This new Italian beachfront eatery from a hatted chef could finally put Manly on the dining map

At the height of European migration last century, Sydney’s northern beaches was such a popular destination some of its Catholic churches offered confession in Italian. Well, the Italians are coming again, and Lombardy chef Alessandro Pavoni will open the oceanfront Cibaria restaurant in Manly later this year.

Pavoni, who has the hatted a’Mare at Crown Sydney and Ormeggio at The Spit in his restaurant arsenal, says his dream is to do for Manly what Neil Perry has achieved in Double Bay.

“Manly is a great suburb, but it is in a bit of limbo; it doesn’t have as many great places [to eat] as it deserves,” Pavoni says.

“We need to turn Manly around and make it more of a dining destination,” he says, stressing it requires a group effort.

Pavoni, a northern beaches resident, isn’t the only local looking to up the food offering. In December, chef Federico Zanellato, from Pyrmont’s hatted Lumi restaurant, opened Manly’s wood-fired pizza venue, Avoja.

Pavoni points to Giovanni Pilu’s pioneering work at nearby Pilu at Freshwater but stresses that Cibaria will be a different, more casual beast, with a number of outlets under one roof.

“I call them the ‘rias’, Cibaria will have its own braceria (grill), forneria (bakery), pasticceria (pastry), and spaghetteria (pasta),” Pavoni says of the sprawling eatery, which will open early summer in the street-level retail under the Manly Pacific hotel, on North Steyne.

The chef will implement a highly specialised pasta program. “Spaghetti is the most popular pasta, it’s also my favourite shape. We’ll make two versions, one with semolina and water, the other egg dough, with 10 sauces to choose from,” he explains.

Pavoni will transplant some of the talent from his hatted Ormeggio at The Spit. Executive chef Gianmarco Pardini will lead the Cibaria kitchen team, and Victor Moya’s gelato “artigianale” will also make an appearance at another “ria”.

“There’ll be a gelataria on the beachfront corner for takeaway, and the menu will have gelato desserts like the Amalfi lemon with lemon candy, zest and Italian meringue,” Pavoni says.

Manly’s harbourside also has plenty of action, with new owners taking the keys at Manly Wharf. Adam Flaskas and Paul Henry successfully lifted the hospitality stocks at Howard Smith Wharves in Brisbane and are believed to have big plans for their $80 million Manly acquisition.

Pavoni welcomes the area’s new guard. In the same spirit as those Italian market gardeners on the northern beaches a generation earlier, Pavoni wants to fill a niche: “I looked around Manly and didn’t see great trattoria-style venues where you can have a steak cooked over charcoal. Cibaria will.”