This Italian charmer scores a hat with ‘give ’em what they want’ cooking

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The first edition of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, published in 1984, included reviews of 50 Italian restaurants across NSW. French was the only cuisine that trumped food from The Boot, while “Chinese” chalked up 13 places and “Korean” garnered a single mention. (Korea House in Kings Cross, since you asked. “Big eaters should order the barbecue, a do-it-yourself dish of marinated and spiced strips of beef cooked on Asia’s answer to the Waltzing Matilda.“)

In 2025, I’d like to think the Good Food Guide showcases a more diverse representation of the dining rooms and kitchens that make Sydney unique but, gee, there will still be a lot of delicious spaghetti, bucatini and paccheri. Australia’s love for pasta is right up there with eating cheese before dinner and the oeuvre of Scotty Cam. Just ask Ormeggio at The Spit’s Alessandro Pavoni, who, with wife Anna and Maestro Hospitality group, has opened three Italian restaurants in the past year.

Vineria Luisa joins Manly’s Cibaria and Summer Hill’s Postino Osteria in the Pavonis’ growing portfolio. You can find it at Enmore Road’s old Marie-Louise Salon site, previously home to Bar Louise. There’s a bar downstairs where you should be able to luck upon a stool without booking, but the upstairs dining room will almost certainly require a reservation at peak times. The full menu is available in both areas, which are equally tight-packed but comfortable, and decorated with frilly lampshades, pastels and fresh flowers.

In collaboration with his kitchen team, Pavoni excels in comfort food fine-tuned with decades of experience, first-rate produce and great knowledge of Italy’s regions.

Almost every table orders head chef Gianmarco Pardini’s “best ever lasagne” (the menu’s words, not mine, although Gianmarco makes a strong case) because what kind of omnivore doesn’t like seven layers of pasta, bechamel and ragu made from pork, veal and beef cooked overnight into a dark, glossy shade of burgundy? Not too heavy, not too wet, just right.

Naturally, the bar is more of a knees-up, made for short sessions with an Australian and Italian-forward wine list, well-crafted cocktails and snacks such as crostini slathered in robust chicken liver pâté punctuated by marmalade and chopped hazelnuts. Cacio e pepe risotto fashioned into little arancini-style footballs filled with stretchy mozzarella is a prime example of “give 𝄒em what they want cooking”, as is the chargrilled calamari kicked up with 𝄒nduja on extra smooth chickpea puree.

There’s a gintoneria (that is, “a haven for gin aficionados”) concept at the bar, and while a huge goblet filled with ice, tonic, Hendrick’s, a rosemary sprig and dried citrus isn’t quite what I want (ever, to be honest), I know people heading to an upcoming Elvis tribute at the Enmore Theatre who will be all about it. Juicy lamb “porchetta” rolled around pork is another crowd-pleaser, as is salted ling fish cooked in sugo and sweetened with sultanas.

How do we all feel about chicken giblets, heart and liver these days, though? Pretty good, I hope. Pavoni braises the lot in a rich and herby tomato sauce until they break down and transform into something deep and magical; better together, but each component distinct and clinging to fat strands of tonnarelli. Meanwhile, vegetarians are well served by a spinach-green spaetzle native to Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige region bordering Austria, here teamed with porcini and other mushrooms gently sauteed with garlic and parsley.

Keeping in South Tyrol, there’s also a cracking cinnamon-spiced apple strudel for dessert, and a supernaturally creamy almond gelato zig-zagged with orange-infused olive oil. To quote the 1984 Good Food Guide review of Romania in East Sydney, “A most agreeable and unpretentious place, offering a range of fairly traditional Italian tucker.”

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

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine