Spezia

The once-private courtyards of Sydney’s former Department of Lands building are serving a new purpose. Spezia, a 130-seat Italian restaurant from the Melbourne group behind hatted restaurant Freyja, has opened within The Lands by Capella at Circular Quay. Slip through the sandstone building from Gresham Street and you’ll find two open-air courtyards that feel like a piazza hidden in the CBD.

Spezia means spice in Italian, and the menu draws on the flavours traded along the Silk Road and through Italian cities including Venice and Rome. Executive chef Jae Bang, who earned three Michelin stars at Norway’s Re-naa, leads the restaurant with head chef Aaron Caccia, whose experience includes Re-naa and Copenhagen’s Noma.

“First and foremost we’re an Italian restaurant and we want our guests to leave feeling like they’ve just had that type of experience,” Bang says.

“We’ve also added hints of spice to every single dish, which adds a layer of complexity and difference that you won’t find anywhere else.”

That approach comes through in the ravioli del plin, a take on carbonara that pairs pecorino-filled pasta with an egg yolk and dukkah oil emulsion, beef jus and asparagus. Spaghetti chitarra arrives with blue swimmer crab bisque, anise and fresh chilli, topped with prawn tartare. The kitchen bakes its pane soffiato bread to order, makes its own dukkah and slow-cooks the octopus. There are also sfizi—small bites for anyone stopping in for a glass of wine.

And there’s plenty of wine to choose from: the list holds more than 500 bottles from Italy, Australia and beyond, with 36 available by the glass, alongside a short cocktail selection.

The courtyards themselves are the drawcard. Greenery and red awnings fill the once-private spaces, linked by carriageways that were built to let horse-drawn carriages turn inside the building. Between them sits a Tangier-red bar, with more tables tucked among walls lined with wine bottles. Italian Breccia Rosso marble brings colour and texture inside.

“It was the space itself,” Bang says of the decision to open an Italian restaurant here.

“It reminded me of visiting small Italian towns, where you walk around a corner and suddenly a piazza appears, where the community gathers over good food and wine.”

Spezia is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday at 5 Gresham Street, with a breakfast service planned for a later date.

Image credit: Spezia | Supplied