If you don’t have your own Italian family table to sit down to, you can always join the one at A Tavola. The narrow Darlinghurst venue revolves around its long, communal table, where diners sit side by side, as if at a big family gathering. Behind the curtain of drying pasta, you’ll find head chef and owner Eugeno Maiale rolling out sheets of dough and cutting up ribbons for the service ahead. You’ll want to base your whole meal around his hearty pasta bowls. There’s bucatini, the tubular strands almost weightless in a gutsy red sauce of cured pork jowl and smoky chilli. Linguine comes slicked with pistachio pesto, with shimmering strips of squid that are cooked to the same tension as the pasta tangle. Pair it with the cheesy polenta, a bowl of cornmeal comfort, finished with fried rounds of Veneto salame. The all-Italian wine list is up against serious competition from the cocktails, with many of the mixed drinks based around the earthy Italian amaro, Montenegro. Stick around for the cremino al cioccolato, a layered dessert of salted caramel gelato with hazelnut chocolate ganache, finished with glossy Italian meringue. Once you’ve sipped the last of the grappa, you’re excused from the table.