Indulging a love affair with Italian cuisine in Sydney
Our love affair with Italian cuisine is enduring and undiminished. When Italy’s calling, these five Sydney venues will take you there.
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From perfect pastas to ravishing risottos, what’s not to love about Italian fare? Here are five eateries where you can sample some of the best.
Fior
Gymea
At first glance, Fior isn’t anything like its sister restaurants, Jane and Arthur. For starters, this 120-seat dining room is about double the size of those two put together. Then there’s the location, tucked in the Sutherland Shire, far from its siblings in Surry Hills. But take a bite of anything from the extensive Italian menu – which includes vibrant antipasti, stunning pastas and a host of punchy meat and fish mains – and you’ll see the connection. This is big-flavoured food, made not only with great ingredients and inventiveness but with love.
Shop 2, 752-756 Kingsway, Gymea
Pino’s Vino e Cucina
Alexandria
Alexandria’s backstreets don’t particularly evoke the laneways of Florence, yet once you pass through the heavy doors of this inner-suburb favourite, you’ll swear you’ve caught a glimpse of the Duomo in the distance. And while the room’s footprint might be small, chef (and co-owner) Matteo Margiotta’s flavours are uniformly big. Wagyu tartare with crisp onion rings, egg yolk and caviar, lime-zested calamari skewers on a tomato, rockmelon sauce, or the handmade pasta, tossed with everything from Venetian-style ragu to prawns with puttanesca butter. Pino’s younger sibling, Pino’s Vino e Cucina al Mare, brings similar substance to the Shire.
199 Lawrence St, Alexandria
Pilu at Freshwater
Freshwater
Pilu is a love letter to Sardinian cuisine, delivered in the coastal serenity of Freshwater Beach. Chef Giovanni Pilu brings a reverence for tradition, evident in dishes like the signature maialetto – crisp-skinned suckling pig, slow roasted and served with punchy, anchovy-rich bagna cauda sauce – or the house-made spaghetti alla chitarra, tossed with vongole and dusted with Pilu’s own bottarga. The award-winning wine list is a masterclass in regional Italian varietals, each drop complementing the ocean breeze drifting through the dining room. Pilu’s effortless blend of elegance and warmth makes every visit feel like a sun-drenched Sardinian escape.
On the beach, Moore Rd, Freshwater
Fratelli Paradiso
Potts Point
Fratelli Paradiso hums with the energy of a place that knows exactly what it’s doing: no gimmicks, no pretence, just seriously good Italian food. The handwritten menu, scrawled daily on the blackboard, sets the tone for a meal that’s equal parts rustic and refined. Bowls of crab-topped risotto and silky pappardelle dressed in lamb ragu arrive with no fuss, delivered with the kind of quiet confidence that comes from knowing every plate is a knockout. Add a negroni or a glass of nebbiolo and Potts Point begins to fade away, leaving you enveloped in the spirit of Italy.
12-16 Challis Ave, Potts Point
Neptune’s Grotto
CBD
There’s something about dark dining spaces that put us in the mood for pasta. Thankfully, the noodle-loving folk behind the similarly subterranean Pellegrino 2000 agree, taking the space below their popular Clam Bar and transforming it into an underground temple to both the Roman god of the sea and all things northern Italian. That means, as well as the contemporary wine list, excellent tunes and “see or be seen” vibes, Neptune’s Grotto is serving up treats like eel mayo-dressed vitello anguillato, a prosciutto and cream-topped veal cotoletta and, of course, some of Sydney’s best below-ground pasta plates.
Entry via Loftus Lane, cnr Young and Bridge streets, Sydney CBD
Originally published as Indulging a love affair with Italian cuisine in Sydney
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