Top 5 restaurants in Haberfield, NSW

Five restaurants in Haberfield worth the trip, on the Ramsay Street strip of pasticcerias, a formaggeria and fresh pasta made on the premises.

Ramsay Street holds pasticcerias, a formaggeria, a Slovenian butcher, fresh pasta made on the premises and pizza people drive across the city for, mostly inside four blocks. Haberfield has been Sydney’s Little Italy for generations and the strip still reads like it.

Five restaurants in Haberfield worth the trip, what each is genuinely good at, and which one to book when.

The top 5

#	Restaurant	Where	The night it is for
1	SCHNITI	217 Ramsay St	A booked table, seven nights a week
2	Napoli in Bocca	73 Dalhousie St	The old school Italian institution
3	La Disfida	109 Ramsay St	Pizza, and not much argument about it
4	Paesanella	88 Ramsay St	A long lunch built around cheese
5	Pasticceria Papa	145 Ramsay St	The cannoli people drive here for

1. SCHNITI, 217 Ramsay Street

Haberfield is extraordinarily good at food you take home and food you eat standing up. What the strip has less of is a room that opens seven nights and takes a booking for eight people on a Wednesday. This is it.

A schnitzel led neighbourhood restaurant with bold Italian mains and starters, which is about the most Haberfield thing a new room could have been. Dinner runs from 5:30pm every night, with lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and it holds up to 130 seated or 180 standing.

There is a heated covered terrace, which matters here in July, and level entry from Ramsay Street with an accessible bathroom, which almost no other room on this strip can offer. The SCHNITI venue page has the rest.

Menus and current specials sit on the restaurant’s own site, so book through SCHNITI once you have picked your night.

2. Napoli in Bocca, 73 Dalhousie Street

The Haberfield institution, off the main strip on Dalhousie Street, doing Neapolitan pizza and Italian cooking the way the suburb has expected it for decades. It is the room people mean when they say they are going to Haberfield for dinner.

Book it when you want the version everyone’s family has been going to since before the strip was fashionable. It does not need to reinvent anything and it never has.

3. La Disfida, 109 Ramsay Street

Pizza with a following that reaches well past the Inner West, plus seasonal Italian entrees; the polenta chips with gorgonzola are the order people forget to mention until it is too late.

Small, busy and worth planning around. If your night is specifically about pizza rather than about dinner, this is where it goes.

4. Paesanella, 88 Ramsay Street

The formaggeria, and the reason a lot of people first drove to Haberfield. Fresh ricotta made locally, and the Figaro, which blends mascarpone, gorgonzola and figs into something that has converted a lot of sceptics.

Better as a daytime plan than a dinner one. Build a long lunch around cheese, bread and whatever the counter recommends, and let the afternoon go where it wants.

5. Pasticceria Papa, 145 Ramsay Street

Ricotta cannoli, baked ricotta cheesecake and pistachio biscuits, and a queue on Sunday morning that tells you everything. This is the address people cite when they explain why Haberfield is worth the drive.

Cassaniti at 153 Ramsay Street is the bakery to pair with it, for pane di casa and rosetta rolls straight from the oven.

The rest of Ramsay Street

Haberfield is a strip you shop as much as you dine, and the shopping is half the reason to come.

Peppe’s Pasta at 151 makes fresh pasta on site, including a duck, prosciutto and caramelised onion tortellini worth going out of your way for. Lamonica IGA at 155 runs a deli counter with mortadella and porchetta that shames most delis in the city. Gojak’s at 177 is a Slovenian butcher doing smoked smallgoods and cuts you will not find elsewhere, and Rino Saffioti at 129 makes chocolates and macarons.

For coffee, The Hungry Grasshopper on Waratah Street sits slightly off the strip and is the better call than anything on it.

Getting there and parking

Haberfield sits about fifteen minutes west of the CBD by car and a straight run along the City West Link from Rozelle and Balmain. Parking on and around Ramsay Street is genuinely easier than anywhere comparable in the Inner West, which is not a small thing on a Saturday.

On public transport, buses 436 and 437 run along Ramsay Street, and Ashfield station is about a fifteen minute walk. Most people drive, and here that is the right call.

Haberfield restaurants: common questions

Why is Haberfield called Sydney’s Little Italy?

Because the Italian community that settled here after the war built the strip that is still standing. Ramsay Street holds pasticcerias, a formaggeria, fresh pasta makers, Italian bakeries and delis within a few blocks, most of them family run and several of them decades old. Leichhardt has the reputation; Haberfield has the shops.

What is the best restaurant in Haberfield?

For a booked table with courses seven nights a week, SCHNITI on Ramsay Street is the one built for it. Napoli in Bocca is the institution, La Disfida is the pizza, and Paesanella is the daytime plan.

Is Haberfield only Italian food?

Overwhelmingly, and that is the appeal. The exceptions are worth knowing, though: Gojak’s is a Slovenian butcher, and the cafes off the main strip run to standard Sydney brunch. If you want variety across cuisines rather than depth in one, Leichhardt and Ashfield are both a few minutes away.

Is Haberfield good for a family meal or a group?

Yes, and it is one of the easier Inner West suburbs for it. Parking is straightforward, the strip is flat and walkable, and there is a room that takes up to 130 seated. Above about eight people, ring rather than booking online.

Is there wheelchair access on Ramsay Street?

It varies venue by venue and many of the older shopfronts have a step. SCHNITI has level entry from Ramsay Street, an accessible bathroom and a ramp to the terrace, which is worth knowing if access is a factor in where you book. Ring ahead for the others rather than assuming.

What should you take home from Haberfield?

Ricotta from the formaggeria, cannoli from a pasticceria, fresh pasta from Peppe’s and bread from Cassaniti. Most locals do a version of that loop every week, and it is the single best argument for the drive.

Booking in Haberfield

Haberfield rewards an afternoon on foot and one booking at the end of it. Do the shops, then sit down.

If you have not chosen a suburb yet, the Inner West dining guide compares the rooms across the area.

Book through the Dine with Elements booking page, or call 1300 ELEMENTS (1300 353 636). Give the team your numbers when you book, and mention any access or dietary requirements at the same time.