Sydney has no shortage of Italian restaurants. What it has very few of is restaurants that have been making the same Roman recipes, the same way, for 25 years without cutting corners. This is the story of how Made In Italy started, what it serves, and why the methods that seemed slow in 2000 turned out to be the point.
How It Started: Rome to Sydney, 2000
Made In Italy opened in Sydney in 2000. The concept was specific from the beginning: Roman-style pizza and slow-cooked pasta, made from family recipes that predated the business by generations.
Roman pizza is not the same as Neapolitan pizza. It is not the same as the thick American-style base that dominated Sydney at the time. Roman pizza is thin and crisp. Made to share across a table. It is lighter than most pizza Sydneysiders were used to, and it handles topping weight without going soggy. Built to travel as well as it sits on the table.
In 2000, Sydney diners were not especially familiar with the distinction. That did not slow anything down. The regulars came, then came back, then brought people with them.
The Recipes: What “Family” Actually Means
The word “family recipes” appears on a lot of menus. At Made In Italy, it has a specific meaning: the recipes arrived with the people, not with a consultant.
The tomato sauce base for every pizza, vegan or not, meat or vegetable, is slow-cooked. Slow cooking produces a sauce with depth and sweetness that a rushed paste cannot imitate. You can taste the difference in the first bite.
The pasta sauces use the same method. The Lamb Ragu, one of the most ordered dishes across all four kitchens, is slow-cooked with patience. The Bolognese and Boscaiola are built the same way: from scratch, each morning, without shortcuts.
Every pizza base is hand-stretched daily. Not pressed. Not machine-rolled. The hand-stretch gives a Roman base its character: slightly thicker at the edge, thin through the centre, and its clean snap.
What Has Changed in 25 Years
Four kitchens, where there was once one. Alexandria. Annandale. Pyrmont. Sydney CBD at 37 York Lane near Wynyard.
Online ordering, where there were once only phone calls. Direct ordering through madeinitaly.com.au, with no third-party app fees passed on to the customer.
The loyalty programme: every 5 orders earns a $15 voucher, tracked automatically through your account.
What Has Not Changed
The recipes. The method. The refusal to use a faster process when a slower one produces better food.
Roman pizza is still hand-stretched. The sauces are still slow-cooked. The bases are still thin and crisp. The XL 15-inch format is still built for sharing. Same method. Four kitchens. Since 2000.
After 25 years, the original decision, Roman craft made for Sydney nights in, turns out to have been the right one.
Made In Italy delivers across inner Sydney from four kitchens: Alexandria, Annandale, Pyrmont and Sydney CBD.
Made slowly. Shared generously.