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168-170 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 9654 6778
My score: 4/5
To understand the restaurant as mood piece, you couldn’t do better than to lose a few hours at Il Bacaro. It’s not about the food – though the Italian food is good. It’s not about the wine – even though the restaurant’s name celebrates Bacchus, god of grapes. It’s that food, wine, ambient interior and, crucially, service, meld to create an atmosphere in which every conversation is important and every joke becomes 15 per cent funnier. Life, with all its glittering sensation and swirling emotion, is bigger. If you’re doing business, you can count on discretion (I once interviewed Julia Gillard in a corner nook; we shared calamari then she had ravioli). If you’re doing romance, count on good advice and a general sense that every choice is a sign of your cleverness and sophistication.
Chef David Dellai has been here for 13 of the restaurant’s 20 years: consistency is a hallmark. The menu mixes classic and tricksy but it’s all got heart. Shallow-fried calamari will be on the menu until Melbourne wins a premiership; the spaghettini with shellfish and chilli is similarly bolted on. I recently revelled in another seafood pasta: taglierini with fresh sardines, cooked with garlic, fennel and white wine, then blitzed into a full-flavoured sauce. Powerfully flavoured yet impeccably balanced, it turned pasta from filler to thriller. Meat dishes use classic flavour and technique as bedrock for fanciful darts. Pork is cured with spices and grappa, then rolled, roasted and served with torn mozzarella. Duck comes with almond puree and crisp bites of black pudding.
A slightly mad cheesecake is a signature, sweetened with agave nectar and jazzed up with pop rocks, but there are also more demure desserts like panna cotta with rhubarb. No matter what you eat, simply being here is the sweetest, richest aspect of every meal.
See their website.
More atmosphere plus!
Cicciolina, 130 Acland Street, St Kilda, 9525 3333
After 21 years of cheeky, confident and reliable service, Cicc’ has that hospitality thing nailed. A private room is being built out the back for your next louche and lovely dinner party.
France-Soir, 11 Toorak Road, South Yarra, 9866 8569
Walking into this long-standing restaurant is like stumbling into a theatre set: the waiters and the regulars are the show. The food can be good but the cellar is always great with thousands of mostly French wines.
Middle Fish, 122-128 Berkeley Street, Carlton, 9348 1704
It’s exciting to arrive in this big factory space for a spicy Thai breakfast or lunch. The mussel omelette with chilli sauce and pickled beanshoots is a favourite; the purple rice pudding with caramelised pineapple and coconut is appealing too.
First published in The Age, March 1, 2015.
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