This Redfern Diner Reads Italian, but It Doesn't Play by the Book

It was two winters ago that wine diner Attenzione opened in Redfern, swiftly capturing the neighbourhood’s attention with a menu that was mostly Italian, but with which chef and co-owner Toby Stansfield took some delicious creative liberties. 

“It was Italian-reading, but it wasn’t by-the-book Italian by any means,” he says. The Pico XL, a dish of thick pasta strands with a mochi-like chew, became a signature.

There was a time last year when he tried to veer a little more traditional with the offering, but he’s gone back in the original playful direction – and doubled down. Below are the five dishes Stansfield reckons you should order, from tonnato vitello to a brownie-esque cake.

And if you want to try more for less, Broadsheet and NAB have joined forced on Booking With Benefits, a dining program that gives you $50 off the bill when you spend $250 or more and pay on your NAB credit or debit card at selected venues – like Attenzione – countrywide.

Abalone cotoletta sandwich

Stansfield sources live baby abalone from top supplier Red Claw Seafoods to be the star of this circular, crustless white bread sandwich. They’re bashed into a small cotoletta, then crumbed and fried. Served alongside the sanga is an abalone shell filled with a parmesan dipping sauce. “We’re forever grating parmesan, so our sous-chef made a garum [a fermented fish sauce in ancient Roman cookery] from that, which we’ve turned into a mayo,” says Stansfield.

Tonnato vitello

You’ve heard of vitello tonnato, the Piedmontese dish of thinly sliced veal with a creamy tuna sauce. “We thought we’d reverse it and make it more about tuna,” says Stansfield. A bed of diced raw tuna is dressed with a beef garum mayonnaise, with extra flavour and texture coming from grapes and shaved cured egg yolk. “It tastes similar to vitello tonnato but eats more like a crudo, with our roasted bread on the side,” Stansfield says.

Trottole with octopus ragu

Though this might look like a regular ragu, the key ingredient is not meat, but minced octopus. It starts with a sofrito, fragrant with fennel and coriander seeds, to which the octopus is added with “lots and lots of white wine” before being slow-cooked. Stansfield’s pasta of choice is the corkscrew-shaped trottole. And he’s pro cheese with seafood, so it’s finished with a liberal amount of parmesan and chopped parsley stalks.

Retired dairy cow sirloin

According to Stansfield, retired dairy cow “is something that’s become way more accessible recently, and the flavour is unmatched”. He thinks it’s a great middle ground between “buttery, toasty Wagyu and other beef like Angus, which is more iron-y”. At Attenzione, he does a simply grilled sirloin with a rich, creamy veal-based sauce spiked with three kinds of peppercorns (black, green and pink) and plenty of mustard.

Chocolate torte

“The tiramisu is for the punters; this flourless chocolate torte is closest to my heart,” Stansfield says. It’s all about primo single-origin chocolate from local maker Silver Street. The semi-dark stuff is magicked into a brownie-esque bake that’s lightened by meringue. Freeze-dried cherries are shaved on top, and it’s dusted with icing sugar.

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, the Discount Offer will also be available on NAB debit card payments at select venues. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

 This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with NAB.