The rose of The Strand: La Rosa Bar and Pizza

There are shopping centres and then there are shopping centres. From its beginnings in the late 1800s, the Strand Arcade, running from Pitt Street through to George Street, has seen its fair share of Sydney lifestyle.

Take the basement, for example, which has been the site of clubs in the 1900s, which I can only imagine smilingly - today it's a thriving JB Hi-Fi store. As long as I've shopped, exclusive designer stores have lined the historic arcade, and now it seems food is getting its time in The Strand spotlight.

Inside the dining area at La Rosa Bar and Pizza, Level 2, The Strand Arcade,
Pitt Street, Sydney

Sibling to The Strand's existing one-hatted Pendolino restaurant at the George Street end of level 2, La Rosa Bar and Pizza is the less serious but equally stylish of the two at the Pitt Street end.

Facing off against the established and highly acclaimed pasta menu of Pendolino, the more relaxed pizza, baked pasta and aperitivo menu makes lots of sense; not to mention the attraction of drinks and nibbles in such gorgeous surrounds.

I can already envisage me with a glass of wine and perhaps bruschetta, sitting at the long, herb pot-lined bar table of sorts, in front of a large communal table, looking out to the retail shops.

Inside La Rosa Bar and Pizza

Inside the restaurant, there's a variety of seating options: the light filled windows looking out to Pitt Street mall; a darker section on the other side of the cross motif panel with a banquette against the wall; an area that resembles a private dining table; and various bar seats and low tables designed for drinks.

The first impression is that there's a lot going on, especially at peak city lunch time. The staff seem a liitle harried though understandingly given their recent opening. It's a little dark where we are (but not Pendolino, 'oh, is it night time?' kind of dark), and we easily slip into lunch drinking mode.

An unpronounceable Italian sangiovese shiraz is our pick from the wines by the glass, which are far outweighed by the mostly Italian bottle wines. It is an Italian wine bar after all, and with house made salumi, picking a starter to share was easy.

Salumi misti di casa - Mixed house-made cured salami

The generous, long, wooden board sits a little awkwardly between our two round tables, and intially arrived without knowledgeable explanation. Another waitress returns to tell us we have a wild boar sausage, two types of pork salami, a wagyu beef salami and pancetta.

Now, I know how much I adore nduja, so I leave that as my last tasting. The little, whole, unsliced sausage at the top is the Salsicce Mignon di Cinghiale - a fatty, chewy but oddly floral-tasting sausage of 100% wild boar and black pepper.

The smaller but thicker cut pork salami is, I think, the Salsicce Montenuovo Calabrese - salty and sweet with capsicum flavours; while the thinly slice pork one is apparently fennel (though light on that flavour). The wagyu beef salami is actually mixed with pork as well (which explains the rather similar taste) and is flavoured with fennel seeds and garlic.

The Pancetta del Rinascimento has that fatty chewiness that's sometimes hard to swallow, but a nice, mellow taste. The olives are decent, and the small bowl of pickled vegetables even better, with the tart and crunchy cauliflower, carrot and onion cutting through the richness of the cured meats nicely.

And the nduja - I'll be going back for that alone. It sounds a bit strange when you say spreadable salami or pork spread, but that's essentially what it is - and very, very good at that. Bursting with capsicum redness and a chilli kick, the paste is luxuriously smooth with a well-rounded richness; and just beautiful spread liberally on the crostini.

Gamberi e zucchini pizza - King prawns, zucchini, tomato, mozzarella and garlic

I think since I started making my own pizzas at home, I'm more keen than ever to sample pizza when I'm out and about to compare and learn. The expectations were high and for some inexplicable reason I chose the only seafood pizza on the menu (when I normally don't like seafood on pizzas at all).

La Rosa's pizza certainly looked the part: golden, slightly bubbled up edges; nice and thin; perfectly round and gleaming with toppings. As soon as I picked up a slice though, it was apparent that the pizza was suffering from soggy centre syndrome.

So, rather inelegantly, we rolled up the pizza slices to eat, although I guess the provided cutlery would have sufficed too. The pizza was light-handed on tomato sauce and cheese, but made up for with gorgeous grilled zucchini strips and large peeled prawns which could have been made more interesting with a marinade. In all, I'm still not convinced that seafood and pizza go together.

Pomodoro e Pane Secco - Tomato, dried bread and ricotta salad

The highly recommended side salad of tomato and dried bread sounded interesting enough to sway me from my usual rocket order.

A pretty but rustic salad featured gigantic cubes of bread, dried to a near painful crunch - I imagine they would be much easier to chew (especially for delicate ladies) if they were about a quarter of the size.

Not the best tomatoes and the ricotta really sitting pretty rather than contributing to the salad meant I'll probably revert to my rocket order next time.

Lasagne di Carnevale - Neapolitan meat carnival lasagne

One of the only pasta options on the menu with meat, the lasagne arrived in a cast iron pan, oozing cheesy and tomato sauce, and served unexpectedly with a side salad. In hindsight, this made perfect sense given the richness of the lasagne and its creamy bechamel.

The silky soft pasta and the chewy, blackened cheese topping combined with the sweet tomato sauce with minced meat (can't recall exacty what, but presumably a blend) was cheesy carb heaven - happiness in a cast iron pan. We only diverted to the salad out of guilt.

Another glass of sangiovese shiraz later, the restaurant had emptied of its corporate clientele, with mostly shoppers and tourists left to fill up the rather spacious restaurant. Had we more time, I imagine a dessert would have gone nicely with our meal, with the likes of tiramisu, ricotta cake and zeppola - a traditional potato and cinnamon doughnut - on offer.

While not necessarily between two thorns, La Rosa Bar and Pizza is surrounded by style and elegance. It might be a tough sell to get some of The Strand's usual customers to consume cured meats and carbs but I , for one, am looking forward to aperitivo time here.