The gun chef from ACME is back with a new venture – and yes, there’s pasta on the menu. This time around, Mitch Orr has joined forces with Icebergs restauranteur, Maurice Terzini and The Dolphin crew to launch CicciaBella, a new Italian eatery which opens on Tuesday (Oct 8) in the former Da Orazio restaurant space.

“I’m looking forward to working closely with Maurice, watching the way his brain works and how the depth of knowledge and creativity he has around restaurants and service comes to life,” says Mitch Orr, executive chef CicciaBella.

The new venue is more refined than Da Orazio, but hopes to maintain the pizza bar’s laidback neighbourhood vibes.

“As for the food, I’m really excited at having the chance to branch out further than pasta. It’s going to be fun to create new dishes outside of that box again. Having the wood fire is a big bonus in that regard, utilising it for a whole variety of dishes. That being said, looking more deeply into the regionality of Italy and pasta is going to be great as it’s something I focused on less over the last few years,” Orr said.

From the antipasti menu, diners can expect the CicciaBella garlic bread, made using the in-house pizza dough, to become a new favourite for wiping up the last bits of bone marrow with gremolata, smokey eggplant or perhaps the whipped buffalo ricotta. And when it comes time to move on to pasta, expect the likes of strozzapreti with zucchini flowers and pangrattato or maltagliati with braised rabbit and pistachio.

The dish to order though when it comes to mains, which are all designed to be shared, will be the wood-fired flathead with seaweed butter and lemon and the flank steak served with Café e Cucina butter.

Icebergs group sommelier James Hird has worked his magic, creating an all Italian wine menu for the restaurant with a focus on organic, biodynamic and sustainably produced wines, while Matt Whiley from Scout has revamped the cocktail list.

CicciaBella
75-79 Hall St, Bondi Beach 
Mon-Fri from 5pm, Sat-Sun lunch from 12pm
cicciabella.com.au.