Paola Toppi opens Pasta Shop, bringing Machiavelli favorites to Potts Point

Paola Toppi has put one of Sydney’s most recognisable Italian names into a much smaller, more casual room. At 37 Bayswater Road in Potts Point, the chef behind Machiavelli opened Pasta Shop in the former Sonora Mexican site, a 35-seat pasta bar built to make her best-known dishes feel like weeknight food instead of special-occasion dining.

The price point does a lot of the talking. Every dish on the menu is $30 or under, a sharp shift from the old Machiavelli formula, where bowls could run to about $40. That matters because Toppi is not just repackaging a famous dish, she is changing where and how people can eat it. Pasta Shop is aimed at quick solo dinners, relaxed dates and repeat neighborhood visits, not the rare, dress-up booking that defined much of Machiavelli’s old pull.

The headline dish is Spaghetti Machiavelli, revived from the original recipe Toppi created in 1988. That date still carries weight in Sydney dining. The original Machiavelli opened in 1988 and became a power room that drew A-listers, politicians, CEOs and media personalities, so bringing that name back in a compact Potts Point pasta bar gives the dish a new kind of life. It keeps the pedigree, but strips away the ceremony.

The rest of the menu follows the same logic. Hospitality Magazine says Pasta Shop serves 11 house-made pastas, alongside salads, house-made focaccia, tiramisu and cannoli. There is also takeaway and delivery to Sydney’s eastern suburbs, which pushes the concept beyond the 35 seats in the room and into everyday use. Toppi has also said pasta is a staple that should be affordable and accessible, and the structure here backs that up.

The room itself is part of the pitch. It is compact and vibey, with walnut timber tables, terracotta director’s chairs, a bold red wall and an outdoor courtyard framed by lemon trees and greenery. Pasta Shop does not try to look like a formal trattoria. It feels more like a modern pasta bar that understands atmosphere, but keeps the focus on food people already know by name. The drinks list leans into that same easygoing brief, with Italian wines, Maybe Sammy drinks, Sardinian beer, traditional Italian soft drinks and BYO.

For Toppi, the move is a clean evolution rather than a reinvention. Pasta Shop keeps the Machiavelli memory alive, but makes it easier to access, easier to return to and easier to fit into a normal week in Potts Point.