Roman Pasta in Surry Hills: The Classic Dishes at 170 Grammi

Most people arrive at 170 Grammi with pizza on their mind. Reasonably so. Roman pizza is what the kitchen is built around, what the dough programme is designed for, and what fills the table on any given Friday night in Surry Hills.

But the pasta section rewards the curious diner. And if you’ve been skipping straight from antipasti to pizza, you’ve been missing some of the most authentically Roman cooking on the menu.

Here’s what to know before you order.

Roman Pasta Is Its Own Tradition

When people think of Italian pasta, they tend to picture the cooking of Bologna — slow ragù, egg-rich dough, cream-forward sauces. Roman pasta sits in a different tradition entirely. It is leaner, more direct, and built on a handful of ingredients that are expected to do most of the work.

The classics of Rome’s pasta canon — Amatriciana, Cacio e Pepe, Gricia, Carbonara — share a common logic: restraint. No stock reductions. No cream. No complicated technique hiding mediocre ingredients. The ingredient is the dish, which means every element has to earn its place.

Guanciale brings fat, depth, and a sweetness that pancetta can’t replicate. Pecorino Romano DOP brings salt and a clean sharpness. San Marzano tomatoes, where they appear, add brightness without the bitterness of lesser varieties. These aren’t interchangeable parts. They’re load-bearing.

That philosophy carries through to the pasta menu at 170 Grammi — a menu that leans into Roman tradition while leaving room for a few broader Italian classics worth ordering.

Rigatoni Amatriciana — The Most Roman Dish on the Menu

If there’s one pasta that defines Roman trattoria cooking, it’s the Amatriciana. Its origins are from the town of Amatrice in the Lazio hills — technically outside Rome, but claimed by the city with the kind of quiet authority Romans tend to apply to things they enjoy.

The traditional version is simple: tomato, guanciale, Pecorino Romano, chilli. No onion in the orthodox preparation. No garlic. No herbs beyond what’s already in the guanciale’s curing. The fat renders into the tomato sauce; the cheese finishes it with salt and body. The result is a pasta that tastes like it took all afternoon, despite being built from four or five components.

At 170 Grammi, the Rigatoni Amatriciana follows this logic closely: San Marzano tomatoes, guanciale, Pecorino Romano DOP, chilli, black pepper, and extra virgin olive oil. Rigatoni is the right choice of format — the ridged exterior and hollow tube hold the sauce in a way that flat pasta can’t, so every bite carries the full weight of the dish.

If you order one pasta here, this is the one. It’s also worth noting that the Amatriciana extends across the menu — there’s an Amatriciana pizza built on the same flavour logic, and a Supplì Amatriciana in the antipasti section if you want the same ingredients in a different format before the main course.

Pappardelle alla Vaccinara — Rome’s Slow-Cooked Tradition

Coda alla Vaccinara is one of Rome’s great slow dishes. Oxtail — braised low and slow with tomato, celery, and spice — is quintessentially Roman in its origins: the quinto quarto tradition of using the offal and secondary cuts that wealthier tables passed over. Rome turned these cuts into some of its most celebrated cooking.

The Vaccinara ragù on the 170 Grammi pasta menu is built from slow-cooked oxtail paired with wide, ribbon-like pappardelle. Pappardelle is a deliberate choice — the broad surface area catches a rich, meat-heavy sauce in a way that narrower pasta wouldn’t. The result is a pasta that feels substantial without being heavy: the long braise breaks the oxtail into something silky, and the fat emulsifies into the sauce rather than sitting on top of it.

It’s also the most distinctly Roman pasta on the menu in terms of ingredient story. The same Vaccinara ragù appears on the A Coda pizza, which gives you a sense of how seriously the kitchen takes this preparation — it’s built for both applications.

The Rest of the Pasta Menu

Beyond the two most traditionally Roman dishes, the pasta menu covers a range of Italian cooking with the same attention to ingredient quality.

Rigatoni alla Norcina takes its cues from Norcia in Umbria, where black truffles and pork sausage are the local specialties. Here it’s built with free-range pork sausage, a creamy sauce, mushrooms, and truffle — a richer, more wintery dish that works well alongside a lighter pizza if you’re building a table to share.

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino is one of those dishes that looks simple on the menu and is genuinely difficult to do well. Garlic, chilli, extra virgin olive oil, and good pasta: nothing to hide behind. It’s the test of a kitchen that takes its ingredients seriously.

Spaghetti ai Gamberi e Peperoncino brings Hawkesbury River prawns into the picture with garlic, chilli, and olive oil — a coastal Italian register that’s lighter than the Roman pastas and works well as a contrast if the table is sharing multiple courses.

The two Tonnarelli options — Al Pomodoro (with stracciatella and basil) and Al Pesto (pesto, stracciatella) — both use tonnarelli, a square-section Roman egg pasta that has more texture and bite than standard spaghetti. Both are lighter options that suit the beginning of a longer meal or a table that’s already committed to several pizzas.

How to Order Pasta at 170 Grammi

The instinct at a pizzeria is to treat pasta as an alternative: order pasta or pizza. At 170 Grammi, the better move is to think of pasta as a course within a shared meal — a middle register between the antipasti and the pizza.

In Roman eating culture, pasta is rarely the centrepiece of the table. It’s a course. An important one, but part of a sequence — not the main event that everything else defers to. This changes how you order.

A well-structured 170 Grammi table might look like: two or three antipasti to start (the Supplì al Telefono and Schiacciata con Mortazza are good entry points), one or two pasta dishes shared between the table, and then two or three pizzas to finish. That rhythm lets the pasta do its job — building appetite and contrast — rather than replacing the pizza experience that the kitchen is most known for.

For a first visit, the Rigatoni Amatriciana is the easiest recommendation. It’s the dish that most clearly signals what Roman cooking is about, and it pairs well with a glass of something Italian and red from the drinks menu. From there, the Vaccinara is the natural second choice if the table wants more depth.

The full ordering guide covers the pizza menu in similar detail if you’re planning a first visit and want to know what to work through.

👉 Explore the full dine-in menu at 170 Grammi

A Note on the Pasta Itself

The pasta at 170 Grammi is fresh and made with eggs — which changes the texture and eating quality relative to dried pasta. Fresh egg pasta absorbs sauce differently, holds a slightly richer finish, and has a tenderness that dried pasta doesn’t replicate. A gluten-free pasta option is available for those who need it.

That detail matters because it affects how the dish sits in a larger meal. Fresh pasta tends to feel a little more substantial than its dried equivalent, which is worth knowing if you’re planning to follow it with multiple pizzas. Order accordingly.