At just 30 square metres, La Panineria is packing a lot of flavour into a bite-sized space.
The family team behind new Sydney CBD trattoria Tessuto has teamed up with hospitality veteran John Anastasiou (Stazi Group) to launch La Panineria, a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop in Sydney’s Curtin Place laneway.
The menu will be tight but carefully curated, with coffee, breakfast and lunch panini, pizza and pastries.
Tuscan flatbread (schiacciata) is at the heart of the operation – a thinner, crispier version of other famous Italian breads. The bread takes three days to make, but the result is a lighter, more flavoursome, and easier to digest alternative to focaccia, according to head chef and co-owner Mattia Senesi.
“It also has special meaning to me as it’s the bread of my childhood and my family,” he says.
Alongside Senesi and Anastasiou, the co-owners include husband and wife duo Anthony and Tanja Arienzale, Anthony’s sibling Robert, and barista Salvatore Messina.
Anthony has been on the hunt for the perfect Italian sandwich bar venue for the past three years, and he’s hoping to shine a spotlight on authentic Italian sandwiches and the relatively unknown schiacciata bread.
“As a second-generation Italian growing up in Australia, my passion for food has always been rooted in my heritage,” he says.
“Bringing authentic Italian sandwiches to Sydney is our way of honouring those roots, as every panino we will have on the menu will tell a story, from the Abruzzo region where Robert and my parents are from, to Mattia’s birthplace in the north and Messina’s southern island home of Sicily.”
“Name something better than classic fillings like prosciutto, mortadella, fresh mozzarella and polpette alongside olive-oil-washed crispy bread with a soft and fragrant underbelly.”
The shop is set to open next month open at Curtin Place, in the laneway off 280 George St in the CBD. It will be open 6am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
