It's been a while since gentlemen were obliged to have their coats on at all times, but it's encouraging to see that Grossi Florentino is still sweating the small stuff. The large Mural Room is one of Melbourne's last bastions of sumptuous European dining appeal, with dark lighting and the providing of a handbag stool to create the scene upon arrival. You'll see the balletic process known as the seasoning of the glasses if you purchase a bottle of wine from the novel-sized list, regardless matter whether you select a Premier Cru or a $70 Vermentino. Not to mention the delicious snacks that arrive to help offset the admission fee of $150 for three meals or $180 for the "grand tour" of six.

It's a good way to start an official program that may include swatches of jewel-like tuna, radish and horseradish cream, and a nectar-sweet blood orange surprise. A more robust plate of octopus is available, cooked with deftness to mix a gutsy exterior char with insides of just-set gelatinousness, and accompanied by a smoked potato mash that serves as both carbohydrates and sauce. Desserts reinterpret the Italian oeuvre through a contemporary lens. The shape-shifting honey pannacotta, bee pollen, and frozen Grand Marnier mousse form a conga line inspired by the Italian mimosa cake. It's classic-moderne, and it reminds me a little of the Grossi family. They've secured their place in the city's eating heritage via three generations of hard work and some darn great food.

Location: 80 Bourke Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: www.grossiflorentino.com

To describe Di Stasio Città as one of the year's most anticipated debuts is akin to describing the tram stop on Flinders and Elizabeth as shady. After turning on the red light in its pod-like entrance portal a few weeks ago, it seems like half of Melbourne has been misty-eyed over the 30-plus-year heritage of St Kilda's Cafe Di Stasio and the even longer legacy of Rinaldo Di Stasio, the city's one-man answer to the Medici family.

Di Stasio Città (literally, "city") hasn't through telling its ribald tales. They'll show up. Ronnie Di Stasio returns to the neighborhood where he founded Rosati in the heady days of the 1980s, just before the fringe benefits tax and the stock market crash cruelled the decade's excesses. And the omens are favorable. It's a site of strikingly clean-lined brutalism, with concrete walls and pillars, a stunning terrazzo floor, and video works by artists Reko Rennie and Shaun Gladwell looping with the same mesmeric powers as the RSL's TV.

When confronted with a large single-page menu, you may experience choice paralysis. The ultimate aperitivo hour snack is sage leaves and anchovies coated in a lacy batter with a splash of lemon. A tray of cheesy, salty pastries, some with hints of prosciutto and others like a spinach-driven cucina povera finger, may appear to be the answer, but save your carbs for the pasta. A quorum of the St Kilda menu has traveled to Melbourne. The ragged flags of breadcrumb pasta with calamari and radicchio, known as pasta maltagliata, are now available.

Location: 45 Spring Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: www.distasio.com.au

Il Bacaro is a little restaurant near the metro Voltaire, on a quiet street overlooking the Rue de la Roquette, where you will be greeted attentively and warmly. Eleonora specializes in Italian cuisine with a Venetian twist. Because everything is produced from scratch, the menu is limited. It is updated on a regular basis, in accordance with the seasons and current items. Their wine collection will help you have a nice time, with a strong emphasis on organic and biodynamic wines.

In its small, busy restaurant, Il Bacaro provides a contemporary take on classic Venetian dishes. On the palate, we're not talking about foams, sands, or molecular technology. Poached fish is served with watermelon consommé, pickled cucumber, fennel, dill, and elderflower, while Limoncello baba is served with white chocolate and mascarpone semifreddo, lemon myrtle, and meringue. The focus here is on subtle inventiveness and high-end cuisine.

Location: 170 Little Collins Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: https://www.ilbacaro.com.au

If you've been lucky enough in life, you could recognize this melancholy Melbourne image for Tipo 00, one of the best pasta bars you'll ever visit. Tipo 00 – a name to reference the flour used in what they specialize in ‘pasta’. A restaurant to showcase their passion for Italian food, pasta and beverage.

The floor team taking turns resting a minute with their staff dinners up the back; the amber glow of the spotlit pass repelling against the dying winter light outside; the kitchen crew quietly giggling as they carefully prepare for the evening surge It has all of the warmth and inviting that the word 'pasta bar' implies, but with a backstage, guard-down honesty that is almost Disney-esque.

Maybe you've come for a quick bowl of soup and a glass of wine at the elegant marble bar. You're doing well, and you're not alone. On Tipo's 80/20 Italian/local list, there's enough by the glass, and the knowledgeable staff will be happy to pour you something that complements your spaghetti. However, if you have the time, take it slowly and consult the beginning.

Location: 361 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: www.tipo00.com.au

Joe Mammone (the restaurateur of Il Bacaro and Sarti), designer Chris Connell, and engineer Michael Amore collaborated on Bar Carolina. With terrazzo flooring in the front and textured floorboards in the rear, handcrafted leadlights in an azure shade, and custom-made steelwork by Amore, they converted the former Carousel Ice Cream store into a tiny slice of Venice.

If you're not in the mood for meat, pasta may be made on the premises. The tagliolino con crostacei, which consists of long flat ribbons of noodles topped with Moreton Bay bugs, porcini mushrooms, and dried chili, is a must-try. The most photogenic dish, though, is a flawless sphere of tiramisu filled with coffee, savoiardi, chocolate, and mascarpone that appears to have been projected in from the future. You may also simply relax with a bottle of fiano and a platter of aged prosciutto and stracciatella.

The orb is a show-stopper at dessert, with ladies in Camilla kaftans fawning over the white chocolate ornament that drips a tiramisù-flavored center. For some, it will be the highlight of their dining year, but for others, it will be too much trouble for something that didn't require a coffee jelly redux. But above all, Bar Carolina understands its clientele – and too much is rarely enough for them.

Location: 44 Toorak Road, South Yarra Victoria 3141

Website: www.barcarolina.com.au

Arlechin, the Grossi family's newest venture, is a place where cuisine, wine, and mayhem collide. It's tucked away on Mornane Place and has a laidback, underground feel. Fine Italian, French, and Australian wines are available in the wine bar. Cocktails such as the Champagne Julep and the Jungle Bird are also offered (rum, Campari, pineapple and lime). Prawn cutlets with wasabi mayo, duck and porcini mushroom pies, and creamed fish and crisp leek rolls are among the bar treats. Try a liqueur-soaked custard doughnut for a delicious treat. During the day, the bar is open for group rentals.

Even if you want to be in bed by 10 p.m., the midnight spaghetti will accommodate your schedule. It's a tiny twirl of painstakingly al dente spaghetti capturing a flavor burst of sugo, salty big capers, and fragrant basil leaves, not a booze-soaked gut-buster. It's like an aerodynamic puttanesca, with colatura standing in for the little fish. It’s Italian sophistication on a plate.

One of the best things about Arlechin is that it’s open until three. Yep, that’s three in the AM. With another suave newcomer, Mayfair, serving oh là là snackage over at Sofitel until 1 am, it looks like Melbourne might be getting over its food equivalent of the six o’clock swill.

Location: Mornane Place, CBD, Melbourne

Website: www.arlechin.com.au

This highly acclaimed café and bar have been serving the St Kilda neighborhood for over 25 years, featuring delectable Italian cuisine served by white-jacketed servers. Apart from the food, Bar Di Stasio is known for its excellent cocktail concoctions and hand-selected wine selection, which includes wines from Di Stasio's own vineyard.

Every design feature speaks of finessed material handling, durability, and teasing tensions between classical and vernacular Italianate influences, just as the menu, which is based on traditional, seasonally responsive Italian cuisine. The small sixty-seat dining room is an architectural setting that subordinates spatial ambiance and ambience beautifully and carefully, creating a good balance between the visually spectacular and the comforting. Powell has managed significant contrasts within its tiny confines: old and pristine, bright street-front tables and shady corner places, whimsical ornaments and tasteful proprietary furniture.

Sure, they offer dinner, but if you really want to see some magic, go to Di Stasio for lunch. It's not a cheap date unless you go for the express option, which includes two dishes and a glass of wine for $35. Especially when you venture beyond Di Stasio's Coldstream chardonnay and pinot noir and into Italian cellars. What's on the menu, though, is still classic and approachable Italian - eggplant melanzane, Caprese salads, and steaks, all of which are often prepared simply with a slug of excellent oil.

Location: 31 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda Victoria 3182

Website: https://www.distasio.com.au

It's never easy to follow up a hugely successful first restaurant with another winner, but the people behind cult-favorite Tipo 00 have done just that with their new wine bar, Osteria Ilaria. This stylish newcomer, which has taken over the Little Bourke Street premises next door to its iconic pasta bar sister, complements rather than competes with Tipo 00's true Italianness, taking an even greater bite out of Europe.

The warmly lighted area is all white-painted exposed brick, with an open bar and kitchen running the length of the space and a swanky private dining room at the rear. There's also the menu to consider. It's intelligent enough to place this newcomer among Melbourne's modern wine bars, yet the service is laid-back enough to appeal to the more informal, snack-obsessed after-work crowd.

From the rich roasted duck for two — with a honey-sweet sauce tempered by sharp radicchio and the crunch of hazelnuts ($46) — to a textural side dish of creamed corn, pepped up with the addition of fried turnip tops ($15), there's a thoughtfulness that runs right through to the pointy end. Keep an eye out for the big finale, where you'll learn about the amazing things that may happen when someone creates a chocolate mousse on olive oil ($14).

Location: 367 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: www.osteriailaria.com

Simple, fresh dishes may be found at this cozy bistro. Produce cultivated on chef and owner Rosa Mitchell's family property or gathered from the gardens of her friends and family is used in the dishes. With sweeping views across the dome of the adjacent Supreme Court, this light-filled area is located in the city's judicial sector. Mitchell's Sicilian-inspired cuisine emphasizes basic, yet flavorful cooking, earning it a spot on the 2019 delicious 100 lists and the Good Food Guide's 2022 ranking.

Rosa's Kitchen's founding ideas reside here. The biggest distinction is a snack-friendly cuisine tailored for the wig-heavy law neighborhood, which specializes in lunch and beverages. There's always a special, and the fritters change daily, but it's comforting to know that the chicken livers – finely chopped and fried with onion, bay leaf, and marsala, stacked on oiled croutons like meaty mushroom duxelles – are always available. Or the beef carpaccio, which has crimson slices of flesh served at room temperature with capers, parmesan curls, silverbeet leaves, and a creamy horseradish sauce.

Location: The Court, Level 1, Corner of Little Bourke & Thomson Street, Little Bourke Street, CBD, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: rosascanteen.com.au

Capitano, presented to you by the Bar Liberty crew, is bigger, brighter, and louder than its Johnston Street twin, delivering significantly more approachable cuisine and alcohol while maintaining the same high-quality, entertaining, and lovely service. The renovated Beaufort now has clean, classic cream walls and large windows on two sides, rich crimson trim reminiscent of old-school French cafe silverware, and everyone looks to be absorbed in the passionate discussion. Because Capitano is primarily a social establishment, the menu's goal is to lubricate and satisfy rather than distract attention away from your friends.

Burgundy and white walls, olive green banquettes, oak tables, and art deco lamp shades now adorn the now light and colorful interior. You can choose to sit at the bar or at the tables. The terrazzo tiles on the floor are stunning. Perhaps these, together with the high ceilings, create an environment where individuals feel compelled to holler at one another. Capitano is noisy, but that's nothing a few acoustic boards couldn't rectify.

On the surface, the menu appears straightforward, with cured meat appetizers, veggie sides, pizzas, two kinds of pasta, and two 'large plates'. The dishes, on the other hand, are not. A bone-in veal parmigiana ($65) is pricey for its size, but it's intricate and a unique spin on a classic. And the vesuvio with vodka sauce ($24) catches our eye right away.

Location: 415-421 Rathdowne Street, Carlton Victoria 3053

Website: www.capitano.com.au

Chefs and co-owners Franscesco Rota and Luca Flammia originate from Trattoria Emilia's namesake, and their straightforward recipes are heavy on flavor. On a busy evening, director Matteo Neviani can be seen running around with a three-plate grip, and it's all hands on deck. For lunch, an à la carte menu is available, but evening customers must order three meals.

Look no farther than gnocco fritto, a traditional Emilia-Romagna snack. A dish of salumi, mortadella mousse, and a little side of creamy stracciatella di bufala are snuggled together in a compact bread basket with light pillows of deep-fried gnocco fritto and soft, doughy discs of tigelle. Layer your tigelle with prosciutto di parma and a teaspoon of buffalo milk cheese, or break open the gnocco fritto and apply the mousse over it. Pork and bread have various textures that work together to create an appetizing combination.

The spanner crab gnocchi is a newer addition to the menu, and it has fluffy potato and lemon rind gnocchi with little bits of spanner crab, fresh prawn flesh, and crisp asparagus, all intertwined with a creamy, full-flavored saffron sauce. It's heavy, like any gnocchi-based meal, and can be tough to overcome after a few nibbles and starters.

Location: 360 Little Collins St, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: www.emiliamelbourne.com.au

You've undoubtedly gotten the message that spaghetti bars are the most popular. Of course, there's Tipo 00, where would-be diners jam along Little Bourke's walkway at all hours of the day and night. On Little Collins Street, there's newcomer Pentolina, where a former Pellegrini's barista serves Pugliese-style spaghetti. And then there's Lello, which had a clever remodeling and a name change early this year without tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

Chef Leo Gelsomino, who placed Richmond's the Grand on the map for Italian cuisine before relocating to Yak on the junction of Exhibition and Flinders Lane in 2011, will be there. Wainscoting in the manner of Home Beautiful, arty artwork on the walls, banquettes, and bentwood chairs was all part of a recent remodeling. While the name change is enough to placate the dining gods of 2018, Lello, formerly Yak, remains a lively and unpretentious establishment that tastes like places of Italy you've never been.

Lello may be traveling a less-traveled pasta path, but the goal is much the same: superb fruit, intense culinary labor, and the X-factor that elevates it to the pantheon of Melbourne's notable Italians. Some folks, it seems, don't want to know what's in Lello's famous dish, the vincigrassi. The beef ragù, béchamel, and parmesan are the stars of this lasagne from the Marche area, but the veal sweetbreads and brains give delicate richness to the slow-cooked beef shoulder. The pasta sheets, made with unique, toasted wheat imported from Puglia, bring delicacy and complexity to a dish that's far from the over-sauced Australian-Italian renditions of lasagne.

Location: 150 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: https://lellopasta.com.au

Pinotta has gently done its trade as the Platonic ideal of the neighborhood haunt since starting somewhere during the Qing period in 2011. The trio of superb, unfussy Italian food, a snappy and clever wine selection, and X-factor fairy dust service plays a convincing game, and new head chef Cian Fenaughty's arrival has been a velvet revolution.

This 28-year-old has embraced his first head chef role with an innate understanding of the algorithms keeping North Fitzrovians happy while being afforded room by the owner and wine guru Heidi Modra to add his own measured flair. He was previously sous chef at Sunda and before that an acolyte of Andrew McConnell's empire.

That may be anything as easy as a snack-friendly meal of fried chickpeas and saltbush leaves coated in paprika, cayenne, and a generous amount of salt, which a potato chip corporation could seek to rip off and sell from vending machines. The best part is a warm, detoxifying chicken broth with star anise, dried shiitakes, and fennel seed, which contains al dente threads of cured, dried, and grilled scallops. It's an Asian-accented curveball that smacks the winter target square in the face. However, pasta remains the primary course, which pleases the gods. A bird's-nest tangle of squid ink tagliolini plays it superbly with the absorbing richness of sea urchin custard, served with hunks of Loafer bread for some clandestine carb-on-carb action.

Location: 32 Best Street, Fitzroy North Victoria 3068

Website: pinotta.com

With Marameo, the CBD's latest location for easy-breezy all-day Italian, the team behind the newly launched Bar Carolina has spent no time unveiling another hit. They've created a laneway patio for summertime arvo spritzes, while a vast marble bar beckons inside, refreshing the space that was once home to Sarti. A comprehensive salumi and cheese menu, as well as inventive antipasti such as carrot crisp topped with insect tail, corn, and salmon roe, underpin the menu, while an extensive wine list features both local and Italian wines.

It's also a fantastic vantage point from which to appreciate the owners' efforts to rebrand their business rather than opting for the more convenient pasta or pizza bar. The bigné – a light doughnut oozing fillings of salted caramel and white chocolate – may be the greatest $5 you've spent all year, while a garden party-worthy raspberry pie enlivened with lemon myrtle could be the best $12. Marameo proves that there’s life left in smart dining. You could do much worse for the same kind of money; as a matter of fact, the owners could have, too.

Location: 6 Russell Place, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Website: marameo.com.au

Mr Pietro's allure stems from its modest elegance and serene confidence. Mr. Pietro's frontage is hidden among terrace houses, unmarked and unmanned, unlike its counterparts along Lygon Street (around the corner), which are strewn with clichés like red-and-white gingham tablecloths, Italian flags, Alfa Romeo logos, and spruikers out the front thickening their accents to attract the unknowing tourist. Those who enter will be greeted with a large, white space with seating for 100 people, chestnut-stained hardwood furnishings, and some of that white Italian marble. There's also a sought-after, more colorful patio for al fresco eating. It doesn't have to shout Italian to be Italian, as Mr. Pietro demonstrates.

Locals in the know, Barbagallo's long-time ardent admirers, and a good smattering of Melbourne's elder hospitality professionals will fill the restaurant. It's the type of location where you can go on a first date, catch up with friends, or take Grandma out to supper. The menu isn't intimidating; it reads like any other on Lygon Street, with classics like Caprese salad, garlic prawns, and cannelloni, but the execution is conventional, restrained, and made with high-quality ingredients.

A few pizzas and pasta have been brought in from Caprica, and the execution is spot-on. Barbagallo's fresher, lighter trademark pizza has the same thin, yeasted dough covered with fresh tomato and buffalo mozzarella, sprinkled with basil and topped with a splash of olive oil. Spaghetti is tangled in a delicate, sweet, briny emulsion produced from the fluids of perfectly cooked diamond clams, cooked to the teeth.

Location: 50 Grattan St, Melbourne Victoria 3053

Website: mr-pietro.edan.io