Spezia Sydney

Tucked inside a courtyard within heritage building, Spezia is a little slice of Europe.

Housed in the inner courtyard of a grand, sandstone building established in 1892, Spezia is inspired by the spices of the Silk Road woven into Italian dishes.

With an intimate indoor dining area and two spacious courtyards, the 130-seat restaurant could easily be in the heart of Rome were it not just steps from Circular Quay.

The kitchen is led by Jae Bang, previously a three Michelin star chef at Norway's Re-naa, and the menu leans on the spice routes that once linked Venice and Rome to the rest of the world. After tasting it for ourselves, we can confirm chef Jae Bang crafts some of the best house-made pastas, grills up succulent rib eyes and serves the most dramatic tiramisu in town.

Aside from the cuisine, the venue itself does a lot of the talking too, with Breccia Rosso marble, red Venetian finishes and a bar that anchors two courtyards once used for horse drawn carriages to turn around in.

It is a place built for the long lunch as much as an intimate night out, and one of the more interesting arrivals on the Circular Quay dining strip in some time.