The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry | A Sydney Food Blog

The Pasta Factory, Leichhardt

July 15th, 2008  |  Published in Uncategorized

The window display is full of multi-colour pasta strands spilling out like uncontrollable ribbons. The colour spectrum runs from chilli-red tagliolini to spinach-green fettucine. And, for the very first time I’ve walked past it, it’s actually open (a fact that says more about my anti-social weekend sleeping patterns than the shop’s hours).

Of course, I have to go in.

Inside, the Pasta Factory in Leichhardt looks a bit more utilitaritarian, clean-swept and to-the-point – it’s less colourful than the strands a-tangled in the window, but then I should remember this is a place to buy some fresh-made ravioli, not some bright-hued amusement park.

First off, I’m frozen by pasta-buying indecision (because, the temptation is to buy everything and spend the rest of winter over a boiling pan, tipping in flavour-stuffed flour parcels until they dive up and bubble along the heat-bursting waves). Of course, my arms can only hold so many carb variations (and my wallet can only support a fraction of this ravioli-hibernation fantasy).

In the end, I snap up the Chicken and Basil Ravioli and Pumpkin and Walnut Ravioli ($15 for two). The poultry pick is a gift, so I can’t report on it, but I did try out the pumpkin tonight, adding a very simple sauce of chopped-up cherry tomato, diced garlic and generous plops of olive oil. It was a lovely late-night dish, doubling as tomorrow’s lunch leftovers (I don’t know how it will survive the vicious office microwave taste-blanderiser, but we’ll see). The pureed pumpkin was nicely sweet, well-paired with the odd crunchy fleck of walnut. I find often when you buy ravioli, the doughy parcel can overwhelm any flavour tucked inside, but the pumpkin really fights through. And $7.50 for 500g is pretty good – it’s a similar price to buy some of that tough-bullet supermarket stuff, but this is a far nicer alternative.

So, now I just have to make sure I synch my waking hours with the Pasta Factory’s opening times, so I can make a repeat visit.

The Pasta Factory, 413 Parramatta Rd, Leichhardt NSW, (02) 9569 2166

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Hi, I'm Lee Tran Lam. When not blogging with my mouth full, I'm usually writing, presenting Local Fidelity on FBi radio, making zines, producing podcasts or continually breaking promises about how I really am gonna get through my book pile one day.

All the good pictures on this blog are by photography ace (and patient boyfriend), Will Reichelt, (all the dodgy ones can be credited to me)!

The lovely banner is by friend and ultra-talented illustrator Grace Lee.

This site redesign was made possible by the next-level generosity and expertise of Daniel Boud, whose code-tinkering ways are only outranked by his seriously inspired way with a camera.

You can read more about my co-conspirators here.

This is a blog I do for pure fun and zero influence – there's no sponsorship, sneaky advertorial or advertising. I pay for all the food mentioned, 'cos it seems the ethical thing to do.


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This is a blog about eating and drinking in Sydney, Australia (with the odd cross-border or off-topic detour). BYO appetite.

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