array of antipasti, as well as regional specialties such as handmade pasta and woodfired pizza and a tortellini in brood that must be ordered three days in advance. This is one of the most sophisticated neighbourhood restaurants in Sydney. Five stars.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Sophisticated and polished.
Location: No 1/33 Terminus St, Castle Hill
Spaghetti alla chitarra con pallotine at Postino Osteria. (Image: Supplied)
Take a heritage former post office in Summer Hill. Add the team from Ormeggio at the Spit to the mix. And suddenly Postino Osteria is our new favourite Italian haunt in the ‘hood. In fact, with executive chef and restaurateur Alessandro Pavoni at the helm, it’s a viable contender for best new Italian restaurant in Sydney. Forget about pizza: there’s much more to the menu at Postina Osteria, which draws on a cornucopia of regional dishes ranging from the fertile fields of Piedmont down to the Mediterranean waters of Sicily.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: More sophisticated Siena than Summer Hill
Location: 2 Moonbie St, Summer Hill
Save on the airfare to Milan and book yourself a table on the terrace overlooking Hyde Park at Bambini Trust Restaurant & Wine Room. Everything at this Italian fine dining institution tucked away inside the heritage-listed Palazzo St James Trust Building is done with care, consideration and integrity. With the help of handpicked local suppliers and farmers, executive chef Kevin Coux creates a thrilling menu of Italian classics like Bambini spaghettini, or pappardelle with duck. The Valrhona flourless chocolate cake is exceptional.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Elegant
Location: St. James Trust Building, 185 Elizabeth St, Sydney
Cibaria exudes the authentic feel of an Italian piazza. (Image: Supplied)
Italian-Australians feeling like they’ve spent too much time away from the motherland should make getting to Cibaria a priority. And pronto. Alessandro Pavoni’s new spaghetteria, bisteccheria, gelatateria is a very Italian dining experience that prides itself on recreating the feel of an Italian piazza within the bougie Manly Pacific Hotel. ‘Cibo’ means food in Italian and Pavoni’s vision is for diners to flit between the forneria centred around a wood oven, the antipasteria and saluemeria, and cruderia for raw dishes. There’s also a spaghetteria with signatures like the squid ink tagliolini with crab or slow-cooked ragu all Bolognese. Make a beeline for the bisteccheria for dishes cooked over coals and the Pasticceria for Italian desserts.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Italian Riviera
Location: 55 N Steyne, Manly
The secret has long been out about Passeggiatta, where restaurateur chef Nigel Ward wows Waverley foodies. Restaurateur Nigel Ward (ex-Sagra) is as serious about the food and drinks as the vibe here and Passeggiatta pulses with life. Go on a Sunday and you’ll find large tables of families mixing with well-heeled couples who have perfected the art of the long lunch. Chef Ryan Crothers specialises in Roman comfort food but the menu is not bound by Italy’s borders, evoking the earthy homestyle cuisine found in Rome’s neighbourhood trattorias. Give the spanner crab tagliolini a twirl before enjoying a post-prandial ‘passeggiatta’ around the neighbourhood.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Like stepping into a sketch of a Trastevere trattoria
Location: 318 Bronte Road, Waverley
Lana is housed in the heritage-listed 1870s wool store Hinchcliff House. (Image: Steve Woodburn)
Some of the most incredible Italian food we enjoy today features ingredients that were introduced from outside Italy. And the lovely Lana is emblematic of the many diverse cultures that call Australia home. Executive chef Alex Wong is known for marrying Italian staples with Asian flavours and flair in dishes such as the Vanella burrata, asparagus, peas, pistachio, ginger and shallot or tomato and peach panzanella with silken tofu and ‘strange flavour’. The lovely Lana is on level one of heritage-listed 1870s wool store Hinchcliff House which bears evidence of the city’s convict past.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: It’s a little bit bistro; a little bit brasserie
Location: Level 1/5-7 Young St, Sydney
The atmosphere at Grana evokes a true Italian dining atmosphere. (Image: Jiwon Kim)
Grana means ‘grain’ in Italian and it’s a celebration of the fact this House Made Hospitality venue has got its own mill grinding NSW grain for fresh flour every day. Check the curling script on the daily specials board for highlights featured on head chef Jair Torre’s menu, which will take you from rounds of focaccia to seasonal pasta and rich Italian cheeses. Italian food is about flavour and you’ll find it in spades at Grana. The casual eatery is open every day, which means it’s as popular for a mid-week power lunch as it is for dinner with your mates on the weekend or a feed with la famiglia. Order an amaro. It’s the done thing.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Casual with plenty of personality
Location: Level 5-7 Young St, Sydney
Soak up sweeping views across Bondi Beach. (Image: Jason Loucas)
Icebergs Dining Room and Bar is all about fine dining Italian style accompanied by a soundtrack of clinking glasses, joyous laughter and waves crashing onto the iconic pool and rocks below. The space is tinted turquoise and blue, as if someone’s taken an eyedropper tool and sampled the sea and sky. Sit near the soaring glass windows with sweeping views across Bondi Beach and beyond to enjoy staples such as risotto alle capesante, and pasta cacio e pepe. This is one of the best Italian restaurants in Sydney. The end.
Price: $$$$$
Atmosphere: Formal Italian fine diner
Location: 1 Notts Ave, Bondi Beach
Spend a romantic dinner date at The Restaurant Pendolino. (Image: Leigh Griffiths)
Executive chef Nino Zoccali puts high-end Italian dining through its paces at restaurant Pendolino tucked away in Sydney’s Victorian-era Strand Arcade. While it’s fair to say Pendolino revels in traditional Italian fare, it is also known for progressive takes on Italian cuisine such as the tasting plate – an elegant modern interpretation of regional antipasti. Push the boat out for the $325 pp six-course degustation with wine pairing or opt for a-la carte. Popping next door to Bottega Pendolino is a prerequisite; the wine bar is as serous about the food as the drinks.
Price: $$$$$
Atmosphere: Slick New York vibes
Location: Shop 100/412/414 George St, Sydney
Devour one slice after another of Margherita pizza at Bottega Coco. (Image: Supplied)
You won’t find gnocchi ai fiori di zucca on the menu at Bottega Coco year-round. That’s because zucchini flowers are at their best at the start of summer and the climate-conscious restaurant in the heart of Barangaroo is all about leaning into the seasons. Executive chef Dario Nencioni grew up in Tuscany and the dishes on offer at this Italian eatery are exceptional: try the spaghetti con gamberi or ossobuco.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Brooklyn Heights meets Barangaroo
Location: Shop 1 T3.01/300 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo
Expect contemporary Italian plates at Ragazzi. (Image: Trent V)
Tell your friends you’re going to Ragazzi and they will offer unsolicited advice about what dishes to give a twirl, such as spaghetti cacio e pepe or mafaldine with blue mackerel and chilli. The menu at the horseshoe-shaped pasta bar changes daily so you can also let the chefs decide for you. The dining room, all organic curves and pops of passata-red hues, is in Sydney’s Angel Place and a seductive option pre- or post-visit to City Recital Hall. Ciao, regazzi.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Brooklyn Heights meets Barangaroo
Location: 1 Angel Pl, Sydney NSW
Be transported to Italy’s Amalfi Coast at Nico Restaurant. (Image: KW Photography)
Diners are in for a treat at Nico, tucked away amid an unassuming strip of shops in Sydney’s Cammeray. To take your seat in the dining room, all terracotta and rich blue hues, is to be transported to Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Expect intelligent takes on unpretentious dishes such as the sfogliatella filled with avocado and caviar from chef Nicola ‘Nico’ Ronconi (ex-exec chef Urban Purveyor Group).
Price: $$$-$$$$
Atmosphere: Convivial, with a mix of locals and cool kids of Cammeray
Location: 18/450 Miller St, Cammeray
Avia means grandma in Italian and this darling Darlo restaurant, all polished concrete and olive-green walls, feels more like more dining at Nonna’s in Trastevere than Taylor Square. Allora. Avia is co-owned by floor manager Jack Reid (ex-Supernormal, Greca) and Stefano Marano (ex-Copenhagen’s Hart Bagari and Sydney’s Le Foote) who met working at The Apollo. And the influence from Marano’s Nonna Pina can be felt throughout. Order the spaghettoni with lemon, provolone and native pepper.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Lively thanks to the cross-section of Darlo denizens and luvvies.
Location: 371-373 Bourke St, Darlinghurst
Duck and prune agnolotti with walnut at Attenzione! is a must-try. (Image: Dexter Kim)
Attenzione! grabbed our attention when it opened to much fanfare midway through 2024. The low-slung neighbourhood pasta and wine bar in Redfern took inspiration everywhere from tiny enotecas in Alba, to buzzy bistros in the backstreets of Paris. Expect playful touches like red-and-white neon signage, mustard-hued walls and a Murano chandelier. Chef Toby Stanfield (ex-Lola’s, Fabbrica) demands attention for dishes such as the agnolotti in a rich buttery brodo paired with Nebbiolo.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Stepping inside is like being transported to Milan.
Location: 180 Redfern St, Redfern
Sit in sumptuous velvet booths and feast on bar snacks at Pelicano.
Pull up curbside in your Lamborghini, king of the Cross style, at the revamped Pelicano, housed within the iconic Hugo’s in Potts Point. The revamped Pelicano is all undulating velvet blue lounges and pop art that offer a cheeky wink back to the OG Double Bay location. The menu devised by Jose Saulog, executive chef of Franca, Parlar and Armorica, is tethered to the Mediterranean with classic Italian twists. Head here for apertivos and bar snacks such as parmesan arancini and fritto misto.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Like a scene out of a PG mobster movie.
Location: 33 Bayswater Rd, Potts Point
Fabricca prepares pasta to perfection. (Image: Darlo)
Fabricca means ‘factory’ in Italian, perhaps a nod to the fact Love Tilly Group must now require an army of workers to extrude pasta for its many venues peppered around Sydney. In addition to the outlets in Sydney CBD, Darlinghurst, Newtown, and the bread shop in Rozelle, Coogee and Cammeray, the brand produces pasta packs such as rigatoni with slow-cooked wagyu. Head to the CBD store to see the team making fresh pasta within the glassed-in workshop.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: The epicentre of fashionable dining.
Location: 348 Victoria St, Darlinghurst
Enjoy handmade pasta, slow-cooked meats, and decadent desserts at Cucinetta. (Image: Leigh Griffiths)
Bust out a lazy K doing laps at Woolwich Baths ahead of lunch at Cucinetta Sydney on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. Chef Vincenzo Mazzotta has been serving up Italian soul food since 2006 and his Italian restaurant has one of the best harbour views in Sydney. The food served within the glassed-walled sandstone cottage is as eye-catching as the outlook. Push the boat out with Vincenzo’s lobster spaghetti.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: The place for a romantic date night.
Location: 103 Woolwich Rd, Woolwich
Pilu at Freshwater is housed in a heritage-listed beach house. (Image: Supplied)
Pilu at Freshwater has maintained its two-hat status with the Good Food Guide for 20 years and counting. It’s a testament to the team, many of whom have been with chef Giovanni Pilu and wife Marilyn Annecchini for more than a decade. The emphasis at the eatery housed in a heritage-listed beach house is on regional cuisine from Sardinia, where Giovanni hails from. Start at Baretto with an aperitivo followed by dinner of coral trout crudo and Sardinian pie.
Price: $$$$$
Atmosphere: A waterfront winner.
Location: Moore Rd, Freshwater
Pop into Bar Infinita for aperitivo. (Image: Chad Konik)
Head Chef Francesco Iervolino (ex-Firedoor and Ormeggio) is part of a new wave of Italian migrants shaping the dining scene in Sydney for the better. This suburban Italian restaurant makes the cut for a multitude of reasons: for starters, we love that it’s in a nondescript strip of shops in a corner of Gordon. Secondly, Bar Infinita is both low-key and ambitious, serving dishes based on what’s seasonal. Head here for an al fresco aperitivo and suckling pig porchetta with potato fondant and rainbow chard.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: A serious contender for ‘best in the hood’.
Location: 10 St Johns Ave, Gordon
Wagyu mafaldine paired with white shimeji, miso, Shio kombu bread, and sake at Itō.
Take a chef with Italian heritage who has a passion for Japanese food and the result is Itō. Head chef Erik Ortalani (ex- Cho Cho San and Nobu) borrows from the best of Japanese and Italian flavours at Itō to produce inspired dishes such as wagyu mafaldine paired with white shimeji and miso or yellowfin tuna crudo served on bonito bread with shaved bottarga. The two-storey space features bespoke Tasmanian blackwood furniture and pops of bold colour and an elegant, sleek Japanese aesthetic.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: This charming two-story intimate restaurant is full of hip Surry Hillsites.
Location: 413-415 Crown St, Surry Hills
Indulge in water views and exquisite Italian flavours. (Image: Supplied)
Swing your superyacht into the D’Albora Marina and channel that main-character Mosman energy when you strut into Ormeggio at the Spit with your entourage. The restaurant run by Alessandro and Anna Pavoni recently hit a milestone – it’s been operating for 15 years – yet it turns up the charm as much for newcomers as its loyal customers. This is like the Italian restaurant of your imagination, but better. Can’t get a booking? Duck next door to sister restaurant, Chiosco by Ormeggio.
Price: $$$$$
Atmosphere: Join a mix of local diners who have won the corporate lottery.
Location: D’Albora Marinas, Spit Rd, Mosman
Savor the authentic taste of Italy in Cronulla (Image: Steve Woodburn)
Matteo Margiotta endeared himself to locals in Cronulla after reimagining the much-loved Old Library (1908). Pino’s Vino e Cucina al Mare is a good place to bookend your evening walk along the Cronulla esplanade. While the intimate Alexandria outpost nods to Matteo’s family home in Rome, the sister venue in the Shire recalls a beach holiday Matteo enjoyed with his wife Nerina and two daughters in Puglia. Executive chef Cristiano Patacca oversees both venues. The house-made maccheroncini alla vodka with crab meat is a must.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: It’s a see-and-be-seen kind of place.
Location: 15 Surf Rd, Cronulla
Step into the Roman-inspired Palazzo Salato. (Image: Nikki To)
This Roman-inspired hatted trattoria is the most ambitious venue conceived by the Love Tilly Group. The 120-seater venue with the 800-strong wine list on Clarence St in the Sydney CBD lives up to its billing as a place for a business lunch or dinner. Palazzo Salato is housed within a heritage-listed building and is divided into a walk-in bar, main dining room and private function room. One essential reason for dining here is the cavatelli with pork sausage and red sauce; it’s the shape of things to come.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Charming CBD place where you bring someone you’re trying to impress.
Location: 201/203 Clarence St, Sydney
Give pasta a twirl at a’mare. (Image: Crown Resorts)
If you are walking Sydney’s bustling Barangaroo Foreshore Walk – and you should – aim to finish up at a’mare, one of the best restaurants in an assemblage of places to eat and drink at the glittering Crown Sydney. a’mare means ‘at the sea’ and first-timer diners here will spend much of their time gawping at the view. There’s also a bit of theatre tableside (think pesto pounded to order) at the Italian fine diner which champions local and sustainable produce as well as specialty Italian ingredients.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: The definition of decadent.
Location: Crown Sydney, Level 1/1 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo
The ravioli di ricotta at Fratelli Paradiso is guaranteed to satisfy.
Fratelli Paradiso is one of Potts Point’s favourite neighbourhood haunts for its much-loved dishes such as lasagne al forno and spaghetti di scampi as well as prized plates of polenta-dusted calamari and tiramisu. The pasta at Giovanni and Enrico Paradiso’s humble trattoria rivals the best in the city and there’s a strong emphasis on regional Italian wines. The ever-so-stylish restaurant has been going strong for three decades and is a celebration of genuine Italian-Australian cuisine where passion and great produce reign.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Casual neighbourhood Italian joint
Location: 12-16 Challis Ave, Potts Point
Enjoy a dynamic Italian dining experience at Club Fontana. (Image: Nic Gossage)
Club Fontana offers everything from simple snacks such as sardine toast and pissaladière to sophisticated starters like carpaccio fruit di mare. From the former team at Don Peppino’s, Ivey Wawn, Daniel Johnston and Harry Levy – friends who have worked together for the best part of a decade – comes a restaurant you wish was at the end of your avenue. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it restaurant is sandwiched between two takeaway shops upstairs on Redfern St. Follow the sound of tinkling jazz up the stairs to enjoy pillows of signature gnocchi walloped with oxtail ragù, which wows as much as the wine, followed by panna cotta.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: It’s as much about the people-watching as the wine and food.
Location: 133A Redfern St, Redfern
Taylor Swift dined at Pellegrino 2000 with Sabrina Carpenter during her Eras Tour. (Image: Jason Loucas)
This homey neighbourhood Italian trattoria is worthy of its reputation. Chefs Daniel Pepperell and Michael Clift and wine guru Andy Tyson are also behind Bistrot 916, one of the best French restaurants in Sydney. Unerringly excellent at Pelligrino 2000 are the global influences apparent in dishes such as the trippa fritta punched up with Japanese pepper and ravioli di gamberi using wonton wrappers (whaaaat?) to envelop the prawns. Your plan of attack at Pellegrino 2000 should be to book Saturday lunch so you can linger over a selection of appetisers and mains to share.
Price: $$$ $
Atmosphere: Quirky space full of neon and nods to an Italian New York-style venue.
Location: 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills
Civico 47 serves up contemporary Italian meals with a twist. (Image: Supplied)
Some might say it was a bold move to take over a site formerly occupied by iconic Italian eatery Lucio’s. But it’s a move that has paid off thanks largely to the skills of executive chef Matteo Zamboni whose CV includes stints at La Pergola and Milan’s Ristorante Cracco as well as Ormeggio and Pilu at Freshwater. Chef Matteo and the staff have endeared themselves to the local neighbourhood clientele while wooing its next-gen movers and shakers with its contemporary Italian feel. Start the experience at Civico 47 with an aperitivi before moving on to mafalde pasta with king prawn, bok choy and tomato.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: One of the most charming corner spots in Paddo.
Location: 47 Windsor St, Paddington
Delight in the art of modern Italian dining at Fior. (Image: Supplied)
Settle in for a long lunch at Fior over the weekend when the woodfired oven is crackling in the centre of the kitchen. Fior means ‘flower’ and it’s a reference to fior de latte or the ‘flower of the milk’ as in the ‘best bit’. It could also be a nod to the Gymea lily, a flowering plant that is endemic to the area where the restaurant is located. Executive chef Tristan Rosier and his partner Rebecca Fanning are behind the Sutherland Shire’s new eatery which is known for its impeccable pasta. Fans of sister venues Jane and Arthur should drop a pin on the map app and put Fior on their radar.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Busy bustling spot filled with Shire locals.
Location: 756 Kingsway, Gymea
Sagra gives Sydneysiders a piccolo taste of Italy at this rustic osteria housed in a dinky Darlinghurst terrace. A ‘sagra’ is a local festival, usually located in a piazza, and dedicated to a dish that is in season. There’s an Italian-centred wine list at Sagra which is serving the right kind of food in the right sort of place for the neighbourhood. The menu changes weekly as befits a restaurant named after the seasons: do order the pea and ricotta ravioli with lemon butter and squid ink and impeccable desserts such as the pannacotta with candied blood orange.
Price: $$$ -$$$$
Atmosphere: The restaurant looks to Rome for inspiration.
Location: 62 Stanley St, Darlinghurst
The aptly named restaurant specialises in the Tuscan specialty, bistecca alla Fiorentina. (Image: Supplied)
Diners at Bistecca bear the distinctive suit-and-tie plumage of business folk who migrate to the city basement venue from the surrounding office towers. Enjoy classic cocktails and wines from an Italian-leaning list over a long lunch that will allow you plenty of time to enjoy the full bistecca Fiorentina experience. The basement restaurant is devoted to Florence’s famous T-bone steaks. It’s mightily famous for a reason.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Standout subterranean steakhouse.
Location: 3 Dalley St, Sydney
Grottoes have been created for devotional purposes for centuries. And Neptune’s Grotto is no different. The elegant basement bar is indeed a new place of worship carved in the partially underground space below Clam Bar. In terms of dress code, you can forgo the trident (fishing spear) favoured by Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, as a beard will suffice. Call up your Italian cuzzies: as Dan Pepperell and Mikey Clift (Pellegrino 2000, Bistrot 916) have gifted Sydney with a venue that celebrates Northern Italian cuisine with a bit of eccentric and charismatic New York attitude. Plump for the handmade pasta.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Dark and atmospheric.
Location: Downstairs, Loftus Lane, cnr Young and Bridge St, Sydney
Dine on saffron linguine by the water at Otto Ristorante. (Image: Nikki To)
It’s as much about the sense of occasion as the dining experience on offer at Otto Ristorante. Swagger into the waterfront restaurant like a movie lead in your blue linen shirt rolled up to the elbows to order a perfectly perfect saffron linguine or dry-aged Wollemi duck breast, paired with velvety celeriac and a luscious blueberry jus. Brush up on your witty repartee as the staff like to have long chummy chats with the customers about everything from politics to pasta. Otto occupies prime real estate on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo and is one of the best spots for al fresco dining in Sydney.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Ideal restaurant with waterfront views.
Location: Area 8, 6 Cowper Wharf Roadway, Woolloomooloo
Pause your aggressive fasting regime for an indulgent dinner of spinach and Reggiano tortelli with burnt butter at this enchanting osteria in Woollahra. I Maccheroni champions the Emilia-Romagna roots of its Michelin-trained chef Marcello Farioli (ex-Il Rigoletto, Reggiolo). It’s filled with stylish Woollahra types and one of the best places outside Tuscany for eating and drinking Italian food and wine. I Maccheroni also holds authentic Italian cooking classes every Saturday, which is perfect for a romantic date.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Quintessential old-school Italian.
Location: 3 Jersey Rd, Woollahra
Slink into Bastardo for an intimate Italian meal.
Bastardo is the illegitimate love child of sister venues Bodega x Wyno and Portena. While the shrine to soccer legend Diego Maradona is a celebration of Elvis Abrahanowicz’s Argentinian heritage, the prominent pasta extruder machine and cans of tomatoes nod to Joseph Valore’s Sicilian heritage. The menu is a happy marriage somewhere in between. Ben Millgate is also a co-owner of Bastardo, and together the trio draw a fashionable crowd to the 60-seater old-school Italian eatery in the scuzzy back streets of Surry Hills. Bastardo plays to its strengths with dishes such as the pappardelle with braised duck and cavolo nero.
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: One of Sydney’s most inviting spaces.
Location: 50 Holt St, Surry Hills
Chef Federico Zanellato is the genius behind LuMi, long regarded as one of Sydney’s best contemporary Italian restaurants. Indeed, the chef’s reputation for innovative and original Italian food with a Japanese aesthetic has attracted food-literate diners from around the world. Lumi’s reputation for great dining is sealed with dishes such as scampi toast, kombu tart, and lobster chawanmushi. Order the out-of-the-box Italian omakase menu at this elegant glass-walled restaurant, the ultimate in harbourside dining in Sydney.
Price: $$$$$
Atmosphere: Definitely a destination diner.
Location: 56 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont
Savour traditional Italian pasta at Matteo. (Image: Leigh Griffiths)
The Matteo Group is a proud champion of both Australian produce and traditional Italian cooking. The dishes at the neighbourhood trattoria in Double Bay (and its sister venue Downtown) are not complicated – this is simple, honest Italian cuisine – but it’s hard to imagine them being done any better. Chef Lucia Grandi doles out everything from stone-baked bread to wood-fired pizzas and substantial secondi such as veal cotoletta with shaved parmesan, semi-dried cherry tomato and basil or the signature spicy vodka rigatoni. Mangiare.
Price: $$$ -$$$$
Atmosphere: Great for impossibly good looking B-grade reality TV stars.
Location: 29 Bay St, Double Bay
Marta is more Roma than Rushcutter’s Bay. This humble osteria and bakery is inspired by the flavours and street food of Rome. Let chef and owner Flavio Carnevalehits wallop your tastebuds with reinvented Roman classics such as the Martamisu. Of course, you can also do as the Romans do and ask to be plied with pasta and pizza. Or order the settimana romana – daily house dishes such as ravioli, Coniglio or baccala. Don your best kaftan in preparation for a post-prandial passeggiatta around the Eastern suburbs.
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Full of hip crowds who will compete for your attention.
Location: 30 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay
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