When an Italian chef tells you spaghetti carbonara isn’t a dish, it’s a religion, you better be ready to take their food seriously. Evocative, modern Italian art hangs on the walls and fringed lampshades glow above each table at this smart Toorak Village salon; a palpable house pride that portends good times on the plate.

Eggplant parmigiana is halved, fried and striped with Napoli sauce, cheese and basil for a dressed-up version of the classic. Squid is stuffed with parsley-flecked breadcrumbs, coddled in cream sauce and draped with fennel slices that emphasise its slender furls. Al dente noodles tangle with clams in a spaghetti vongole topped with shaved bottarga and fermented garlic; huge flavours, huge joy.

The hero dish 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 channelling the drama of a Roman gladiator. This is food deeply and respectfully anchored in the old country, rendered with skill and a dash of daring.

Must-order: Bistecca fritta

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