Yak Bar Pasta Artigianale is an incredible Italian restaurant in the CBD. For me the name threw up influences of a Tibetan plateau – I was horribly wrong.

Yak Bar Pasta is an exciting restaurant that will take you on a journey deep into Italian cooking, moreover edgy pasta dishes. It’s a colourful, fresh, creative space with underlying sophistication for the discerning diner.

Having walked past Yak Bar Pasta Artigianale several times in my sorties to Flinders Lane I finally ventured in to check it out. Through the windows I could see many professionals enjoying themselves and wondered what it was all about…

Yak Bar Pasta Artigianale is now the masterstroke of Chef Gelsomino and business partner Chris McIntyre, bringing their craft from The Grand in Richmond.

This place has a cool ambience. Spacious restaurant with various interesting dining sections. Struck by the colourful décor and wild wallpaper. Love the mosaic tiles.

First up I went to Yak Bar for breakfast. Simple breakfasts include fruit toast, bagels and toasted sandwiches. But I found Yak Bar to be a great place for breakfast.

In fact the toasted sandwich was spectacular and more like a large tasty delightful melt. Maybe it was my day, but I actually received 3 halves of a toasted sandwich!

The coffee was excellent.

Having heard so much about the pasta I returned to Yak Bar for lunch. The pasta here is home made and hand made from stoneground flour. It is amazing pasta – not heavy – but light and silky. How pasta should be!

The pasta is made throughout the day, so fresh! It is hand-rolled on a board. This is very scientific so as to keep the pasta rough so the sauce sticks. (This must be what I’m doing wrong at home). Look into the kitchen and see some of the hand made pasta hanging on a wooden rod.

I ordered the acclaimed Lemon and potato agnolotti served with a pecorino and sage sauce. I loved the fresh pasta filled with potato puree and the lemon sauce. The flavours were compelling and little parmesan was required.

This dish was sensational! Something different! How often do you see potato and lemon?

I could have gone with the traditional lasagne or the Wholemeal taglioline with braised rabbit. Or Spinach and ricotta cannelloni.

Yak Bar Pasta Artigianale educates diners in pasta excellence. I remember growing up in 1970s Australia when spaghetti was the staple. In my late teens I was introduced to fettucine – pretty out there – as a wild alternative to spaghetti. Then along came cannelloni and gnocci – also sensational variations to pasta.

Here at Yak Bar Pasta Artigianale there are choices such as Maltagliati - Flat, roughly cut pieces of pasta produced as random shapes from the scraps of pasta being cut and formed for another variety of pasta ...

Then there is Vincigrassi. It goes that while lasagna is a traditional dish from Romagna, Vincisgrassi is traditional from Macerata, in the region of Marche.

The tradition goes that this dish was created by adding extra ingredients to the Bolognese sauce to impress a German general called Windisch Graetz who was passing through Marche region in 1799. He certainly was impressed and the recipe remains one of the most traditional and delicious Italian pasta dishes.

My agnolotti was a first for me. Agnolotti (pronounced anneeolottee) are Piemontese stuffed pasta, and come in a great many different varieties, some filled with cheese, others meat, and others still meatless. They are, in any case square and small, about 3/4 of an inch to an inch on a side, and are made using very thin sheets of pasta.

Then there’s the tagliolini. Tagliolini, also known as taglierini or tajarin, are the finest and quickest cooking egg noodels. They work best with fairly liquid, creamy sauces.

Service here was excellent with the waiter always explaining the dishes and attentive. As I was in a hurry I was able to consume my olives and bread dipped in oil and then my main course in half an hour – not bad!

Yak Bar Pasta Artigianale, 150 Flinders Lane, CBD – Italian – Food 9.5 Coffee 9 Ambience 9