Pan Roma Restaurant: Old School Aussie Italian
Right on the corner of Norton Street and Parramatta Road, a good block away from the tourist hustle and high prices of the Italian Forum, Pan Roma Restaurant is something of a Leichhardt institution. The old girl opened in 1972 (when Italian food was considered thoroughly exotic) and you get the distinct feeling that not a lot has changed at Pan Roma Restaurant since then.
Don’t expect cutting edge cuisine and a Britannica-sized wine list here. Genuinely family-run, with a very sweet and sincere couple managing the floor, Pan Roma is the neighbourhood Italian restaurant of thousands of Australian childhoods.
The laminated menu card has all the old school favourites – garlic prawns, spaghetti marinara, veal parmigiana and chicken breast bosciaola. Classic dishes like veal marsala and gnocchi gorgonzola are faithfully reproduced, and each night there’s a lengthy list of specials which could include deep fried zucchini flowers, pan-fried mussels and involtini de manzo (beef slices rolled around a stuffing of prosciutto, mushrooms and herbs). A bowl of gelato or homemade tiramisu provides a perfectly sweet ending to a soothingly familiar, generous and flavoursome Italian meal. You can BYO or choose from a very modestly priced and compact wine list, and at the end of the meal you’ll be presented with a complimentary glass of limoncello or aniseed liqueur.
Posted by Fiona Davies
