Sydney’s CBD is a different world during the week. It gets going early, it stays open late and the change in liquor licensing laws in that state a few years ago has transformed the eating and drinking scene. Where once one had to frequent pubs to get a drink without eating, a swag of bars and lounges has sprung up all over the city and particularly the northern end, surrounding Wynyard Station.

It was an area ripe for redevelopment. There are a lot of spaces that have been transformed from unremarkable office and shop areas into small bars, quirky dens and interesting restaurants. One of these is Panzerotti.

Housed in what looks like a temporary (albeit reasonably glamorous) structure nestled between office buildings in Margaret Street, Panzerotti is a bonus for early risers looking for breakfast in the city and plies its trade well into the afternoon most days, and a couple of evenings. Greedy Girl, on a quick business trip to Sydney, was treated to lunch there by colleagues Rex and Stumpy. Given its opening hours, lunch is the restaurant’s time to shine.

It’s a busy place, with not a lot of room inside where a lot of blonde-wood tables and chairs line the walls. There’s more seating on a terrace at the back and that’s where Greedy Girl was being led astray by dear Rex who was looking for some company to enjoy a nice glass of red. Clearly a regular, the owner was persuading him to try a bottle. This was a Terra di Briganti ‘Sannio DOC Sciascinoso’ which apparently goes extremely well with pasta.

Greedy Girl protested weakly she had meetings still to come and couldn’t countenance more than a glass. No problem; the restaurant looks after its regulars (of whom Rex is one), storing any wine left over for their next visit. Sorted. The wine was easy to drink; apparently it’s a grape often used in blends, hailing from Campania in Italy’s south.

This is a lively place with tables shoehorned into the small interior space. One end of the structure opens out to a terrace area and that’s where we found our spot on a reasonably mild lunchtime. Ordering an antipasto platter to start, along with a dish of marinated olives, we got comfortable. The platter featured salumi and prosciutto, house made flat bread, pickles and pecorino cheese while the olives were dressed with orange, wild fennel, garlic, chilli and thyme. It was a decent serving for three people to share.

Italian food Sydney: Panzerotti

Salumi and prosciutto plate


Italian food Sydney: Panzerotti

Marinated olives


The servings are fairly generous throughout, as Greedy Girl found with her linguine carbonara. This was a slight twist on a traditional dish, with the addition of caramelised onions. It was perfectly tasty but perhaps a bit heavy for a summer’s lunch. The caramelised onions were interesting but Greedy Girl didn’t enjoy it so much as to want to try adding it at home to her tried and true recipe.
Italian food Sydney: Panzerotti

Linguine carbonara


Stumpy decided to play it low key with a chicken salad. This was made with confit chicken, snowpea tendrils, crisp faro, asparagus, pancetta, avocado and a seeded mustard dressing. Another big plate of food and Stumpy pronounced it very good.
Italian food Sydney: Panzerotti

Confit chicken salad


Rex decided he’d also go with linguine, taking it amatriciana – tomato sauce, chilli, pancetta and also with caramelised onions. It was a rich and hearty-looking dish and Rex was very content to polish it off. Sorted, Greedy Girl thought.
Italian food Sydney: Panzerotti

LInguine all’amatriciana


Quite content to sip the rest of her glass and then head off for another round of meetings before her flight back to Melbourne, Rex and the owner had already determined dessert was on the way. Out came the dish pictured at the top of this post – a decadent chocolate mousse, topped with a quenelle of mascarpone and crushed pistachio nuts. Just as well a very good coffee was also on its way because Greedy Girl needed some help washing down such a rich dessert.

And off we went, Rex and Stumpy back to the office, and Greedy Girl waddling in a food coma towards her next meeting.

This is an interesting spot for breakfast or lunch. One should be prepared though that there are no restrooms on site and the walk to the nearest conveniences are well, a little inconvenient. That’s not so much an issue during the day when it would have been easier for us to go back to our office if we’d needed to, but at night it could pose a few issues. Still, for decent Italian food in the heart of the office precinct in Sydney, it’s a pretty good spot.


Panzerotti

The Foodie World star rating
60 Margaret Street, Sydney
panzerottibar.com
Panzerotti Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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