From Re-naa and Noma to Spezia: inside Sydney's new Italian kitchen

Spezia is now open inside The Lands by Capella at Circular Quay, five months after the restaurant was first announced.

The 130-seat restaurant is the first Sydney venue from Florence Guild and brings executive chef Jae Bang and head chef Aaron Caccia into a very different format from some of the kitchens that shaped their careers.

Jae's background includes Re-naa in Norway, while Aaron has worked at both Re-naa and Noma. At Spezia, the brief is not a tasting menu or a small dining room. It is an Italian restaurant spread across two open-air courtyards, built for lunch, dinner, smaller plates and a substantial wine program.

A different test for Jae and Aaron

That change in scale is what makes the restaurant interesting.

Technique still matters, but it has to work across 130 seats and several different ways of using the restaurant. A dish needs to survive a full service, not just look precise in isolation.

Aaron has relocated to Sydney to lead the kitchen day to day, while Jae oversees Spezia as executive chef alongside his broader role with Florence Guild.

The international experience gives the team a strong technical base. The challenge is translating it into food that still feels generous, recognisably Italian and suited to a large Sydney dining room.

What the spice idea looks like

Spezia takes its name from the Italian word for spice, with the menu drawing on the trade routes that carried spices through Italian cities including Venice and Rome.

The idea is not to turn the restaurant into a fusion concept. Italian cooking remains the foundation, with spice used as another layer inside familiar forms.

Ravioli del plin takes carbonara as its starting point, pairing pecorino-filled pasta with an egg-yolk and dukkah-oil emulsion, beef jus and asparagus.

Spaghetti chitarra combines blue swimmer crab bisque, anise and fresh chilli with prawn tartare, while saffron risotto is served with Genovese ragù and burnt spring onion.

The dishes show how the spice idea works when it is integrated into the cooking rather than added as a garnish or theme at the end.

Getting the basics right

Some of the clearest signs of the kitchen's approach are in the less obvious parts of the menu.

Pane soffiato is baked to order, the kitchen makes its own dukkah and the octopus is slow-cooked before service.

Those details matter in a restaurant of this size because consistency becomes part of the technique. The food has to retain the same care when the room is full.

The wine list is built on a similar scale, with more than 500 bottles spanning Italy, Australia and other regions, including 36 wines by the glass.

Now the doors are open

Spezia's setting gives the restaurant a distinctive sense of place. Guests enter through the sandstone former Department of Lands building before reaching two courtyards that were once closed to the public.

But for the kitchen, the more important test starts now.

Re-naa and Noma make for an eye-catching introduction, but Spezia will be judged on whether that experience translates into a busy Italian restaurant that people want to return to.

Spezia is open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner at 5 Gresham Street, Sydney.