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Eat'aliano by Pino: Hearty Italian on High Street

Dani Valent
Dani Valent

Pizza Verde with walnuts, rocket pesto, gorgonzola and speck.
Pizza Verde with walnuts, rocket pesto, gorgonzola and speck.Josh Robenstone

Italian$$

There aren't any strict rules for making me happy in a restaurant but having fried bread on a menu is a good start. If you call it "panzerotti fritti" that's even better, because it sounds like a continental life experience, not the guilty pleasure of golden, crunchy carbs.

At Eat'aliano by Pino, an instantly popular new restaurant in a locals-only bit of Windsor, the blistered pillows of dough are filled with friarelli (like broccoli leaves) and mozzarella, and lovingly snuggled on vintage-look sheets of newspaper. The panzerotti are popular in Puglia, in the heel of Italy's boot.

That skew to southern Italy is reflected throughout the classic menu of pizza and pasta and nibbly bits that are, for the most part, fried.

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Gnocco alla Sorrentina baked in napoli sauce.
Gnocco alla Sorrentina baked in napoli sauce. Josh Robenstone

Calamari, pale and tender, is tangled with rocket and dusted with lemon zest. Fries are turned Italian with grana Padano cheese and truffle oil. Arancini (fried risotto balls) perch on napoli sauce. Polenta chips are terrifically crisp, which isn't always easy, and their earthy corn tones are offset by a gorgonzola dipping sauce.

The pizza maestro who lends his name to the restaurant is Pino Russo, also an owner of Hampton's La Svolta (nailing bayside pizza since 2010) and Williamstown's Mascalzone (it means "cheeky boy").

The pizza at Eat'aliano is old Neapolitan in style, lightly yeasted and slowly risen; thin but very large (they call it ruota di carro or cartwheel). The floppy, foldable bases and puffy charred crusts come from a fierce minute-long blast in the 400 degree-plus wood oven. Toppings are applied with prudence.

The Eat'aliano by Pino interior features hanging ferns.
The Eat'aliano by Pino interior features hanging ferns.Josh Robenstone
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I love the La Verde, a pizza bianco (without tomato), with mozzarella, zingy rocket pesto, funky gorgonzola and lovely fresh walnuts. Walnuts are often served rancid in restaurants so I'm always looking out for good ones: quality nuts are the sign of a kitchen that cares. Add speck for an extra five bucks – this cured pork adds a deep smokiness and its fat softens seductively as it lolls over the steaming dough.

The roster of homemade pasta includes two types of gnocchi. A simple baked version burbles with napoli sauce and two cheeses. It's great. A more elaborate gnocchi dish with a sauce of pumpkin, ginger and amaretti biscuits doesn't quite know if it's savoury or sweet; I'd rather it steered back to the savoury side of the line.

Fried cotoletta – think beef schnitzel or crumbed steak – is as easy a win as you get in the main course department.

Easy win: Cotoletta (crumbed steak).
Easy win: Cotoletta (crumbed steak).Supplied

Desserts include exemplary cannoli filled with pistachio-studded cream, and layered and liquored custard-and-caramel concoctions in glasses.

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Service at Eat'aliano is buoyant and heavily accented; there's an easy facility with working a busy room. If I was to change anything, I'd mix up the garnishes a bit because the rest of Australia needs its rocket too, you know. I'd also rebalance the menu to include more vegetables and snacky options that aren't fried. But keep the panzerotti, okay? I'll be back for them very soon.

Rating: Three and a half stars (out of five)

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Dani ValentDani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.

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