Sasso Italiano

Sasso Italiano is a neighbourhood trattoria and bar serving up old school Italian food from a chic contemporary space in Woolloongabba's South City Square precinct.

Designed to reignite the presence and passion of the USA’s energetic Italian eateries in the 70s with good food, dim lights, ambience and good times, Sasso Italiano offers a rich seasonal Negroni menu and natural wines.

The open-plan kitchen is helmed by Amalfi Coast-born Head Chef Gabriele Di Landri, who has worked at some of Australia’s most exciting restaurants including Dolphin Hotel and Matt Moran’s Chiswick Restaurant and Aria.

Sasso’s seasonal menu has been designed to share - from fresh pastas, exquisite salads, charcuterie, a sizzling grill selection to carefully crafted crudo and an assortment of pizzas, which arrive on the table having been prepared in a bespoke Marana Forni woodfire oven with a deck wrought from Mount Vesuvius lava stone.

Starters include classics like gnocco fritto, arancinic and polpette and crudo such as yellow fin tuna tartare, appellation oysters and king ora salmon.

Charcuterie plates include mortadella, prosciutto parma or salsiccia sarde piccante and delicious antipasti dishes include burrata, confit octopus, local mussels, house pickled sardines and calamari fritti.

Pasta dishes include delectable choices like Rigatoni Amitriciana, Linguine Marinara, Tagliatoni Al Nero and Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe whilst for Secondi there's Bistecca Allla Fiorentina, Half Roast Chicken or Pork Cotoletta.

Sasso's curated drinks list includes natural wines from Italy and Australia, spritz (Native, Davidson Plum or Bella Sera), and classic cocktails with a twist, such as Sasso's Manhattan, Mandarin Girabaldi and The Michelangelo G & T.

Meanwhile the specialised Negroni menu has more than 10 selections from six decades of vintage Gordon’s gins, Cinzano Rosso vermouths and Campari options for a birth-year based Negroni.

For draught devotees, Sasso offers an extra special tipple with a bespoke beer, Birra Cazino, brewed exclusively for Sasso Italiano. Brewed by the award-winning Aether Brewing, Birra Cazino will be one of the first Italian-style lagers crafted in Australia.

Good to know - Sasso is the first venue by former Ovolo and QT F&B Directors, Vincent Lombino and Jared Thibault, who have been responsible for some of Australia’s most impressive food and beverage concepts.

Images and info supplied by Sasso Italiano

The menu may have changed since our visit.

A guide to all of the best places to eat and drink in Woolloongabba