When an Italian chef tells you spaghetti carbonara isn’t a dish,it’s a religion,you better be ready to take their food seriously. Evocative,modern Italian art hangs on the walls and fringed lampshades glow above each table at this smart Toorak Village salon;a palpable house pride that portends good times on the plate.
Eggplant parmigiana is halved,fried and striped with Napoli sauce,cheese and basil for a dressed-up version of the classic.Squid is stuffed with parsley-flecked breadcrumbs,coddled in cream sauce and draped with fennel slices that emphasise its slender furls. Al dente noodles tangle with clams in a spaghetti vongole topped with shaved bottarga and fermented garlic;huge flavours,huge joy.
The hero dish is the bistecca fritta,a crumbed T-bone steak pan-fried in clarified butter,finished in the oven,then carved tableside by a begloved waiter channelling the drama of a Roman gladiator. This is food deeply and respectfully anchored in the old country,rendered with skill and a dash of daring.
Must-order: Bistecca fritta
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