Best summer dining: Pompei's

This inside-outside Bondi Beach staple has had a bit of facelift, giving it a smarter, more Venetian feel.

What hasn't changed, you will be relieved to hear, is the quality of George Pompei's hand-made pizza, pasta and gelato. The pizza is made with stone-ground, unbleached flour, the dough proven for 36 hours, the base thin and scorchy, the 28 different toppings simple and correctly layered from the classic margherita to speck, mushrooms, juniper berries and herbs.

The filled pasta is freshly made every day, including northern Italian casunziei (crescent-shaped, beetroot-filled parcels with a buttery poppy seed sauce) and ravioli filled with baby spinach, parmigiano, ricotta and nutmeg in a fresh tomato sauce.

The gelato, now served from beneath traditional Italian covered domes, is made with organic milk and real ingredients rather than syrups, colourings and gelatine. Milk-free sorbets such as white peach, mango and strawberry are all made with fresh fruit in season, but the real star is the lush Amedei 70 per cent dark chocolate gelato.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide says: “The gelato alone is definitely worth a detour.”

This summer's hot order: Spaghetti with prawns, snapper, capers, chilli and parsley, $19/$29.

126-130 Roscoe Street (cnr Gould Street), Bondi Beach. Phone 9365 1233, www.pompeis.com.au. Lunch and dinner daily, about $70 for two, plus drinks.