Buffalo Dining Club

Disclaimers: I’ve only been living for 30 years, and I’ve never been to Italy, but I have NEVER had better pasta in my life. If you ever make it to Darlinghurst Sydney, make it your business to eat here.
First, the staff is great. We were a walk-​in, but the server was super accommodating, and promised us a table when a group finished up. He even apologized because they unexpectedly ordered dessert, lol.
Second, we ordered cacio e pepe, because DUH! They serve it out of a Parmesan cheese wheel! We also ordered the buffalo gnocchi. Oh. My. Sweet. Baby. Krishna. I have never had so much deliciousness in one bite. The creamy mozzarella gnocchi and flavorful, but not overpowering red sauce. Ugh. I was totally the, «I’ll have what she’s having.» girl at the table.
The cacio e pepe was also delicious. Fresh pasta, black cracked pepper, cheese. Heaven.
I could have eaten at that restaurant everyday that we were in Darlinghurst. But then I would be 10 pounds heavier.
Oh, there’s no menu. You order by looking on the wall inside the restaurant. If it’s hard for you to see, the staff is super nice and will recite everything for you. :)
Thank you, Buffalo Dining Club! (closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays)

Unilocal has never been so useful as it was during my visit to Sydney, and here once again, they steered me right. Buffalo Dining Club only does about three things — cheeses, meats, and pastas — but they do them so absolutely perfectly that I still have to go with five stars for them. We tried a bit of everything, and it was all outstanding. Scamorza cheese was about the most perfect mozzarella-​type fare I’ve ever eaten, the prosciutto was the perfect complement, and my main dish of ricotta gnocchi was so fresh and so good that I was smiling just thinking about it the next day.
Décor is neat — an intimate/​romantic atmosphere caused by it basically being a single apartment converted into a café, and the food is right on the border of being too simple to be considered a full sit-​down restaurant. But what do you want, straw man Unilocaler? Do you want a place that has 50 dishes and only some of them are good, or do you want a place like this where it’s super simple and everything is perfect?
Straight up perfect food can make up for a lot, but luckily this place doesn’t need to make up for anything in particular. I’ll be back next chance I get. Which is probably some time in the 2030s, but I’ll remember this one until then.

Sometimes there are some places that I find highly overrated… and buffalo dining club is definitely one of them.
I live 2min away and have been there twice — the place is always packed… but I genuinely think there are many other better options in the neighbourhood !
First, I find the service really poor. True, The kitchen is small and the restaurant is cramped giving the staff a hard time to move around… but it has been so hard to catch anyone’s attention throughout the dinner (there were 7 of us right in the middle of the ground floor room so hard to miss…). I really find that annoying.
We ordered the banquet (50 $) that gives you a bit of everything in the antipasto and pasta. It is not worth the money — you would be better off ordering a la Carte !
As for the food…
Entee: The jamon is delicious, but all the other antipasto I found quite blend !
Pasta: gnocchi were my favourite with the fresh tomato sauce — simple and elegant. The cacio e Pepe (spaghetti served in the cheese) are to be tried of course as it is unusual but I think it lacks seasoning and flavour if you are not into chili and add there homemade paste (my case)
As for dessert the tiramisu was not even included in the banquet (we still ordered some) and got some fried dough balls with lemon curd (I really did not like that)
The restaurant is super loud and all tables are super close to one another so do not expect an easy conversation. As a group you cannot talk if you are more than 5. But this hustle is part of the charm I guess.
Anyway I love Italian food but would definitely not put buffalo dining club in my top Italian restaurant in Sydney… And yesterday was the last time I will go there

How could anyone even contemplate veganism when restaurants like this exist for the tasting? This restaurant is known and named for their buffalo mozzarella and holy hell is it heavenly. This place is an absolute must try!
Their located easily off victoria st, at night it just appears as one apartment looks more rowdier than the rest. Famed for no reservations, you gotta turn up and wait. Our wait time was 1 hour, they record your name and mobile and text you when your table is ready. Leaving us free to roam about within walking distance for some bars for pre dinner drinkies. I’m happy to wait if I feel it’s worth it and this totally was. They shut at 11pm, so upon return we were 30mins late behind confirmation text, they were able to seat us straight away still. This restaurant is so small but they an upstairs too.
The only paper menu was the drinks menu which is all alcohol. The food menu was written on a blackboard on the wall. Which was divided up as mozzarella, prosciutto, sides, salads and pasta. Apparently you choose a mozzarella plus two sides and a pasta as the standard ordering template. We didn’t mind because the choices were delish. Honestly sometimes you just prefer this simplistic menu choices because if a restaurant specialise in a particular product that they’ll advertise themselves over it, then you know that’s the dish you must try and you can trust them to have done it right.
In the end we choose buffalo mozzarella (the absolute best!) with sides of chorizo & bussel sprouts and sweet potato & artichoke chips. Plus 90g prosciutto san danielle. Then for pasta we got the cacio e pepe which is like spaghetti with salt, pepper, olive oil and parsley in a pecorino cheese wheel, which they wheel out of the cheese in front of you. Those arms girl, must be strong.
Also the other pasta dish was the Tuscan sausage ragu. They also provided a jar full of a chilli sauce concoction which you could apply to the pastas. I gave that jar a wide berth but my partner piled that thing into his ragu, apparently it was delicious. I’ll take his word for it… argh chilli freak.
This restaurant was worth all the time spent traversing there and then waiting around the area for, we loved it. Highly recommended!

My wife and I visited The Buffalo Dining Club on our first night in Sydney and had a fantastic experience. We were seated at the bar and had the chance to chat with one of the owners while he bartended and took care of us. He gave us a great explanation of the foods, gave us some great recommendations, and allowed us to try a few things. Delicious food, solid value, and great service.

The minute you arrive you’ll know you made the right choice… If you can endure the 1 hour wait. The host will graciously take your number and call you (we got a drink at a popup bar around the corner called The Chalet and loved it — great wing appetizer too ;) caprese salad is probably the best I’ve had… The mozzarella is clearly the restaurants namesake for a reason. We got the Jamon which rocked, and there trademark pecorino pasta which they scoop right out of a chunk of cheese bigger than a pickup truck tire. Not a fan of tiramisu but loved it ;) I’d give these guys 5 stars for don’t make a mistake and go somewhere else particularly if you’re just visiting town like us!

I love this restaurant, it has a simple menu that is always on point.
The burrata cheese $ 20 with 2 sides of your choice was creamy and delicious. You can choose to add any other accompaniments for an extra $ 6 each.
We opted to share the sausage ragu for a main with a side of the house made chilli. The chilli was so good I had to buy a bottle on the way out.
On other visits I have had the potato gnocchi that is also really good, soft potato pillows with a decadent tomato sauce. And you can’t not try the spaghetti that arrives at your table in a rather large wheel of pecorino cheese!!!
Whatever you order you won’t be disappointed.

The gnocchi is always my absolute favourite! Closely followed by the spaghetti spun in the cheese and also the sides of meats and cheeses, but I always manage to arrive at the wrong time when the wait for food is too long so I can’t eat there as much as I’d like to.
Lovely staff though, my first meal in my new place was their pasta (take away) and I didn’t have cutlery at home yet & they didn’t have disposables so they sent me off with some of their silverware which was very sweet of them :)

So a couple of things:
1. They don’t take bookings which is really annoying. However I knew that when I turned up so I was fine to wait until a table became available. We had to wait an hour (gah!) but the service was excellent once we did get in. If you’re turning up at 7 then you’ll have to wait a little while, so just be aware. If they took booking this would hands down be a 5 star review from me.
2. As I said the service is great! Lovely and friendly waiters and waitresses
3. Most importantly the food — so so good! I really cannot get over how good the food was. I raves about it to absolutely everyone. That burrata is what dreams are made of.
Overall it is such a great restaurant and I am already planning to go back as soon as possible.

Can’t say much about this place that the previous reviews haven’t already said but this place absolutely deserves all the five star reviews it receives. Amazing good, knowledgeable staff and an amazing dining experience.

Excellent table service and very informative waiter.
This place is worth the visit even if it’s just for the wine!
A small but big enough menu on the blackboard explained in detail.
We started with smoky cheese eggplant and pecorino & Spanish olives that tasted sweet but savoury! Very new experience.
Pasta is served out of a round of Parmesan cheese & they get you to scrape it off the serving tongs for extra flavour!
Intimate dining with tables set very close together, after a few drinks around the tables everyone starts to interact and socialise.
Fantastic concept, my only complaint was the serving sizes are a little small.

One of the nice places in my dearest Darlinghurst area… Good value for money and nice Italian food.
I highly recommend to have Jamon Iberico and Caprese pasta (cooked and served directly from the cheese).
Mozzarella is not the best I had (Obica Mozarella Bar in Roma is far ahead) but still worth it. Tiramisu is a bit disappointing.
3 stars only because the place does not really deserve such a big buzz.

Really enjoyed our meal here! All the cheeses, meats, sides and pastas were great — and you can’t go past the fun of the pasta being served from the giant wheel of Parmesan.
The menu structure is a little odd — it’s almost like a set menu from which you choose A or B (or both) but I actually really enjoyed it and it made for a great shared meal. It ended up being very reasonably priced too.
The staff were great, but unfortunately you can’t book so end up having to wait for a table… But it’s definitely worth it!

Great place. Confident staff who told us what to order which was good cause my mates an indecisive loser who’s still not had sex at the age of 35.

I really enjoyed the food here. I’d give it 5 stars, but I hate waiting an hour for a table (no bookings here), and it was a little loud and claustrophobic for my liking. BUT, the food, and the cheese… that’s why you go here.
We had the mozzarella, with the potato croquettes and artichoke hearts, with a side of the jamon. When my partner ordered a $ 20 side of spaghetti, I got a little grumpy… I mean, $ 20??? But the Cacio E Pepe was AMAZING. If I wanted to get fat (ter), I would eat this every day!
Washed it all down with a nice glass of Malbec.
Service was great. I thought that surely being a trendy Darlinghurst joint, that it would be the typical «I dont give a crap» Sydney service. But I was again, proven wrong. The guys were friendly, knowledgeable, and timing was perfect.
I will be back for sure.

Pasta/​cheese/​cold meat/​general food-​heaven As everyone’s pointed out the Cacio E Pepe is amazing (I have inappropriate feelings for that pasta) but the ragu and gnocchi is just as good. Infact, everything is good on their small blackboard menu, not a figure of speech, literally everything is delicious it’s almost frustrating.
Because of their size, they don’t take bookings and is not exactly large group friendly. However they are more than happy to take your name and number down so you can go to any of the cool surrounding bars for pre-​drinks and they’ll buzz you when your table is ready. All the staff are super duper friendly it’s almost confusing.
The only thing that could make this place even better (HINT HINT) is if they serve their wine in carafes/​half bottles because I always get the same wine (the Argentinian Malbec, you’re welcome).

This is my second time here and I love it every bit as much as the first time!
This place does not take reservations so if you want a spot– get here early! We arrived at 6.30 on a Saturday as a party of two. We stood outside in line with a bunch of other hungry folk waiting to put our names on the waiting list. Luckily we only had to wait 10 mins before getting a table. However groups of four were being told there was a wait time of an hour and half!
The place is small with only a handful of tables. The place was packed and lively with a great buzz. The menu was on a blackboard on the wall with the star being the different cheeses on offer. 4 different cheeses were available, most of which I had not heard of. You were able to choose a cheese an then two sides for $ 19! Sides included honey baby carrot, potato or pumpkin croquettes, tempura cauliflower. and many more!
We opted for a burrata cheese with potato croquette and cherry tomatoes. We also ordered Jamon Iberico which came in 30 g 60 g or 90g and the cacio e pepe pasta. The food was amazing and could not be faulted.
There were also great options for wine drinkers with good selections for both red or white. However if you were a beer drink you only had a Trumer Pilsner or «light beer» to select from.
All in all this is a great place, with great food and atmosphere, not to mention the service was outstanding!

The perfect storm.
Small, like someone’s extended-​out little kitchen.
Super-​boss waiter wearing friendliness like fake tan.
Spaghetti served from a wheel of cheese.
Secret home-​made chilli sauce that they won’t tell you the ingredients of.
White anchovies piled up in delicious little mounds.
Cured meats.
Cheeses that will drive you to the brink of insanity.
*whispered repetition* The perfect storm…

It’s not even tough for me to make this sweeping call — this is the best traditional Italian cuisine I’ve had in Sydney. Easily. Starting with antipasti of cured meats and burrata and buffalo mozzarella that practically exploded in oozey, milky goodness when touched with a knife, the plot thickened with the punch-​me-​in-​the-​face good gnocchi, made even better by an amble dose of their secret homemade chili sauce. And of course, the show stopping spaghetti cacio e pepe served straight out of a wheel of cheese.
We were here for lunch and thus missed any and all forms of waiting. We had a table right away, and the food was perfectly timed — the next dish arriving just after we had finished the first. It’s a pinch of a venue, so it seems we got very lucky today, even at 1:30pm. Furthermore, the staff were so friendly and helpful we could have easily lounged at our table until we were hungry again for dinner. We didn’t get to those zucchini flowers…

Restaurant Staff Get-​up of the Year: Buffalo Dining Club. These guys are just aching cool. Slicked hair, tatts and Italian charisma down-​pat. Modern day Danny Zukos, at your service. The menu? Little breadth and all depth. Beautiful mozzarella antipasti, 3 or 4 simple pasta dishes and a few desserts, are chalked on the board. The menu is small but they nail it. Its delightfully cosy and rustic inside and the choice in music is rad. Take a date, but arrive early. Order the cacio e pepe for a show.