You won’t find this showstopping Italian-style steak anywhere else in Melbourne

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When an Italian chef tells you spaghetti carbonara isn’t a dish, it’s a religion, you better be ready to take their Italian cuisine seriously. I’m here for it and, more specifically, I’m at Made in Casa for it – a new, two-level, Toorak Village restaurant from Annapaola D’Alessio and Valerio Violetti, the latter prone to holy pasta declarations. The Italian couple previously ran a pizza-pasta place of the same name in nearby Glenferrie Road, and briefly plied their trade at the Mercato Centrale eating hall when it opened in the city in 2024.

Their new restaurant is more ristorante, less trattoria, a polished step-up. The ground floor is a smart salon, the floorboards laid with rugs, with evocative, modern Italian art on the walls and fringed lampshades glowing above each table. The upstairs function (and spillover dining) room is more like an immaculate parlour in a dreamy villa, with still-life paintings and marble fireplace. There’s also a wine room: ask if you can browse the Tuscan reds, or book in for a date-night vino.

Violetti and D’Alessio met and fell in love in Soriano nel Cimino, a medieval town north of Rome. Violetti built his first pizza oven at 13 on a family farm; D’Alessio learnt to make pasta before she could read and write. They’ve spun their heritage into contemporary dishes that stand proudly on the bedrock of tradition.

Eggplant parmigiana isn’t layered in a dish as Nonna would do. Instead, the halved eggplant is fried, then striped with Napoli sauce, cheese and basil for a dressed-up version of the classic. It’s pretty but doesn’t have the luscious collapse of the original. My mind strives to be noble; my tongue, apparently, is still a peasant.

Calamari is a study in pale tones, the seafood stuffed with parsley-flecked breadcrumbs, paddling in a cream sauce and draped with fennel slices that emphasise the slender furls of the cephalopod. The finesse pays off: the dish is a delight.

It’s no small feat to perfectly cook a large bone-in piece of meat.

The pasta menu shifts frequently. You may pray at the altar of spaghetti carbonara, but today’s sermon comes in the form of spaghetti vongole, al dente noodles tangled with clams and topped with shavings of bottarga and smooshes of fermented garlic: huge flavours, huge joy.

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The hero dish – apparently unique in Melbourne, surely not for long – is the bistecca fritta, a crumbed T-bone steak pan-fried in clarified butter, finished in the oven, then carved tableside by a begloved waiter who channels all the drama of a venator (gladiatorial hunter) in a Roman amphitheatre. It’s no small feat to perfectly cook a large bone-in piece of meat and this one is exemplary: fat rendered, meat tender and rich, seasoning bang-on, flavour sublime.

Dessert might mean a very nice tiramisu, built in a glass, or crostata, a casual, custard-laden fruit tart.

The most telling design feature here is the picture window into the kitchen. Violetti and D’Alessio want you to see that Made in Casa isn’t just a name, it’s a description. This is food deeply and respectfully anchored in the old country, rendered with skill and a dash of daring.

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.