Ciao, Mate!

Chilled Italio-Oz pizzeria that’s bloody bonza.

November 11, 2024

3 / 9Pizza with stracciatella, vodka sauce, fried capers and confit garlic.Supplied

4 / 9Pizza with wagyu sausage, pickled fennel and garlic oil.Supplied

5 / 9Limoncello tiramisu with milk crumb. Supplied

6 / 9Crostoli with mahi mahi, tomato and fermented chilli.Supplied

7 / 9Pizza with sausage and pickled peppers. Supplied

8 / 9Ricotta gnudi with cavolo nero, hazelnuts and burned butter.Supplied

9 / 9Buttermilk panna cotta with blueberries and lemon. Supplied

Critics' Pick

Italian$$

Don’t be fooled by the lace curtains in the front window or the knitted hot water bottle-covers on display in the Country Women’s Association shop next door, this restaurant is as spritely as a Byron Bay beach in summer.

Diner-style interiors and a sweet-smoky Killer Bee cocktail of mezcal, honey and lemon add to the fun, while the kitchen offers a mash-up of Italian and Australian.

The compact menu keeps things breezy: a schnitzel-sized slab of mozzarella is fried and served atop balsamic-drenched peppers; salty white anchovies come on toast with spinach and ricotta cream.

Pasta might include gnocchetti sardi with rich duck-leg ragu, green olives, mascarpone and punchy gremolata, while handsomely charred pizza bases are topped with the likes of a lively vodka and tomato sauce, stracciatella and slow-cooked garlic, or (traditionalists, turn away now) smoked local ham with pineapple glaze. Grazie, bro!

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Northern Rivers