Cafe Paci — Restaurant in Sydney

The sight (or is it site?) gag name that came about by scratching off some letters at the former Café Pacifico, home to Pasi Petanen’s two-year long Darlinghurst pop-up, is not the only thing the Finnish-born chef has brought with him to Newtown. Petanen has also recreated the buzzy excitement of that space, and the ridiculously good molasses-glazed Finnish Potato, Rye and Caraway Bread ($4) has made the journey too.

The interior, thanks to Paddington-based interior architect George Livissianis (also behind Apollo and Chin Chin) is all about quality finishes. Eye-pleasing elements - from ornately curved edges on tiny wooden tables, to deep teal banquettes, and a rounded combined bar and kitchen that runs the length of the narrow space - have a warm, retro-charm.

The space is fancy, but this time around, it's not so fancy that you couldn’t sneak in on a Monday night, plonk your butt on a bar stool, and slurp up a bowl of Potato Dumplings ($26) against a glass of red. These gnocchi-like dumplings arrive well-coated in a fresh and pungent Finnish-style XO sauce, where the usual dried shrimp and fish sauce flavours are replaced by shreds of smoked trout – genius!

After a fun wine interaction with the savvy and attentive floor team, we enjoyed our dumplings with the 2018 Maxime Magnon Corbières 'Metisse' Rosé ($92), which, as promised, was bold enough to ‘go the whole way’. If you decide to drink it, consider also ordering the Paris-Brest ($16). Served sanga-style, smeared with caramelised onion jam and piped chicken liver parfait that's as silky and fluffy as it is ridiculously rich, the almond-topped choux-pastry is the rosé's perfect match. And, like the bulk of the single page menu, it’s snack-sized but shareable, albeit with a bit of finger-licking ooze.

Served on paper doilies in keeping with the décor, Devilled Eggs ($10/2) prove nostalgia can be better than it used to be, just by eliminating Keen’s Curry Powder and making a better spiced butter, balanced by dill and gleaming trout roe. Café Paci 2.0 has a bigger focus on simplicity and accessibility, evident in Chiacchiere ($16). In this dish, the thin, fried Italian pastry is bedrock for snowy peaks of Parmesan-dusted mortadella, concealing tangy bursts of dill pickle.

Lining rye toast coated liberally in spicy ‘ndjua, orange scales of brightly fermented Carrots ($8) shine. Champignons de Paris ($18) with Comté and celery arrive looking a lot like a plate of spaghetti Bolognese. Your first mouthful of this minty-fresh salad of raw, slivered mushrooms defies expectations, showing you Petanen has kept his sense of playfulness alive.

Sliding into sake with the savoury Fujiichi Shuzo Kitutaka Kanazawa ($26/180ml) we end with Raw Beef ($26). While the booze match is terrible (our own fault, not that of the savvy staff) the caper-dotted, fresh tomato-mounted, red meat striped with creamy stracciatella is good, simple joy.

Cap off your night with a final Café Paci 1.0 cross-over: Carrot Sorbet ($15). Sitting on a square of liquorice cake in a mushroom cloud of foamy yoghurt mousse, it’s (still?) the most adult dessert I’ve put in my...

We came for our anniversary and had such a poor experience that we had to have a repeat anniversary celebration elsewhere just to cleanse ourselves of the trauma—otherwise, we might not still be together.

While the unique carpeted ceiling identifies as some form of trendy design choice, the atmosphere it creates is oppressive. Those with mild allergies may find themselves sniffling as small pieces of fluff and dust threaten to descend upon your food and drink like the Sword of Damocles itself. If you arrive on time for your booking, as we did, expect to wait at least 15 minutes standing or ‘sitting’ in Cafe Paci’s own rendition of anti-homeless hostile architecture (the waiting zone). You will then be seated and promptly left on your own for 15 further minutes, a trend that continues and compounds the rest of your stay in an overcrowded and understaffed venue. The dim lighting did nothing to add to any sense of ambience—unless the goal was to obscure the subpar food. The cramped seating ensured that we were uncomfortably close to other diners, forced to overhear their conversations while barely able to hold our own. And with so few staff on the floor, service was not just slow but borderline nonexistent.

While you may arrive with the intention of experiencing some Instagram food (courtesy of the glowing “Best Café” articles), I assure you that after taking a non-appetising picture, you will be hesitant to eat the dishes and even more hesitant to post them on Instagram. When I ordered the XO Trout, I expected fish. I was served fish food. After a few bites of the small fish food flakes (ostensibly assumed to contain the ‘essence’ of the trout that was ordered), I felt a great nausea which grew over the next hour.

To add to the misery: The Paci Soda was disgusting—an assault on the senses in liquid form. My boyfriend dutifully drank two of them after we foolishly put all our eggs in one basket. The ceviche was actually good, but in hindsight, I suspect that’s just because it was raw and untouched by whatever cursed cooking process afflicted the other dishes. The maple/wood-glue bread was forgettable at best (compared to the certainly unforgettable end of the evening). The cocktails were not good, and that is putting it kindly.

We did not have dessert as we actually had to leave the restaurant because I felt so ill. By the time we arrived home—fifteen minutes later—I had started throwing up fish flakes. What a nightmare. I don’t recommend this restaurant under any...

I saw a lot of people promoting this restaurant on social media. I felt that the atmosphere and dishes in the pictures were very exquisite, so I made a reservation last night, but I didn't expect it to be a very bad dining experience 🤯 Maybe I'm a mountain pig who can't eat fine chaff, and each dish is not quite to our taste (we both rely on social media recommendations 😂). 🥚Devilled egg: It's got trout roe on it. It's a beautiful look, but the taste... Go ahead, one quiet ❗️ fish roe is very, very, very salty ~ to cover up the flavor of all the other ingredients, eat one with half a cup of water 😅 🐮OX tongue taco 🌮 Yes, very small, a mouthful 😅and very heavily seasoned, the mixture of spices 🌿+ salt 🧂, the tongue is really tender and smooth, but the seasoning takes the flavor out of everything 🙃 🦐king prawns: Is butter roasted prawns, the picture looks a lot, but each one is split to do, so in fact there are three prawns 🍤, the taste is regular at home can also be reproduced the taste. however, their shrimp taste is very poor, you can taste very obvious sea smell 🥕carrot sorbet w 'yoghurt and licorice: The flavor of the mvp, on top of the yogurt-sized snow, in the middle of the carrot smoothie (can taste carrot but not very prominent, light sweet) and the bottom of the licorice cake base (in fact, a little cinnamon) BUT‼ ️⚠️ the waiting time is too long 🤯 I feel like the waiter forgot us. I have been waiting for this last dish for 20+min⌚️😥 Services 💁 : Very bad, it takes the dining experience straight to the bottom. The lady serving us (with between red and brown hair and colored tattoos on her arm) I felt racist. When we were ordering racist food for her, because the light was really dim, my friend used her mobile phone to help light it. Then she asked if we were filming her ❓❗️ and she didn't apologize for the misunderstanding at all after we explained. She also tried to recommend food to us, but when we refused, she just took the menu and left 🙄🙄 In addition, she had a poker face with us throughout the conversation, very cold expression, but we observed her interacting with other white people at the table patiently and smiling 🤬 💰 including surcharge, this meal a total of...