La Favola in Newtown is a busy and very popular Italian restaurant on King Street with handmade pasta, delicious antipasti and plenty of tempting desserts. Find out what makes this Sydney restaurant worth visiting and what to order.
La Favola is located on King Street in Newtown and it is incredibly busy this Saturday night. People arrive with and without reservations and there's a crowd of around 20 people standing outside hoping for a table. There are three outdoor tables but most of the tables are inside.
La Favola was opened in 2017 by chef Fabio Stefanelli who hails from Naples, Italy. Favola means "Fairytale" and he explains, "The name La Favola is very personal to me. After spending time on the other side of the world, I realised how much I missed the little traditions from home. What I missed most were the stories my mum used to tell me before I went to sleep when I was a child, and the Sunday lunches where Nonna would cook simple traditional dishes filled with memories."
Fabio leads us to a table underneath the drawings of pasta. Wait staff whizz past wearing shirts that say "eat pasta run fasta" or pasta shapes.
The menu at La Favola is made up of antipasti, salads and pasta that you can mix and match with sauces and design your own. We start with a glass of bubbles and some non-alcoholic soft drinks with a nice touch of bitterness to them.
It seems every table in the restaurant has a plate of the focaccia. This is an airy light focaccia with a crisp top made with two different types of flour and a 48-hour fermentation finished with a rosemary and confit garlic. Make sure to order this with a truffle butter because it completes this perfectly. Usually focaccia comes with oil but truly you need the truffle butter. You can also order it with mortadella, marinated olives and nudja.
The burrata is paired with classic Parmigiana di Melanzane made with fried eggplant. The burrata is extremely creamy and already spills from its case. It makes for a great sandwich with the focaccia which our lovely waiter recommended we do.
My favourite antipasto is the tonno tartare or raw tuna with creamy, soft avocado, rocket, tomato, balsamic vinegar and a yuzu aioli dressing that gives the tuna a light, lovely freshness. This was a result of Fabio's latest trip to Japan. "It brings together the flavours of Amalfi and Japan. It's a little journey between two worlds that are very important to me," explains Fabio.
Sophia's favourite antipasti are the deep fried mozzarella sticks with a long cheese pull to them. They are served with an absolutely delicious truffle honey dipping sauce.
When it comes to mains you can order one of the pasta dishes that they have put together like the zuppa di Pesce or the ravioli special filled with porcini and mozzarella or you can go down the "choose your own adventure" route and select the pasta and sauce yourself from a choice of gnochetti sardi, fettuccine, spaghetti, paccheri, rigatoni, casarecce and Filomena's potato gnocchi.
One of my favourite pasta shapes is paccheri and I choose this to go with the spicy vodka and baby burrata. I also add some crisp deep fried scampi on top for added texture. I want this whole dish to myself it's so good; just make sure to get some of the spicy fermented chilli oil for a nice boost of chilli heat and flavour.
I really wanted to try the carbonara but Sophia likes the sound of the beef ragu Napoletano sauce. "The Beef Ragù represents Naples," says Fabio. This isn't your ordinary beef ragu. They use three different cuts of beef (muscle, shoulder and beef shin) slowly cooked for around four hours in a traditional Neapolitan ragù with vegetables, red wine and tomato. This is pure comfort and has such a glorious richness to it from the melding of the three cuts of beef.
There is a whole separate dessert menu on offer full of tempting items like tiramisu, cannoli, panna cotta, affogato, gelato and creme caramel. I love Crema di Caffe and Sophia has never tried it and she's headed to Italy for the first time in a couple weeks so now's a good time as any to introduce her to the delicious Italian coffee pick me up. They offer us some taster sizes in espresso cups and it is like a deliciously fluffy coffee soft serve.
And while many order the tiramisu, I'm attracted to the three words "hot Nutella donuts" because a freshly fried doughnut is a thing of beauty. These do not disappoint. They come two to a serve and the texture is incredibly spongy and light. This is thanks to the potato in the dough that gives it a wonderful moist texture. There's a generous centre of Nutella and a hazelnut on top. And despite how full we are, you can bet we devoured these.
So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite pasta shape? Are you a choose your own pasta person or do you prefer ordering a set pasta dish?
NQN and Sophia were guests of La Favola but all opinions remain her own.
La Favola
170 King St, Newtown NSW 2042
Phone: (02) 8021 0002
Monday to Friday 5.00pm - 10.00pm
Saturday and Sunday 11.30am - 3.00pm, 5.00pm - 10.00pm
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