Two To Try: Pasta Specials at Dine Out Sydney

Dine Out, Broadsheet’s winter food festival, is back for its second year. In partnership with Mastercard and Doordash, we’re staging 50 events from July 27 to August 2 celebrating Sydney’s top culinary talent. Among the special menus, exclusive dishes and one-off collaborations coming to venues across the city are a number of clever takes on Italian cuisine – from Korean and Cantonese inflections to wine-friendly comfort food. Here are two pasta specials to add to your festival hit list.

Koi caramelles, Mimi Wong x Attenzione

After a standout collaboration with Redfern wine bar and diner Attenzione last year, Masterchef alum Mimi Wong returns to the venue for Dine Out 2026 with an exclusive menu developed alongside chef and co-owner Toby Stansfield. Wong, who was raised between Sydney and Hong Kong, says she has affinity for Italian cuisine, while Stansfield’s menu regularly features genre-hopping dishes like pici pasta with spring onion crema and a sprinkle of Japanese buckwheat tea. For one night only, the pair presents an eight-course meal blending Italian and Cantonese traditions. Dishes include gnoccho fritto with saffron uni jelly, sapo melon and lardo; eggplant cacio e pepe; and black sesame millionaire tart. The menu’s photogenic star is a plate of savoury “koi caramelles”: delicate red-and-white crystal prawn dumplings in a lemon butter sauce, falling somewhere between wonton and tortelloni. Don’t miss out. Thursday July 30, 6pm–10pm.

Limited-edition pasta specials, Luisa Vineria x P&V Wine & Liquor

The food at Luisa Vineria is less traditional than what honcho Alessandro Pavoni is doing at venues like Ormeggio, A’Mare and Postino Osteria. It’s his first proper bar – a gintoneria and vineria, to be precise – and alongside the goblets of gin you’ll find snacky comfort food that the menu describes as “Pavoni’s favourite dishes”. (Chins have been wagging about the suppli al telefono – balls of fried cacio e pepe risotto filled with melted mozzarella – and the“best ever” lasagne alla bolognese.) For one night during Dine Out, the team at Mike Bennie’s P&V is dropping by the old Marie-Louise Salon with wines showcasing the next generation of Australian producers – including Meredith Wines, Sholto Broderick, Majamam, Express Winemakers and Jean Bouteille. They’ll be served by the glass alongside two exclusive dishes from Luisa’s head chef Alessio Chessa: a classic cacio e pepe, and a cichetto Veneto of sardines, caramelised onion, parsley and lemon on crostini. Entry is free, but you’ll need to RSVP. Wednesday July 29, 5.30pm–9pm.