First look: Hatted Italian reopens with more casual concept and look after five-day reno
Sicilian diner Cantina Moro is set to be more of an everyday spot than its Piedmontese predecessor Alta. Plus, three other hatted restaurants making Italian changes.
Alta, the Fitzroy trattoria that won its fair share of fans and a Good Food chef’s hat for its laser focus on the northern Italian region of Piedmont, had its final service on Sunday.
Today, just five days and a swift reno later, it reopens as a markedly different diner named Cantina Moro, homing in on the food of Sicily and Italy’s south.
It’s by the same team, except for original chef McKay Wilday, who was accomplished in Piedmontese cuisine but has stepped away from restaurants. “We did try to find someone who could carry on doing what we were doing [at Alta],” says co-owner James Tait. “But it’s just so specific.”
The jump from north to south makes sense when you consider new chef Matteo Tine’s Sicilian roots. His menu splits the difference between his experience at high-end restaurants such as Grossi Florentino and the cucina povera, or simple peasant-style food, of his late nonna.
“We lost her recently,” he says. “So I want to cook things that anchor me to who I am.”
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Sign upAs at Alta, handmade pasta reigns – from fusilli to potato and ricotta ravioli – but the headline dish builds on what Tine’s nonna would cook on Sundays: a slow-simmered ragu of pork sausage, jowl and ribs with angular shreds of pasta made from just flour and water.
Inspired by another of her beloved dishes, Tine is stuffing chicken with a herby, zesty rice mix and roasting it until golden-skinned. It’s served in an “unctuous” gravy that includes whey from stracchino cheese he’s making in-house.
In fact, most of the day’s antipasti selection will be house-made, from even-fattier-than-usual mortadella to smoky bluefin tuna pastrami.
Snackier options like these will help with loosening up the atmosphere, says Tait. “We probably did end up a little too much in the special-occasion arena [with Alta].”
Design tweaks also make the space less formal, more fun, with the front room’s crisp white walls now terracotta-coloured. Teste di moro – the traditional Sicilian sculptures of Moorish heads, after which the restaurant is named – are lined up on the tiled back bar.
The wine list has also undergone a full swing to the south, Tait says, with bottles often more affordable than their Piedmontese counterparts. There’s also a focus on Sicilian amaro, and a martini with natural orange vermouth.
Cantina Moro opens today, Friday, September 5.
Lunch Fri-Mon; dinner daily
274 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, cantinamoro.com
Three other hatted restaurants making Italian changes
The Independent, Gembrook
After 11 years, Melbourne’s only hatted Argentinian restaurant, The Independent in Gembrook, is shaking it up. On September 12, it relaunches with a menu that celebrates both sides of chef-owner Mauro Callegari’s Argentinian and Italian heritage. But redirecting towards Italian food is also a pragmatic decision.
“I love it, everybody loves it and I think it’s easier to understand,” Callegari says. “Everyone knows what pesto is; not everyone knows what chimichurri is.”
The Independent’s seasonal, local-produce-loving ethos won’t change, but how it manifests will. Seafood will play more of a starring role, as will house-made pasta, with a selection that could include ricotta gnocchi in a Tuscan ragu, or pumpkin ravioli.
Callegari will retain a handful of long-standing dishes that “would be near impossible to take off the menu” including empanadas, grilled beef with chimichurri, and smoked maple carrots.
Also part of the reboot is a repainted striped facade, new handmade tableware from potter Sam Gordon’s fitting “Gembook” collection, and a fresh rotation of artworks.
79 Main Street, Gembrook, theindependentgembrook.com.au
Bottarga, Brighton
Bottarga’s unusual fusion of Italian, Asian and Australian flavours will soon have a new address – but it’s staying in Brighton. On October 11, it’ll shut up shop on Martin Street, before the hatted restaurant relocates to 198 Bay Street in early November.
Following unsuccessful lease negotiations at the current site, “we’re taking a risk and reinvesting everything again,” says chef and co-owner Federico Bizzaro.
Bottarga 2.0 will be “a step up”, with a larger space, private dining room and more flexible menu offering a la carte options alongside Bizzaro’s 13-course tasting menu. New dishes include agnolotti stuffed with emu, rabbit, wild boar and crocodile.
198 Bay Street, Brighton, bottarga.com.au
Underbar, Ballarat
Destination fine diner Underbar is undoing its top button on Friday nights in September, running a three-course, family-style Italian trattoria menu for $110 a head, $65 less than the tasting menu. It follows the success of French bistro Fridays in August.
While the usual offering is a special occasion affair, chef Derek Boath says, “These more casual Fridays offer guests a tasty, hearty meal at more of a mid-range price point.”
Start with antipasti, move onto lasagne with ricotta bechamel, Salt Kitchen cotechino, and finally pistachio semifreddo with dark-chocolate mousse.
3 Doveton Street North, Ballarat Central, underbar.com.au
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