By Marie-Antoinette Issa.
The official opening of Sydney’s newest Italian restaurant, Rovollo, on the evening of the State of Origin decider was always going to be a hard sell. However, those who picked spaghetti over State loyalty were onto a winner.
Tucked into the base of Harry Seidler’s architectural icon at 25 Martin Place, Rovollo may be intimate (just 75 seats), but it makes a big impression, starting with a 10-metre, hand-painted ceiling mural.
Down below, the scene is equally ornate: curved banquettes in maroon and mustard, a calacatta gold marble bar and a show-stopping pendent light made from a repurposed parachute.
On the floor, dishes glide past with the kind of smooth strategy that only happens when Chefs are in sync. Then, the trolley rolls in. Custom-built from walnut and brass, it holds a 20-kilo wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano like a crown jewel.
The signature pici carbonara is flambéed tableside and tossed through the cheese until it's glossy, smoky and ready to be crowned with a yolk and shards of guanciale. It’s an MVP (Most Valuable Pasta) and delivers you with front row seats to pasta perfection at its best.
Head Chef Zane Buchanan says: "Great Italian food is about letting exceptional ingredients speak for themselves.” That philosophy hums through the menu. You’ll find technically precise, emotionally comforting dishes - like handmade spaghetti vongole with chilli butter and zest, or slow-braised proteins from the dedicated griglia.
The seafood tower - a gleaming stack of Sydney rock oysters, sashimi, crab and prawns - is another standout. While not a seafood restaurant per se, Rovollo’s approach to fish is studied and reverent.
Zane adds: "We work with high-quality producers and make everything in-house, using traditional techniques. The best dishes are the ones that seem simple, but are quite hard to get right, like the carbonara.”
On the drinks front, Head of Bars Alissa Gabriel has designed a cocktail list that’s less limoncello cliché and more cinematic road trip through Italy. The grappa-based Amalfi, topped with a salted blue limoncello foam, is a beachside breeze in a coupe.
The Napoli - a freezer Martini with burrata whey and charred focaccia vermouth - is like liquid antipasti, rich and savoury. There are seven in total, each tied to an Italian city and with 250 wines on the list (25 by the glass), there’s no shortage of pairings to keep things interesting.
Dessert is also all razzle dazzle stuff. Specifically, a towering 24-layer dark chocolate cake, served with a warm, rosemary-infused berry compote. It’s impossibly thin, impossibly rich and impossibly hard to say no to - even if you swore you were done after the tiramisu spoon from the Chef’s set menu. (Speaking of which is a stellar way to sample four antipasti, a pasta or protein, sides and dessert for $115 per person).
Rovollo may be nestled among some of Sydney’s finest dining addresses - AALIA, Kazan, The International - but it looks likely to confidently carve out its own legacy. So, if you’re still on the bench about it, the already hard-to-snag seats (walk-ins welcome, but limited) suggest this venue will be a winner. Don’t wait for extra time to pop in!
Rovollo is open Monday to Friday, 12 pm–12 am and Saturdays from 4 pm. Bookings at rovollo.com.au.
