This is comfort food at its very finest
Whether it’s a simple spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli, ravioli stuffed to the high heavens, or lovingly layered lasagne, few foods give us the feels quite like pasta.
Let’s be real – Sydney’s Italian restaurant game is seriously strong on all fronts, but when the hour calls for carbs, these are the spots that turn flour, eggs and water into small miracles.
The go-to: Prawn ravioli with brown butter and sage
When it comes to flavour and balance, Dan Pepperell’s cooking is as good as it gets. Case in point: Surry Hills trattoria Pellegrino 2000, which slings a lot of delicious dishes (the artichokes; octopus and celery; and veal parmigiana, to name a few). But really, the pasta is what you’ll want to come back for. Perfectly seasoned, with on-point flavours, make-your-soul-happy stuff. Good luck getting a booking though – you may need it.
The go-to: Mafaldine with spanner crab, uni butter, chilli, and sea blight
Palazzo Salato is the Love, Tilly Group’s most ambitious restaurant to date, and one of their bests. The dining room is gorgeous, and similar to Ragazzi, the chefs, overseen by group executive chef Scott McComas-Williams, place an emphasis on house-made regional pasta shapes. So, you may order a shoe-like scarpinocc with pumpkin, ricotta salata, and balsamico; or ribbon like mafaldine with sweet spanner crab, uni butter, a lick of chilli, and pops of salty sea blight. We say come with a group and order a spread.
Editor's go-to: Lasagne
Fratelli Paradiso has been dishing up some of the city’s best Italian cooking for close to two decades. It’s so darn reliable you can pretty much close your eyes, point to anything on the menu and pick a winner. Dishes come and go from the chalkboard, but the epic scampi spaghetti and textbook lasagne never leave – they’re just that good.
The go-to: Moreton Bay bug linguine
A long boozy lunch at Woolloomooloo Wharf is a Sydney rite of passage, and for a waterside slice of the dolce vita, Otto can’t be beat. All pastas are made daily in-house, so freshness is guaranteed, regardless of whether you go for something like curly malfadine with hand-smoked duck ragù or linguine, delicately tossed with Moreton Bay bug, chilli and garlic.
The go-to: Reginette, lobster, prawn alla vodka
Mike Eggert works his magic on pasta of all shapes and sizes at this buzzy Bondi trattoria that’s every bit as rustic-glam as the Puglian villa of your dreams. The rigatoni with milk-braised pork and chilli is preposterously good, but the tangle of Reginette soaked in a dense and creamy tomato sauce with the added luxury of lobster and prawn is the hands-down shining star.
The go-to: Conchigli with mussels and white beans
The menu changes almost daily at this teensy CBD laneway spot from the team behind Love, Tilly Devine and Dear Sainte Éloise, but the unquestionable quality of the lovingly made pastas remains the same. The noodles are great and especially al dente, but stuffed is the way to go here, where the hyper-seasonal produce like Jerusalem artichoke with bitter and sweet burnt honey can really shine.
The go-to: Trofie al pesto
Does it get any better than fresh pesto made tableside and then spooned through house-made pasta? We don't think there is. So, come and see for yourself and taste A’Mare’s epic pesto pasta, made with basil, macadamia and pine nuts, crushed in front of your eyes. It’s heavenly. Though just a warning: you won’t look at the jar stuff the same ever again.
The go-to: Pappardelle bolognese
Owner Marco Ambrosino is no stranger to excellent Italian food. In fact, he’s one of three OG founders of Potts Point stalwart Fratelli Paradiso, where he held the reins for more than two decades, as well as Sydney institution 10 William Street. So the fact that the pappardelle bolognese at Lola’s Italian and Bar – (found directly across from Sydney’s most famous stretch of sand) is rich, luscious, and what dreams are made of, makes sense. Come for Italian classics beautifully executed with a side of sea breeze.
The go-to: Spaghetti with calamari and nduja
Sometimes a snack of parfait and crackers will suffice, but when you want to get saucy and sleepy, it's time for a classic of spaghetti – in this one, the pasta is tossed in a brodo-like sauce with thin strips of calamari. The nduja forms a sort of oil drizzled on top and the plate is finished with a healthy sprinkle of parsely. Quarters are cramped, pasta is peak al dente, the wine list champions the weird and the wonderful, and that’s exactly why we love it.
The go-to: Rigatoni alla bolognese with Wagyu and tomato sauce
Glittering Potts Pott spot Bar Grazie is legendary Sydney restauranter Barry McDonald’s 19th restaurant, after the original Fratelli Fresh, Cafe Nice with Josh Niland as head chef, and Cafe Sopra. So it’s safe to say McDonald knows his way around town. And at Bar Grazie, it shows. With its white tablecloths, wood-panelled walls, dimmed lighting and soulful sounds, this is one of those places you walk into and instantly feel good. The pasta dishes – whether it’s a rigatoni alla bolognese, spaghetti with lamb neck, pepper and pecorino, or vongole with charcuterie XO and fagioli (beans) – will also make you pretty damn happy.
The go-to: Gigli con granchio
Hubert's pocket-sized little sibling proves that big things can indeed come in very small packages. The menu takes some pretty serious detours, but plays it straighter on the pasta front with frilly giglio, nutty tortiglione alla trapanese, and killer papardelle with short rib ragu. Bring your wallet and splurge on some premium natural vino while you’re at it.
The go-to: Culurzones di patate, pecorino e menta
Giovanni Pilu is one of the city’s most respected Italian chefs, and his beachside shrine to Sardinian cooking has been an enduring favourite on the Sydney dining scene for over a decade. Culurzones, the scrubby Mediterranean island’s take on ravioli, are outstanding: plump, football-shaped packages of lamb with tack-sharp pecorino and very fragrant mint.
‘Big’ Sam Young’s signature lobster pasta – which he serves at his Castlecrag bistro – is a thing of beauty. Served with half a lobster with sweet, tender meat, the pasta (which is locally sourced from Fabbrica) is coated in an incredible luscious lobster sauce that’s umami-rich and also just very rich (if you can’t treat yourself every so often, what’s the point?).
Young says the lobster pasta sauce is what he is most proud of, which the team makes from lobster shells, so it’s almost like a bisque. They also make a lobster head oil to drizzle on top, as well as a housemade XO sauce. The result is a ridiculously delicious plate of food. Though it ain’t cheap, so if you’re not on a baller budget, Young also offers other pasta dishes at entry-level prices, like the spaghetti with fermented cabbage, cuttlefish and chilli pangrattato.
The go-to: Classic Pendolino “ravioli di magro”
This old-school Strand Arcade stalwart takes pasta so seriously it has a kitchen dedicated entirely to the art of making it by hand. A range of pastas are available as the third course on their à la carte menu, which means you'll have trouble choosing between a wild weed spaghetti tossed with prawns and barramundi, and full-flavoured parcels of spinach and cheese slicked with brown butter and sage.
The go-to: Cappelletti in brodo
Part pasta retailer, part cooking school, part restaurant, Pasta Emilia is a hub for all things artisanal, organic and delicious. The heritage here is Emilian, so sensational pasta is pretty much a certainty; opt for the true labour of love that is cappelletti in brodo. Tiny morsels with ever-changing fillings are served in clear and subtle beef and chicken broth and are a classic starter to any Italian family lunch.
The go-to: Bottoni
Dining out doesn’t get much more luxe than Ormeggio, Alessandro Pavoni’s show-stopping marina mainstay in Mosman. It’s got ‘special occasion’ written all over it, so request a window seat and splash out on a tasting menu that takes you on a jaunt through the Boot, from top to bottom. The highlight? Little pasta buttons stuffed with Parmigiano-Reggiano consommé that burst in the mouth.
The go-to: Fettuccine al tartufovo
Buon Ricordo means ‘good memory’ in Italian, and you’ll probably leave with more than a few of them after a meal here. This is a classy affair if ever there was one, where produce takes pride of place on a menu of time-honoured greatest hits. The greatest of all is a gut-bustingly rich dish of creamy fettuccine, tossed in front of your very eyes, with parmesan and a truffled egg.
The go-to: Cacio e pepe
If you’re one of the 11 people left in Sydney who hasn’t experienced the cacio e pepe at BDC, get moving. Order it, and out will come a chipper member of the team with a hollowed wheel of Sardinian pecorino cheese. There will be strings of al dente spaghetti inside. It’ll be tossed and turned and served to you tableside, and you will eat it, and all will be right in the world.
The go-to: Casarecce with broccoli and sausage
Yes, this is a choose-your-shape-and-choose-your-sauce joint, but it’s so much better than all the rest of them because the pasta is all made in-house with quality ingredients and a good deal of care. BYO bottle of something nice and juicy, select from seven shapes and six sauces and walk away for under $30.
The go-to: Whatever you get
This everything-from-scratch Marrickville café keeps the lights on for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays, serving up a set menu of veggie-forward fare that spotlights housemade pastas. You get what you’re given and you're served family style, but when the likes of garden-fresh beetroot ravioli with dill and buffalo ricotta lands in front of you, having no choice is a good choice.
The go-to: Jerusalem artichoke agnolotti
For vegetarians, scanning an Italian menu can feel like a game of chance. Spot the right words (stracciatella! brown butter!) and you’re in for a good time, see a bland risotto and the night could be ruined. But at Kindred, Matt Pollock’s homey 40-seater in Darlington, plant-based options dominate the menu, and none shine brighter than the agnolotti of Jerusalem artichoke, leeks, cavolo nero, and truffle pecorino. Bellissimo.
The go-to: Blue spirulina spaghettini
You may have come across a photo of primary-blue pasta on the interwebs, and wondered where on Earth you find such a thing. You find it here, at this fun little spaghetti and Spritz bar that comes up with some pretty clever flavour, texture and colour combos – vegan lasagne and charcoal bucatini among them. But that blue spaghettini with mussels and and smoked eggplant takes the cake.
The go-to: Crab and saffron angel hair pasta
The true joy of a visit to Bar Reggio, the cheap and cheerful Italian at the bottom of Crown Street, is consistency. The "specials" board has been the same for years, as have the slightly worn laminate menus. Heck, even the clientele have been the same for eons. What they don't know, however, is the crab and saffron angel hair pasta that is off menu but often available upon request. Ludicrously rich in butter, this is true comfort in a bowl.
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