Market St Basement has been serving the Newcastle foodie community since its inception in our CBD in 2015. Originally kicking off with Israeli cuisine before transitioning into Italian in 2020, this local favourite eatery has continued to be a crowd favourite in the Newcastle restaurant scene.

Deciding it was time for another refresh, owners Jordan & Alicen have officially launched a new menu with a selection of tasty new dishes and of course still keeping their signature favourites on the menu.

“Our pizza and pasta have been consistently amazing and well-received for years. As part of our growth we really wanted to refine our dishes and include some proteins in our offering,” Ali shared.

The venue’s new Head Chef, Yann, joined the Market St Basement team right at the start of the year, making for the perfect opportunity for the team to inject some new life into their much-loved menu.

“Yann has extensive experience across a wide range of cuisines including French, Italian, and Mauritian, and this is reflected in the final menu he designed.”

Without further ado, let’s take a look over the Market St Basement’s flavour-filled refreshed, and reinvented menu offering.

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day | Build Your Own Antipasto

Kicking it all off with their antipasto offering, the venue has encouraged diners to get creative by putting the reins in their hands. Start with the house focaccia, add some black garlic butter, and build it up from there with their range of cold cuts and cured meats.

“Add some heirloom tomatoes, marinated olives, and smoked burrata to complete your starters.”

Building your own board not quite up your alley? The team have you sorted with their carefully curated entrée menu. Discover Burrata served with heirloom tomatoes, tarragon oil, shaved pear, and charred house focaccia; the Baked Tomino with balsamic grapes, rosemary, toasted walnuts, and charred focaccia; Charcoal Beets with house cashew butter; or Calamari & Prawn Fritti served with ‘Nduja mayonnaise, just to name a few.

When In Rome | Pasta

When I think of Market St Basement, I think of pasta. So, the great news is that the pasta offering certainly isn’t going anywhere. The even better news? Believe it or not, somehow, they’ve managed to elevate their offering even more.

“As always and consistent with the ethos of Basement, we offer delicious pizza and pasta. Utilising fresh pasta from a local pasta maker has totally transformed the flavour sensation of our pasta.

“The Oxtail & Beef Ragu is deliciously rich and flavourful on the palate. Our seafood pasta contrastingly is light and delicately balanced with an extravagant amount of seafood including market fish, prawns, calamari, and prawns tossed in herbed chilli oil. Our vodka rigatoni (a crowd favourite) is back and better than ever topped with crispy pancetta and plenty of fresh parmesan.”

Do As The Romans Do | Pizza

As expected, the pizza is just as good as ever with their toppings packing even more of a punch. The dough is so good that it will have you wishing for even more crust!

The Salsiccia is a personal favourite, built on a tomato-based and topped with fior di latte mozzarella, pork and fennel sausage, chilli, and fried zucchini; Pistacchio on a white base topped with mortadella, Stracciatella, and pistachio pesto; and the Patate E Tartufo on a black truffle cream base with fior di latte mozzarella, gorgonzola, potato, and rosemary.

A Taste Of Italia

The real menu heroes are of course new protein additions including the Charred Spatchcock with capers, eschalot, Sicilian olives, and lemon myrtle; and the 200g Veal Cutlet with a burnt butter and sage sauce, capers, and fresh parmesan.

You can’t not sample the 300g Black Onyx Striploin Steak complemented by a house herb & citrus vinaigrette and fresh parmesan; perfect for the big meat eaters. Lucky last, the Market Fish, which is currently a Coral Trout comes to life with fresh tomato, eschalot, and caper salsa.

“Match any of these back with our array of sides and you really have a dinner fit for a king or queen. Of course, we haven’t forgotten our vegan friends with a designated vegan pizza and pasta as well as options to make various other dishes vegan.”

Not ones to do things by halves, the team haven’t just updated their food menu, they’ve even revamped both their cocktail list (which has been pumping out the same iconic serves since they opened) and their wine list.

“Our sommeliers incorporated more Italian and local wines and were conscious to match these back to create perfect pairs with our pasta and protein selections.

“We’ve always specialised in cocktails and this time we upped the ante with our mixologists working tirelessly to curate the perfect cocktail offering. We included our signatures like the Limoncello Sorbita and Sicilian Pornstar but we’ve also added some newbies.”

Those newbies include a Market St Basement spin on the classic Negroni and of course the HUNTERhunter collaboration cocktail, La Nina as well as a selection of tantalising mocktails to choose from.

With so many great new flavours and old favourites on the list, where exactly does one start? Well, to push you in the right direction, we’ve asked owners Alicen and Jordan, and Head Chef Yann to give us their personal recommendations.

Alicen – Burata for entrée and either the Vodka Rigatoni, Pancetta e Funghi Pizza, or Market Fish for mains. I would wash it all down with an Aperol Sour.

Jordan – Calamari & Prawn Fritti for entrée, Ragu Di Manzo for main, and to drink I would order the La Nina cocktail.

Yann – Baked Tomino for entrée, Veal Cotoletta for main, and the House Tiramisu for dessert.

Book your table and get amongst the first to sample the Market St Basement’s new and refreshed menu.