Dine Out: Prawn Pappardelle Ripiene Special at Rocco's Bologna Discoteca

Fitzroy’s Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca may have started life during Covid as a sandwich pop-up, but it’s grown into more. The cute wood-panelled bar has since built a following for its house-made pastas, including vodka rigatoni and pork and fennel sausage casarecce.

For Broadsheet’s inaugural Dine Out festival, the spot is putting on a particularly special, um, special: a prawn pappardelle ripiene (“stuffed pappardelle”). Head chef Sam Medeiros’s regular egg dough will have a velvety smooth paste of caramelised fennel bulbs and cannellini beans folded through it, paired with a creamy prawn and saffron bisque, and prawn meat poached in butter. No need to book (unless you want to) – just walk in and order up.