UPDATE Monday, July 26: Along with its CBD sibling Di Stasio Citta, Cafe di Stasio is currently offering a special-edition menu of goodies for takeaway and delivery. Call or jump online to order dishes like the creamy oven-baked ricotta ($12), hearty serves of handmade crab pasta ($35) and a cracking old-school fish and chips ($32). For more details on Victoria's current restrictions, see the Department of Health and Human Services website.
If we're talking about institutions, Cafe di Stasio is right at the top of the list. After more than three decades on Fitzroy Street, the restaurant and bar still exudes elegance, sophisticated service and decadent Italian food. Here the lunches are long, the wine is expensive and the atmosphere is right on point. There's a place for old-school, classy dining and this is it.
The food here is the kind you'll want to linger over, the menu filled with carefully executed classics and seasonal ingredients in abundance. Start off with small plates like the delicate beef carpaccio ($23), cloud-like ricotta and spinach gnudi ($22), and scallops baked in a crust ($25). Top-notch pasta offerings might include the likes of paccheri bolognese ($32) or a tagliatelle spiked with guanciale and roast tomatoes ($28), while Italian-style mains run to a Milanese veal cotoletta ($34) and slow-cooked beef paired with polenta ($39).
An expansive selection of vino sourced from near and far rounds out the fun, including a healthy offering of drops by the glass.