Pizza’Mare opens above a’Mare at Barangaroo next Wednesday, giving Maestro Hospitality a more casual second format inside one of Sydney’s best-known Italian dining rooms. Pizzaiolo Paolo Lacarpia leads the kitchen with a biga-based dough programme and a Mam oven brought in from Modena.
Alessandro and Anna Pavoni will open Pizza’Mare on the mezzanine level above a’Mare at Barangaroo on Wednesday 22 April. Rather than changing the restaurant downstairs, the new opening adds a looser, more accessible format to the site, built around pizza, pasta and antipasti.
The expansion also includes Vista’Mare, an aperitivo bar on the same level with a drinks list centred on Italian spritzes and a dedicated Negroni programme. Downstairs, a’Mare will continue to trade as usual.
A more casual layer above a’Mare
What makes this opening worth watching is that it is not a standalone launch. The group is building a second offer inside a venue that already has a strong identity, creating a more relaxed mezzanine format above one of Barangaroo’s more established dining rooms.
That gives the site a broader range. Instead of asking every guest to commit to the full a’Mare experience, Pizza’Mare creates a different way in: quicker, less formal, but still clearly tied to the same Italian sensibility.
From Bari to Barangaroo
The pizza kitchen will be led by Paolo Lacarpia, who grew up in Bari in Puglia and started working in kitchens at 14. His background includes bread, focaccia, pizza and panzerotti, before later relocating to Sydney. He will work under executive chef Giuseppe Fuzio.
That matters here. Pizza’Mare is not just adding pizza to the building. It is being shaped around a pizzaiolo with a specific grounding in southern Italian dough culture, which gives the upstairs kitchen a clearer point of view from the outset.
Built around dough
The dough programme uses biga, the low-hydration Italian preferment that helps build flavour, structure and a lighter crumb. The pizzas will be cooked in a Mam oven imported from Modena, with the menu positioned around Neapolitan-style rounds.
For chefs, that is the detail that makes this more interesting than a standard opening. The story is not just the room or the launch date. It is who is leading the dough, how the base is being built and how much of the format is anchored in technique.
What’s on the menu
The menu runs across antipasti, pasta and pizza. Dishes already flagged include Sydney Rock oysters with pinot grigio vinegar and black pepper, culaccia from Emilia-Romagna, octopus alla Luciana, rigatoni cacio e pepe, pennette arrabbiata, and pizzas ranging from a classic Napoletana through to the a’Marinara with yellowfin tuna crudo, confit cherry tomatoes, stracciatella and lemon zest.
Upstairs, Vista’Mare rounds out the offer with spritzes, Negronis and cicchetti, creating a clearer split between the more formal dining room below and the lighter mezzanine experience above.
More than a spin-off
There is no shortage of Italian openings in Sydney, but this one is a little more interesting than a standard launch. It shows how an established group can create a second pace and second price point within an existing venue, without diluting the original offer downstairs.
For chefs, it is also a reminder that format shifts work best when the cooking has its own point of view. Pizza’Mare feels stronger because there is a defined kitchen lead, a clear dough philosophy and a menu that is trying to do more than fill spare space above the restaurant below.
That is what makes it worth watching when it opens on 22 April.
