137 Marion St, Leichhardt
La Botte D'Oro
On Marion Street since 1977 and run by Gabriele since 2024: the Sicilian food he grew up on, with Italian wine to match.
Gabriele Franco
Culinary strategist, hospitality consultant and chef patron of La Botte D'Oro in Leichhardt, Sydney. He learned to cook in Carlentini, Sicily.
Learn to cook
Cooking classes
Hands-on Sicilian classes in Leichhardt: pasta, pastry, arancini and bread. New dates are announced here first.
Run a kitchen
Consulting
Menu development, food costing, kitchen systems and team training, from a chef who still runs a service of his own.
Come for dinner
La Botte D'Oro
His restaurant at 137 Marion St, Leichhardt. Or he cooks at your table, at home or at a venue.
Carlentini, then the ships, then Leichhardt
Born in Carlentini, near Siracusa, Gabriele went through hotel school in Lentini and spent years at sea as an executive chef for MSC Cruises, running brigades that cooked for thousands of guests. He came to Sydney in 2017 and took over La Botte D'Oro in 2024; since then it has been named Best Restaurant Pizzeria in the Inner West. He still runs it, which is why the classes are taught the way a restaurant cooks and the consulting is done the way an owner would want it done.
- 2005Hotel school in Lentini, Sicily
- 2014Executive chef, MSC Cruises
- 2017Moves to Sydney
- 2019Executive chef, Navarra Venues
- 2024Takes over La Botte D'Oro, Leichhardt
- 2025Finalist, Inner West Small Business Awards
- 2026Ospitalità Italiana certification for La Botte D'Oro
Where to find him
Inner West
Table & Together
An events and cooking-class space where strangers share pasta and wine at one long table.
Anywhere in Sydney
At your table
Private dinners and catering cooked in your home or venue, with a menu written for the occasion.
On Sunrise
Gabriele has cooked live on Channel 7's Sunrise for National Lasagna Day. In Sicily, La Sicilia interviewed him about Carlentini and the road to Sydney.
Awards
Ospitalità Italiana 2026–2027
Certified by the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Australia. One of five venues in Sydney. La Botte D'Oro.
Best Restaurant Pizzeria, Inner West
Local Business Awards 2025, winner. La Botte D'Oro.
Diners' Choice 2026
Awarded by OpenTable diners. La Botte D'Oro.
Has cooked with
MSC Cruises, Navarra Venues, Inner West Council, Sydney Food & Wine Festival, Table & Together.
Sicilian recipes
The dishes he grew up on, written for a home kitchen.
Cannoli Siciliani
The crown jewel of Sicilian pastry. Crispy fried shells filled with sweetened sheep ricotta, candied orange, and dark chocolate chips.
75 minutes, for confident cooks
Pasta alla Norma
The quintessential Sicilian pasta — silky tomato sauce, fried eggplant, ricotta salata. A dish born in Catania, perfected in my kitchen.
45 minutes, easy
Caponata Siciliana
Sweet and sour eggplant agrodolce — the great Sicilian condiment. Serve warm, cold, on bruschetta or beside grilled fish.
60 minutes, medium
On Instagram
Follow @chefgabrielefranco
