A renowned chef who once shared a kitchen with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has opened his first restaurant on the Sunshine Coast, bringing a style of Italian dining that’s previously unseen locally.
Irish-born chef and owner Craig Moloney has launched Cicchetti Street Food at Alexandra Headland, after years working in restaurants across Ireland, Perth and the Sunshine Coast.
The venue specialises in regional Italian street food elevated with fine dining techniques – and deliberately avoids the standard pizza-and-pasta formula.
“We don’t do pizza specifically and we don’t do pasta,” Mr Moloney said.
“All of the dishes on our menu you won’t find anywhere else. Even in Italian restaurants on the coast, you won’t find them outside those regions of Italy.
“I love Italian food but too many people think Italian food is only pizza and pasta, but it’s not. There’s so much more, and we want to show people that.”
Mr Moloney moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2023 after arriving in Australia in 2019. His grandfather was Sardinian and introduced him to regional Italian food as a child.
The Cicchetti Street Food menu draws inspiration from regions throughout Italy, with Mr Moloney adapting traditional dishes to Australian tastes while retaining authenticity.
“One of our best sellers is our olive all’ascolana,” he said.
“We take Sicilian olives, stuff them with beef cheek ragu, bread them and deep fry them. Everybody’s blown away by them because it’s so unique.”
Another standout is the stuffed calamari.
“For calamari, it’s whole baby squid stuffed with breadcrumbs, speck, pecorino romano and herbs, then braised in red wine,” he said.
“It’s so different because all of the dishes on our menu you won’t find anywhere else.”
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Mr Moloney said his background in fine dining heavily influenced the restaurant’s style.
He trained under executive chef John McCardle, formerly of the Hilton Hotel chain in the United States, and later worked alongside Michelin-starred chef David Rouse.
He also worked for Gordon Ramsay at Powerscourt in Ireland.
“I’ve done the high-end fine dining stuff,” he said.
“But I find it very pretentious. What I wanted to do was take fine dining food and make it less intimidating to people.”
Before moving to the Coast, Mr Moloney opened Perth venue Stonewater in 2022, which he said was later recognised among the city’s best restaurants.
Despite this being his first restaurant ownership venture, the chef said he intentionally kept the opening quiet.
“We did no marketing, no advertising,” he said.
“I stood out on the street with samples of olives and lentils, giving them to people.
“I intentionally didn’t advertise in order for the staff to iron out any small problems we had before we got too busy.”
The strategy appears to have paid off.
“The local support has been amazing,” he said.
“We’ve had customers with us five, six, seven times already.
“You have to book a seat Friday, Saturday and Sunday because we’re literally booked out. We also just received a certificate of excellence award from Restaurant Guru, which we are really proud of.”
Mr Moloney said the restaurant’s aesthetic had also become part of its appeal, with interiors designed by Onyx Studios.
“It’s moody, low light, very New York,” he said.
“But I still want people to feel they can come in wearing shorts and a T-shirt from the beach and grab lunch.”
Cicchetti Street Food is at 2/180 Alexandra Parade, Alexandra Headland, and open form 11.30am to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm Tuesday to Sunday.
