A recent experience at Angel Place restaurant Ragazzi was shocking, for unexpected reason

A recent experience on a visit to Ragazzi was shocking for an unexpected reason. Someone at the restaurant had thought about would make at least half of the clientele feel more comfortable.

The tiny Italian wine bar knows how to look after its customers.

OPINION

Living in a city like Sydney I’ve seen some interesting things in public bathrooms, while on a night out.

However recently I saw something in a top restaurant’s toilet that genuinely shocked me.

I was dining at Angel Place restaurant Ragazzi (a favourite of The Daily Telegraph’s food critic, The Mouth!).

The Italian wine and pasta bar is one of those very Sydney establishments, where just trying to get in is part of the experience.

It’s a tiny venue that only opens bookings a month before the date.

So, because I had tickets to a performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra (I’ve deliberately included that so you think I’m more cultured then perhaps I am), I managed to score a 5pm booking.

Ragazzi in Angel Place delivered an unexpected, but welcome, surprise.

After devouring the burrata and spaghetti cacio e pepe, and sharing a bottle of fabulous Grego Di Tufo, I headed for the ladies room.

That’s when I was shocked. It’s a tiny restaurant, so there’s only one bathroom, and it’s unisex.

There, sitting on the counter, next to the paper towels was a bowl filled with tampons and pads. Right there, on full display.

Not hidden in a drawer, or in a paid dispenser, or stuck in some secret safe where only the waiter has the key.

Pads and tampons on full display for all the world and all genders to see.

And it floored me.

Ragazzi doesn’t just excel at food

There are m, any surprises at Ragazzi.

As a woman in her 30s, who has had to use these products since I was a teenager, this is the first time I can recall seeing them in a restaurant in this way. It’s certainly not a common occurrence in a ladies bathroom, let alone one anyone can use.

Thinking that couldn’t be the case, I quizzed my company (all women) and they said the same thing.

This felt new. And an unofficial poll of friends and colleagues over the following days confirmed this was an unusual sight to see.

Now, I acknowledge that as a woman dining in a “good” restaurant where a bowl of pasta averages $30, I can afford to purchase my own sanitary products, and so probably could the other diners who would need to use them (whereas in Australia, a million women who menstruate struggle to access products due to financial restraints.) So Ragazzi’s stand felt less political, more a courtesy if you’re cut short.

But it’s the fact the products were supplied, so obviously, in the first place that was appreciated. Someone at the restaurant had thought about would make at least half of the clientele feel more comfortable, and offered it to them as a part of the dining experience. The same way they thought of what glassware to use or what music to play.

This is the direct opposite of the experience a prominent makeup artist had at a Sydney venue where the basin area of the bathrooms had glass doors, so she couldn’t use the area to rinse herself after bleeding through (which, ironically, happened on International Women’s Day.)

In 2023, seeing sanitary products easily available in toilets of restaurants considering the amount of customers who would use them shouldn’t be shocking. But it is.

So Ragazzi, while I would bathe in the sauce from your blue swimmer crab, chilli and capers conchiglie, it’s your supply of sanitary products I’ve praised you for.

#putyourtampoonsout.