Around the corner from Ragazzi and tucked in the alleyway that is Angel Place, is another sumptuous pasta restaurant – Leo. Opened by the chef and owner of LuMi, I had heard many good things about Leo as another top pasta joint in Sydney and was curious to see how it compared to the nearby Ragazzi. The restaurant boasts al fresco dining, but on a cold and very wet night, we were happily seated indoors in their cosy restaurant.

Location: 2 Angel Place, Sydney NSW 2000
Price: $160 for 2 people, no drinks
Social: https://www.instagram.com/restaurant_leo/?hl=en

In a previous post on Italian eateries, I posited that the larger the menu the greater chance for the dish to be a miss. I took it as a very positive sign that they had a very minimal menu at Leo.

For starters we ordered some house made bread and butter at $2pp (which was not unreasonable, but in the due diligence I had conducted prior to visiting, this used to be free. Inflation strikes again!). The bread roll was airy, not dense at all and very warm, served up with butter that was pre-melted and almost whipped. We ate this with the burrata dish we ordered as an entree and I highly recommend ordering bread to eat alongside the burrata. The burrata was creamy, delicious and came paired with peas to give it a sweet refreshing crunch. Underneath the burrata sat an olive oil and seed mix, which was gave the dish a salty texture that was almost too overwhelming – you definitely needed the bread to balance out.

Highlight dish of the night was a very rich prawn tagliatelli. Flavour packed with plenty of prawn morsels in a rich bisque sauce. So good, especially if you are a seafood lover. A lot of flavour packed into the dish, albeit slightly too salty. Again perfect with bread to mop up the additional sauce. The pasta was al dente, perfectly cooked and a wonderful pairing to the thick sauce. Definitely one of the best prawn pasta dishes I have had in Sydney. It was better than Cedric’s prawn pasta, as the sauce was much more complex.

Second pasta dish of the night was strozzapreti with pork, served with a light dusting of cheese on top. Strozzapreti is possibly one of my favourite pasta shapes to eat. Again the pasta in the dish was al dente, giving you a satisfying chew. The pork was salty enough to go with the pasta but was light on the sauce as not to be too overwhelming or rich. This was relatively light compared to the prawn pasta dish but equally as delicious. I couldn’t fault this dish at all.

The beef shank was beautifully tender, served in a nice sauce and covered with a green condiment (no idea what it was but it had a pop of acidity that broke up the rich beef flavours). This was very enjoyable, but was the most disappointing dish of the night. I would say stick to the pastas at this restaurant, given their specialty. We ordered a main to try and round out the meal (and three pastas might have been too much for our appetites), but I would recommend steering clear of the mains and just ordering another pasta if you want more food.

For dessert the word ‘lemonade’ caught out eye. We were about to choose the tiramisu, an Italian classic, but were intrigued by a lemonade semifreddo. This was light, with only a hint of lemon and a piped airy/frothy cream at the top which gave it a faint fizz semblance for the lemonade. A nice dessert, not too sweet at all and a perfect finish to the carb heavy meal we just had.

Melissa – 4/5, another staple Italian place serving up delicious pastas in Sydney. Joins the ranks of similar joints such as Ragazzi, Alberto’s Lounge

Overall another solid pasta joint in Sydney – definitely another go-to to satisfy any pasta cravings I might have. I would say their serving sizes seemed larger here than at Ragazzi – when I last went there, the two pasta servings were fairly small compared to Leo. I think Alberto’s Lounge takes the cake in terms of ambience and general cosiness, still my favourite pasta eatery in Sydney, but overall Restaurant Leo is another strong contender.

Let us know in the comments your other top pasta restaurants in Sydney!