Ragazzi Is the CBD's Soon-to-Open Minimal-Intervention Wine and Pasta Bar by the Love, Tilly Devine Crew
Here, you'll be able to pair a pasta (or two) off the daily-changing menu with one of the 250 bottles of Italian and Australian wine.
The CBD's Angel Place is set to gain a new wine and pasta bar, courtesy of Sydney hospo gurus Matthew Swieboda and Nathanial Hatwell (Love, Tilly Devine, Dear Sainte Éloise), Chef Scott Williams (Bacco Osteria e Espresso, MoVida) and front-of-house star Felix Colman (Dear Sainte Éloise). Ragazzi is slated to open in early August and will focus on minimal-intervention Italian wines and hand-rolled pasta.
Just as Love, Tilly Devine champions Aussie drops and Dear Sainte Éloise focuses more on the French, Regazzi will do the same for Italian varieties — featuring small Italian producers and Australian wineries that use Italian grapes. The 38-seat wine bar will offer around 20 wines by-the-glass and a whopping 250 by the bottle, so there will be heaps to choose from.
Alongside the natural wines, there'll be a succinct food menu that changes daily and showcases regional Italian pasta dishes. While it's not yet finalised, expect to see dishes like campanelle with goat and anchovy ragu, beef cheek and horseradish lasagna and corzetti stampati with pipis and sausage — the house-made sausage made using whichever meat is available on the day.
There will also be a weekly sea urchin special. The urchin will be sourced from south Sydney, with Ragazzi receiving a fresh delivery from a local every Thursday after his morning dive. So, expect to see it on the menu from Thursday night onwards (until sold out) in dishes like sea urchin spaghetti with chilli and garlic or pasta fritta with sea urchin and butter.
Felix Colman, Scott Williams, Nathanial Hatwell and Matthew Swieboda
Williams will use Spanish cooking techniques to create his Italian bar snacks, too — a nod to his experience in the kitchens of Madrid and Barcelona. Those include pork belly and smoked scamorza croquettes, made with béchamel filling, and the antipasti offered as single-serve tapas instead of on large share plates.
"We're trying to keep things a smaller and lighter so people can try more things without being completely stuffed," says Williams.
Apart from all the pasta and bar snacks, there will be a few regularly changing meats, including whole goat, lamb and pig, that'll be sourced locally and broken down into a range of dishes and Milanese-style cutlets. A few simple salads — such as shaved cabbage with hazelnut and pecorino — will make the cut, too, along with daily-churned gelato for dessert.
The space will take on neutral tones, with textured concrete walls, leather banquette seating and a 10-seat bar — one which we imagine will be full from day dot.
Ragazzi will open in early August at Shop 3, 2–12 Angel Place, Sydney. Hours will be Monday through Friday from 11am–midnight and Saturday from 3pm–midnight.
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