Puttanesca is the kind of place where your kid can drop their fork not once but twice,and be offered a new one without any snark. There’s no need for a kids’ menu though,as the casual Italian pitch is perfect for the family-friendly setting inside Kew’s old Clifton Hotel.

Beef meatballs showered with ricotta salata are as plump and juicy as the ones you’d find on the dinner table at home. Margherita pizza boasts a gorgeously burnished crust courtesy of the wood-fired oven,a feature of the dining room along with polished concrete floors. (Pro tip:book here for the most comfortable seats in the house.)

Hefty chicken thigh sports a fine panko crust for chicken cotoletta,its crunch matched by a simple pea and mint slaw. Can’t skip your pub parma? Add mozzarella and tomato. Now,that’s true Italian hospitality.

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Melbourne’s Eastern Suburbs

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