After two years of boarded-up windows and wondering what’s going on behind them, Jamie Valmorbida today unveils Delmonte, his exceptionally Italian vision for the landmark Faraday and Lygon Street site.
Chef Diana Desensi is heading up the kitchen on the well-known Carlton corner. She’s worked closely with the group’s culinary director, Karen Martini, to develop an opening menu that leans largely into the venue’s unmistakable Italianality. Expect prime cuts coming off the whopping wood-fired oven and grill in the centre of the kitchen and, of course, plenty of pasta. Classics including mezze maniche alla carbonara and a rich tagliatelle alla Bolognese lead the line-up. Then there’s gnocchi bobbing in a portobello and porcini ragù, plus several seasonal spins you’ll find on the specials board.
Donati’s Fine Meats, one of Valmorbida’s other businesses just a stone’s throw down Lygon Street, supplies most of what goes on the grill. The crumbed pork costoletta stuffed with ham and fontina is a real jaw-dropper, but all beasts are represented fairly across the rather protein-packed menu. A hefty 320g bavette dressed in salmoriglio – an elegant and unfussy lemony, garlicky, herby condiment – sorts out those sharing. A more modest 220g eye fillet, served simply with lemon, meanwhile, for the solo diner or couples.. You’re looking at anywhere from $32 to $66 for main courses here, classic condiment service included.
“This menu is everything I love about Italian cooking,” says Desensi. “Italian food at its best is generous, unpretentious and produce-driven, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
Are you more the drink-and-a-snack type? At Delmonte, that’s okay, too. There’s two takes on focaccia. Suppli deep-fried full with three types of formaggi. Pasta fritte for days. A raw tuna and ’nduja combo that sounds particularly compelling. And a sensational salumi section suggesting the team might very well have gone coldcut crazy.
The small details – and delicious snack plates – are part of a bigger picture for Valmorbida, and an intentional one. “We’ve built the sort of place we’d want to go ourselves,” he says. “Delmonte is Carlton’s new local. Somewhere you can come in for one drink and end up staying for dinner.”
One drink or several, the wine and cocktail program is just as dialled as Desensi and Martini’s menu. Carnation Canteen’s Michael Hegarty and ex-Rockpool sommelier George McCullough join a star-studded line-up, with the capable pair balancing a mostly Italian, mostly Piedmontese wine collection with a list of classic Italo-inspired cocktails. The only question left to answer: how many riffs on the Negroni, Martini and Bellini are appropriate on one drinks list?
Anyone familiar with the King & Godfree corner’s history as a deli might pick up on the homages to its heritage – tilework every which way, terrazzo flooring and vintage furnishings fill the 160-seat venue – but the restaurant takes just as much inspiration from the grand dining rooms of Europe. The hoardings are down. The windows are open. The Bellinis are banging. Find out exactly what Delmonte is all about today.
293 Lygon St, Carlton, 5pm-late Mon-Sun, delmontewine.com, @delmontewine
By Rick Stephens