Spezia Sydney Review, Italian Dining at The Lands by Capella

Spezia is the main restaurant at the hotly anticipated The Lands by Capella in Sydney. It's helmed by a Michelin awarded Chef and features Italian food reinterpreted with the subtle use of spices inspired by the Silk Road that linked Venice and Rome. Come and take a look at the stunning restaurant space and see what is on the menu.

In the past, every time we visited Capella Sydney, we would take a look at The Lands building next door wondering how progress was going with the renovation.

The two sandstone buildings sit side by side on Bridge and Bent streets. In 2023 The Department of Education and Department of Agriculture became the hotel Capella Sydney while 3 years later, the Department of Lands next door became The Lands by Capella. In this building there is co working space by the Florence Guild, bars, event suites and dining.

The main restaurant at The Lands by Capella is Spezia (Italian for spice), a 130 seater restaurant. This open air restaurant has two courtyards connected by former horse drawn carriage passageways with huge pot plants, Italian Breccia Rosso honed marble and tomato red awnings that make each courtyard feel like an Italian piazza. The logo is of the nutmeg flower. It is in its fourth week when we visit and on this chilly Friday night they bring out heaters for guests. The cooler weather hasn't deterred guests and it is bustling - we just feel lucky that it has stopped raining so we can enjoy the courtyard atmosphere.

The Executive Chef is Jae Bang (formerly of 3 Michelin star Re-Naa in Norway) with Head Chef Aaron Caccia (also of Re-naa and Noma). It is the first Sydney restaurant from hospitality group Florence Guild who operate private members' clubs, restaurants and co-working spaces. Service from our English waitress is lovely and friendly and she gives us some excellent recommendations.

We start with cocktails, toasting to a night with no rain (hopefully!). Mr NQN loves limoncello or Hugo spritzes and his order is an Approdo cocktail with limoncello, Prosecco, lemongrass, ginger, basil, gentian and lemon. I order a mocktail, the Rosso made with Sammy Piquant Jetsetter, blood orange, elderflower, lemon and soda that is so perfectly dry. There are also over 500 wines on their wine list and 36 available by the glass.

In a city where every upmarket restaurant has fresh oysters, these are a stand out. These briny oysters are topped with a vinaigrette based on fermented apple, seasoned with tamarind and finished with a shallot mignonette and cracked pepper. It is a soft intro to the spices that are part of every dish.

The kingfish crudo is paired with green Szechuan pepper, lemon and finger lime and topped with thinly sliced radishes. While fresh and silky the predominant flavour is extra virgin olive oil and lemon rather than anything else.

It looks like every table around us has the Pane Soffiato, a puffy bread that is drizzled in Quattrociocchi extra virgin olive oil from Italy, wild fennel seeds and oregano. We both love the combination of spices that elevates the humble puffy bread. Tip: save some bread to scarpetta the pasta sauces.

And if you're going to order the Pane Soffiato as an entree, you'll want to pair it with something like the burrata from Floridia Cheese in Melbourne that sits on a bed of cime di rapa cream with soft cime di rapa tops, fennel mostarda, crunchy toasted almonds and a sprinkling of sumac. The spices are subtle and cleverly used so that they enhance the dish rather than give it a new identity.

The beef tartare has a native Australian touch with wattleseed, porcini mushrooms, pickled onion and crunchy buckwheat to give this a lovely texture to it.

I was tossing up between two spaghetti chitarra dishes: this one or the one with Oscietra caviar, cinnamon and anchovy butter as I was intrigued by the combination but our waitress steers us towards the prawn one. Spaghetti is normally extruded but spaghetti chitarra uses a cutter that looks like guitar strings (hence the name chitarra or guitar in Italian). This means that the pasta is square in shape (like tonnarelli). Here raw prawns are chopped up and served atop the spaghetti with a silky chilli oil sauce perfumed subtly with star anise. The house made pasta has the most perfect al dente texture but it's that incredible luxurious silky sauce that is a masterpiece. At first you might think it's just chilli oil and crab bisque pasta but this is another step above. There's also a brightness to it from the lemon jam, fresh lemon juice and zest.

We both really enjoy the duck ragu caserecce made with duck thighs that are ground in-house and cooked with a classic soffritto with tomato paste and white wine and aromatics of thyme, rosemary, black pepper and juniper berries. It is then finished with parmigiano, dehydrated Leccino olives and long pepper from Java. The handmade caserecce is also cooked til al dente and the whole dish is rich and deep and well-balanced. This richer meat pasta really complements the seafood pasta and I'd recommend getting both and sharing them.

Today's market fish is rainbow trout from the Goulburn River in the Victorian Alps and it is expertly cooked until so luscious and moist with a crispy skin. It's served atop a bed of polenta with a tomato coulis, lacto fermented tomato, with fish stock, brown butter and creme fraiche with plump black mussels that give the dish a briney counterpoint along with toasted pine nuts, semi fried tomatoes, parsley, turmeric and a touch of saffron to give it that gorgeous golden hue.

The charred artichokes remind me of the brilliant artichokes or Carciofi alla Giudia we ate in the Jewish quarter of Rome. These too are deep fried until crispy and served atop two types of beans: butter beans and Romano beans with Ras el Hanout and parsley. And while spices have been subtly woven into all of the dishes, it's this dish that is most strongly perfumed with the Ras el Hanout reminding me of Middle Eastern dishes.

The roasted potatoes are seasoned with allspice and garlic and are fluffy and light in texture.

There are four items on the dessert menu but from stalking their Instagram we knew that there were two we had to order. The first is the panna cotta. Confession: I rarely order panna cotta at a restaurant because it's easy and inexpensive to make but this is not a regular panna cotta. The lemon leaf Tilba cream panna cotta is set in a bowl and layered with grapefruit reduction, together with Spumante jelly, sage oil and blood orange segments. It is so creamy and refreshing and perfect for those that like lighter desserts that are less on the sweet side. Mr NQN devours this with gusto.

The tiramisu is finished at the table and while there is no shortage of tiramisus in Sydney, this one is outstanding. The soft, creamy mascarpone is flavoured with tonka beans and savoiardi dipped in coffee. It is finished tableside with mascarpone and a reduction of marsala and cocoa powder. Normally I'm done after a couple of tablespoons of dessert but this was happily devoured by me.

So tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of the idea of incorporating Silk Road spices into traditional Italian dishes?