Scott Pickett Has Opened an All-Day Italian Diner Inside the Luxe New Hotel Chadstone

Chadstone's new luxury hotel wouldn't be complete without an equally opulent restaurant for guests (and locals) to dine in. Rising to the occasion is highly lauded Melbourne restaurateur Scott Pickett. The chef is behind some of our city's favourite restaurants, including Lupo, Estelle, Pickett's Deli, Matilda.

Now, Pickett has opened Pastore, an all-day Italian diner set within the new Hotel Chadstone. In the kitchen, Head Chef Mirco Speri (Thirty Eight Chairs) is serving up woodfired small plates and handmade pastas. Some of the smaller dishes on the menu at the moment include house-cured duck prosciutto with davidson plum, wood-roasted king prawns with 'nduja, and grilled asparagus with cured egg yolk.

On the pasta menu, you'll find spaghetti in an ubriachi red wine sauce and pici — a type of thick, hand-rolled spaghetti — served in sausage ragu and topped with salted ricotta. And, for extra-hungry diners, there's an 1.2-kilogram, dry-aged bistecca alla Fiorentina on offer.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina by Kristoffer Paulsen

Alongside the food, you can enjoy bottles of locally produced wines that use Italian grape varieties — and some fancy drops by the glass, available thanks to the restaurant's Coravin system. The cocktail menu also follows this theme, using Italian spirits and Aussie botanicals in drinks like the Native Negroni, made with Applewood Okar amaro, Maidenii vermouth and (the owner's namesake) Pickett & Co gin.

The dining room and bar each seat 50, and you can expect a luxe vibe with high ceilings, hanging greenery and brass and timber finishes. We reckon the restaurant alone is reason enough to book a stay into the hotel — or to make the trip to Chadstone at the very least.

Pastore is now open at Hotel Chadstone, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone. The restaurant is open Monday–Saturday from 6.30–10.30am, 12–2.30pm and 6–9pm, and Sunday 6.30–10.30am and 12–5pm. 

Images: Kristoffer Paulsen