When seated in just-opened Italian restaurant, Pixie, you could easily forget you’re in Byron Bay.

The interiors are rich with texture and deep in colour, and interior design genius David Flack is the brains behind the fit out. It’s reminiscent of big city restaurants, which is a step away from the casual, carefree dining culture Byron is renowned for.

But Pixie isn’t completely void of the coastal cool charm. You’ll find it sprinkled throughout, like in a sunny artwork by Mikala Dwyer hanging in the private dining room, locally-sourced produce on the menu and cheeky graphic design elements – like a playful cat etched on the plates or a dog stretching on the drink coasters – that pop up unexpectedly.

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Executive chef, Matteo Tine (previously of Grossi Florentino) has made the sea change from Melbourne to head the team at the Jonson Lane restaurant. The food draws heavily on his Sicilian roots and love of classic Italian and modern Australian cuisine.

This fusion of Italian meets Australian is best displayed in the Spaghetti alla chitarra, sourdough, vongole, lemon, bottarga, fennel pangrattato. The clams are caught locally and cooked fresh. Whether it be spaghetti, ravioli or tortellini, all pasta is handmade in-house, everyday at Pixie. And Tine wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This pasta is a sourdough pasta,” shares Tine. “We made a mother dough that we’re calling Padre Pio. In every Italian kitchen we have Padre Pio as a blessing, so we called our sourdough Pio because it’s hole-y, and it makes holes, so it’s also holy.” Get it?

Another approach Tine likes to play around with is taking products that wouldn’t normally be deemed premium and elevating them. One of Pixie’s signature dishes, the Smoked Mooloolaba albacore tuna, pastrami spices, radish, colatura and blood orange, is a perfect example of this. 

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“A lot of people do bluefin and yellowfin tuna, because it’s more premium, but I like taking something less premium and making it better,” says Tine. “I’ve done this by curing the tuna and making a tuna pastrami. When I was in New York at Katz’s Deli I bugged them for the recipe for the dry rump and they loosely gave me the components. I’ve done my own take on that. I’ve put some lemon myrtle in there, as well as some blood orange and wasabi leaf.”

All dishes on the menu have the freshness of contemporary Australian cuisine, but also bursts of flavour that you’d expect from a decadent Italian meal. Each bite of the Lobster tortellini, with saffron and buttermilk sauce, topped with caviar strikes the perfect balance of being packed with fresh flavours, without being too rich. It leaves you wanting more. 

The wine list will showcase some 120 bottles of wine with a focus on Australian wineries and occasional vintages from around the globe. Cocktails have also been carefully curated by Joe Jones (formerly Romeo Lane), who worked with Tine to create drinks that complimented the flavours of the dishes. Life Support is a blend of mezcal, strawberry amaro and cold pressed ginger and lime and is an easy-to-drink cocktail that will go down quicker than you can say grazie mille. 

Pixie
139 Jonson St, Byron Bay
Sunday 5-11pm
Monday – Closed
Tue-Thu 5pm-11pm
Fri-Sat 12-11pm
pixiebyronbay.com.au

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