Paski Vineria Popolare — Restaurant in Sydney

Stopped in on our way home after a movie nearby, excited to see someplace with the kitchen still open after 9pm mid-week these days. No booking, was able to get a little table downstairs in the wine bar and loved it.

We were unfamiliar with the Italian wines on the chalkboard but the waiter was happy to tell us all about them and even gave us a little taste to help us choose. Also happy to tell us about his recommendations from the food menu up on the chalkboards and he was dead-on with his choices.

All of the crostini were great (a lot like the version of tapas served in wine bars in the Basque parts of Spain - one slice of crisp, dry baguette bread as a serving platter and a source of crunch to a topping meant to include a balance of flavours and mouth feels.

We also had a semi-hard cheese that had been wrapped in cloth steeped in whisky during the ageing which was fabulous.

A spaghetti with prawns was a little disappointing, using commercial prawn meat which had been cooked a bit too long so were tough and lacking the full flavour of fresh prawns.

But one slight disappointment certainly didn’t spoil the meal. We loved the whole-in-the-wall vibe, the stripped-back decor and lighting, seated against racks of wines and close to the kitchen. There aren’t enough tables downstairs for it to get too noisy and the music being played wasn’t competing with our conversation to be heard. The service was excellent and its open late. We will...

Grab a bottle to take home after a bite, or grab a bite when you go to get a bottle. Giorgio De Maria’s astounding collection of wines is all available in the bar and Restaurant upstairs. Over 400 different bottles he told me last night. Downstairs has plates of tasty snacks, delightful morsels with delectable drops. Upstairs is the restaurant and reservations for the time being. We did sneak in, very early tho. Broad been angioletti with salty pecorino slabs had me licking the bowl. The pepper salted cod dip too is devourable. Enrico Tomme snack selection can be more of a gobble than a graze and some of the best he’s done yet. We drank from Mount Etna, Siscily. I’ll look up the names, I don’t remeber as they were brought after I showed an interest in something fro that region. It’s so good having that help. Great place, I’m...

For the wine lovers, look no further for an Italian wine selection. We dined downstairs and enjoyed the intimate wine bar ambience of Paski. The handwritten menus on the wall give an authenticity and we loved the wine bottles lined all along the opposite wall.

For food, we enjoyed the oysters and scallops for entrée, and a pasta and salad for mains. The wines were $$ by the glass, ranging $17-$25 for most picks.

The reason for the low stars was the service. The staff were friendly, but the service was disappointing. We often had to ask for orders and were left unattended for long periods of times. I am convinced we could have never been served if we hadn’t asked to be. The team may have been understaffed, but I would give more stars if there was more care and attention paid...