Palatable to even the fussiest tastebuds, Italian food is a popular choice- and Melbourne is lucky enough to be dotted all over with fantastic Italian restaurants.
It can be difficult to tell the good Italian restaurants from the mediocre- with 'Italian' being a catch-all term for pasta and pizza, your local takeaway pizza joint can brand itself as Italian. We're on the hunt for restaurants where Italian doesn't mean slapping some spaghetti and meatballs on a plate- somewhere with crispy bruschetta and creamy fettuccine.
We want to know where to find Melbourne's best Italian food. Photo credit: Bala.
Grossi Florentino is often hailed as Melbourne's greatest Italian restaurant. With exotic offerings like 'duck and wild mushroom tortellini' and 'roasted glenroth pidgeon', it certainly diverts from the usual pizza-and-pasta equation of Italian restaurants. The award-winning restaurant, however, could lay claim to another award- the most expensive Italian restaurant in Melbourne. If you go there, expect to pay around $100 per person for an entrée, main and dessert.
Giuseppe Arnaldo and Sons, one of
Crown's premium restaurants, is another pre-eminent Italian restaurant. While offering delectable dishes such as 'ribolitta soup' and a four cheese lasagne, they strike more a balance between quality and affordability.
Medici, located by the water in the Docklands, has more traditional Italian fare in a great location. While they have received mixed reviews, I think their supremacy of their gourmet pizza menu, featuring salmon pizza and chicken tandoori pizza, is indisputable.
What's your favourite Italian restaurant? Let us know in the comments.
