There’s a plate of oversized pici on nearly every table at Attenzione, a yellow-hued bunker of a restaurant with Y2K lounge-bar energy. The pasta has undeniable visual appeal – thick, hand-rolled noodles coiled in creamy cacio e pepe sauce – but it’s also fun to eat, inspiring long, laughing slurps. It’s the signature on an oft-changing menu with a playful, post-structuralist approach to Italian cuisine.

Who’d have thought whipped brown butter and crumbled cornflakes would work so well slathered on thick slices of Cristal bread, or dan dan noodles could inspire a (much milder) trottole pasta twirled with pork ragu and salted cucumber? The champagne risotto is perfect, the wine list is both unserious and sophisticated, and service is casually attentive.

It’s an easy win for dinner with friends, and on Sundays there’s live jazz to pair with your lo-fi chilled red.

Good to know: BYO is offered at every service with $50 corkage, which drops to $30 if you meet a spending cap. Worth a whirl with a group or for a splash-out with something special.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.