Pixie Food & Wine

Coastal Italian flavours make perfect sense in a place like Byron Bay. And Pixie, an all-day diner at the Jonson Lane precinct, is where to go if you’re seeking them out while in town. It’s by the same team as behind restaurant group Light Years, and here they’ve swapped Asian for Italian, enlisting ex-Grossi Florentino chef Matteo Tine to guide a coastal-Italian menu with city polish.

While influence from Tine’s Sicilian background is laced through the menu, Pixie isn’t confined to a specific region. Breakfast is borderless, and might include crumpets topped with smoked salmon, boiled egg and whipped bottarga, or a blue swimmer crab omelette.

Come dinner, you may find snacks like tempura bug on a soft bun with crisp lettuce, and half-shell scallops with an Italian take on XO sauce. Mains veer more trad Italian – think house-made cavatelli with pesto alla Genovese; squid-ink spaghetti with blue swimmer crab and chilli; and barbequed chicken with fermented chilli.

Joey Jones, founder of longstanding, now-closed Melbourne bar Romeo Lane, has curated the cocktail list, which leans bright and fresh. Expect watermelon-spiked Bloody Marys in the morning, a nostalgia-fuelled take on Passiona (gin, passionfruit, Cynar, orange), and Martinis made with a house vermouth blend. Wines are mainly Australian, with a solid showing from Italy.

David Flack’s (Ace Hotel Sydney, Troy Sivan’s house) handsome design channels ’70s Milan via beachside Byron Bay. A golden-pink marble bar grounds the triangular space, which is lined with plush burgundy banquettes and is gently lit by sculptural wall sconces. Sturdy Mario Bellini Cassina Cab leather chairs anchor the room, offsetting the warm tones of the terracotta floor tiles and terrazzo table tops.