EAT HERALD SUN 05.08.08

“The service is faultless” so said Zoe Skewes editor of Eat Top Ten middle page spread Herald Sun August 5 2008. “The Italian slots instantly into the top category of all-round great Melbourne eats. Service is faultless and the wine list has room to move in the $30 bracket. S.D $$$$”

THE ACADEMIA TALIANA DELLA CUCINA

Our first international award after four convert visits by their culinary secret agents, The Accademia Italiana Della Cucina bestowed recognition on The Italian by hosting a dinner for thirty dignitaries in July and presenting Roberto with their award banner. The Accademia publishes an annual review of 3000 Italian restaurants and highlights a number of foreign ‘Italian’ restaurants as well. The Italian is proud to feature in the forthcoming release. More details available on the A.I.D.C website.

THE AGE MELBOURNE MAGAZINE

John Lethlean shares some of his favourite dining moments with The Age Magazine August 08 issue. Read about his choice of entrees, Veal Tongue with Tune Sauce, at The Italian.

HERALD SUN

Stephen Downes, food critic with the Herald Sun, was impressed and penned this article on the July 15 2008.

THE EMERALD HILL TIMES

Matt Preston, feature writer for The Emerald Hill Times, July 9 2008 edition said this …

BELLE MAGAZINE

“The stunning new space” is how Belle Magazine, July 2008 described The Italian … read more here

DELICIOUS MAGAZINE

The Foodiefile section of Delicious Magazine, July 2008 had this observation …

GOURMET TRAVELLLER

The Italian Job—Gourmet Traveller’s Review Roberto Scheriani hits the big time with Melbourne’s power dining set in the CBD reports John Lethlean. In the foyer, by the elevator, is a list of tenant’s: the companies—and the people—who ride the lifts and ascend the ‘Tower of Power’ each morning, coming down occasionally to eat, drink, so coffee and deals.

It’s a restaurateur’s dream—blue-chip investment banks, the cream of commercial law, stockbrokers, venture capitalists, property firms and miners. There’s even an ex-prime minister in the building.

Welcome to 101 Collins, quite possibly the single most potent concentration of influence and power in Melbourne, if not Australia. It is the south what Waterfront Place is to Brisbane of Shifley Tower is to Sydney. It is the address. And, to paraphrase city father John Batman, who famously declared in 1835 that Melbourne’s current site was a suitable place “for a village”, this is a very suitable place for a restaurant.

And so it proves to be a lunchtime for Roberto Scheriani’s latest incarnation, after moving across from Flinders Lane earlier this year. Inside, its wall-to-wall worsted wool, silk ties and conservative Italian and English shoes, except for trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, who eschews the preferred garb of fellow diners (and the man at his table, rag-trade magnate Solly Lew) for a polo neck, knitted fisherman’s jumper, into which he sensibly tucks a big, white square provided by the restaurant to keep suits, shirts-and jumpers-tidy over lunch.

Here at The Italian, the language of the table is far more challenging than that of the Menu and is, quite literally, that of mergers, reverse takeovers, indexed funds and page three of today’s Fin. Scheriani has kept his ear open during the past couple of years, after a stint in Port Melbourne (R-Bar). Now the training-wheels are off and, with this bold new space, he’s created a restaurant he knows city suits want.

From Scheriani’s old digs across Flinders Lane—a typically ‘buried’ Melbourne laneways restaurant in the Mercer Building basement where he and chef Andy Logue built the business—the Italian veteran has seen first-hand the power and money that spills out of 101 Collins’ back door every day, heading out for lunch.

When a souring space within the building that was already supplying plenty of his customers became available last year, the lead was made, a deal well done; even better, the rumour has it in the landlord at 101 Collins contributed to Scheriani’s undoubtedly expensive fit-out.

Scheriani must be doing something right.

Melbourne may be growing but it its restaurant population—or, at least, the number of restaurant seats on offer at any given time—is growing faster. The Italian is a restaurant that could be siphoning customers from the lights of Florentino, Becco, Cecconi’s, Bottega and Il Solito Posto, to name but a few. Its sheer sixe, staff entourage, kitchen brigade and impressive wine list marked this as Scheriani’s serious crack at the big time and, in professionalism; it’s a long way from the days of Ristorante Roberto of the mid 90s.

With its largely male lunch crowd in full flight—a wave that crashes around 12.30pm each weekday—The Italian quite possibly has the reverse problem of many restaurants that cant quite fire during the day yet come alive by candlelight. Well see.

It all starts with the premises; a giant, multi-level void with daylight on two fronts, turned into something dramatic, yet user-friendly by Melbourne architect John Mikulic. He has given The Italian a warm, easy-to-like feel that makes the most internal volume, the city streetscapes outside via soaring windows and courtyard suspended above Flinders Lane. There’s plenty of timber, quirky light fittings, red leather booths, polished boards, customised carpets and impossibly hard timber wine shelving accessed by a rolling ladder on rails.

But it’s the space that makes an impression; the sheer volume, from the entry-level café/bar up the first-level dining floor, with its direct access to the courtyard, and the ceiling that’s almost as high as the salaries of those senior partners somewhere above in their plush offices, as well as the natural light that has been well integrated into the design.

The Italian is a place that feels special yet unpretentious, and that a pretty good metaphor for the food and wine on offer. This is a well-excited, user-friendly Italian food—the default CBD business lunch of this decade and the last, too. And Logue, who learned his chops at Sydney institution Buon Ricordo, has built up not only a closer understanding of this clientele’s preference during the past few years in the neighbourhood but also a greater confidence and finesse.

Negotiating the Logue’s menu is both simple and pleasurable. There might as well be a sub-heading: Italian food that’s good, not fancy.

Sometime in the near future, I intend to sample a roasted tomato soup with fregola and salt cod, a few butterflied and crumbed sardines with a pine nut, tomato and tarragon dressing and a pappardelle with shiraz-braised agro dolce duck. Brains with steamed potatoes and parsley sauce is the sort of timeless peasant dish that gladdens the heart. And I have much praise for the restaurant’s chargrilled rib eye and a similarly grilled Poussin with spiced and lemon. Next time.

For now, it’s a really tasty ‘terrine Valle d’Aosta, a dish originating from that northern-most province of Italy abutting the Alps, riddled with pork, chicken livers, rabbit meat and pistachios, all peppered with five-spice and bound with pancetta. Logue serves it simply and confidently with a lightly dressed salad of cress and a mound of mostarda–mustard fruits–and a chargrilled Dench sourdough crostini.

That’s it. And it’s fabulous.

His left-of-center take on vitello tonnato is a bit of a rough diamond: with polishing, it will sparkle. It’s a ‘warm salad of veal tongue’, which translates into quickly grilled slices of tender, slightly charred tongue topped with a herb-flecked tuna mayonnaise (like vitello tonnato), grilled chilli, crisp-fried basil leaves and a dressing of olive oil. The chilli hit is a bit of a whack but there is a pleasing rightness to the combination that will respond to refinement.

Naturally, there is a pasta/rice section on the menu, which includes polenta served with yes more offal, honeycomb tripe. Previous experience suggests that this will still be a wonderful dish. You’ll also find other classic winter stuff- ravioli Verde with a rabbit ragu and hand-rolled pici with oxtail ragu- alongside an all-seasons classic, spaghettini with blue swimmer crab meat, tomato and a tomato-based sauce with a touch of chilli. Nothing experimental or profound but a beautifully balanced pasta.

Like so many restaurants not, The Italian keeps the price differential between entrees and mains fairly slim. The mains are cheap! It also keeps the lid on win mark-ups in a way out friends at the Crown could learn from. Its smart business: not only do so many of the restaurants’ customers know the retail price of good wine, as Scheriani himself says, half of them own vineyards. He doesn’t try to con them.

Our Poggio Argentiera 2006 Morelino di.