Ramona Trattoria

In a crowded scene, Ramona Trattoria sets itself apart from Brisbane's other Italian restaurants with its continually evolving menu of hand-shaped pasta. It’s all painstakingly worked by hand, a process that takes owner Ashley-Maree Kent and her chefs anywhere between two and four hours.

It was working at San Francisco’s Tartine – along with shorter stints at Paddock Bakery in Burleigh Heads and then Tucker in Casuarina – that gave Kent her love of shaping dough with her hands. It’s expressed in the form of cacio e pepe or alla gricia made with tonnarelli, a zucca pasta made with triangoli (triangular ravioli), or a wild boar ragu folded into pappardelle.

You can see Kent and the team of chefs prepping pasta in the open kitchen, plus starters including a fried mozzarella sandwich; and market fish, cucumber, apple and buttermilk crudo. A woodfired oven built in Melbourne by The Brick Chef turns out margherita, diavola, and mortadella (fior di latte, mortadella, pistachio, stracciatella) pizzas.

From the bar, there’s a tight wine selection that leans towards small Australian producer drops, and a cocktail list that shakes and stirs variations on the classics. Beers are mostly Italian, with Menabrea on tap.