Grappa has been a Norton Street stalwart for 27 years. A place for the Colosi family to serve handmade pasta tossed in a saucy Napolitana and topped with burrata; or twirled simply, with a garlicky mix of chilli, lemon and parsley and sweet crab meat. Classic Italian snacks and mains are in the mix, too, along with over 100 grappas ready to pour.
This week, the team made its biggest move since 1991: opening a Grappa outpost in The Rocks, within the old Rockpool site.
There are 300 seats, spread across the main dining room, al fresco terrace, upstairs bar and private dining rooms. “I’ve always wanted a restaurant in the city, but it had to feel right,” Charlie Colosi, who co-founded the original with his dad Antonio, said in a statement. “When we walked into this building, we felt it straightaway – the bones, the history, the energy. It’s an iconic space.”
Expect a menu that sticks to what you know in the inner west – house-made pastas, woodfired pizzas and mains, with longtime head chef Adam Nicholls leading the kitchen. The grappa line-up remains strong, with over 150 on offer.
A reno of the harbourside 1860s building is the biggest distinction from the Little Italy experience: exposed sandstone walls, charming wood-panelled walls and warm art deco-style lighting. All of it makes for a swish evolution for Grappa.
107–109 George Street, The Rocks
(02) 4419 7777
grappa.com.au
@grappa_restaurant
The new Italian destination arrives at the same time as two more places for pasta – both in the suburbs.
Sugo, Bexley North
The My Mother’s Cousin team is back, bringing its special sauce to a pasta menu for the same clutch of loyal locals. Sugo – Italian for sauce, of course – is proudly “for the neighbourhood, by the neighbours”. And locals have been knocking like Tony Soprano on Janice’s door. “When we tell people we’re doing Italian American with big fresh pastas, the response is always, ‘Say no more’,” co-owner Sal Senan told Broadsheet when they opened in early April. “It’s everyone’s favourite.”
Expect a 10-part pasta menu, with handmade shapes ranging from pappardelle ribbons to conchiglie shells. There are hefty chicken cutlets, topped with fresh mozzarella and Reggiano, hedged by fries; and both cheesecake and sundaes to finish.
There’s no booze, consistent with all venues in the team’s six-part stable, and it’s family-friendly. “It’s not a fast-food joint. It’s not a high-end restaurant. It’s just a place where everyone’s welcome.”
Shop 3, 8–20 Sarsfield Circuit, Bexley North
@sugopastabar
Additional reporting by Dan Cunningham.
Pasta Shop, Potts Point
A famed pasta has just returned to Sydney. The starry bowl is filled with garlicky butter-slicked spaghetti, swirled with prawns, mushrooms and chilli – and it was the dish to order at now-closed CBD institution Machiavelli. The founder’s daughter Paola Toppi resurrects the dish in its original form at Pasta Shop, in the old Sonora site.
“The Spaghetti Machiavelli at Pasta Shop is the original dish I created back in 1988,” says Toppi, who worked with her mother in the kitchen for three decades. “Over the years, the recipe changed and instead was used with tagliatelle, but we’re taking it back to the original.”
Spaghetti Machiavelli is one of 11 pastas on the menu, joining a lemony fusilli carrying delicate crab meat, generous serves of traditional lasagne and fat tubes of rigatoni sauced up with a hot vodka number. There are ready-to-pour Maybe Sammy cocktails and tiramisu, too, plus an all-Italian list of wine, beer and non-alcs.
37 Bayswater Road, Potts Point
@pastashopsydney
Dining and Cooking