Molto Italian, Kingston Foreshore

You see them as soon as you enter – whole wheels of pecorino, the centre hollowed out and used as a mixing and serving bowl for lush cheesy pasta.

The pecorinos are the vessels for the classic, simple Roman pasta with cheese and pepper – and they set the scene at Molto: a hint of dash combined with respect for the magnificent and diverse culinary powerhouse of Italy. Two Italians run the kitchen, head chef Giuseppe Pappalardo and pizzaiola chef Giordano Renzetti, and Carlo Tosolini is back fronting the new venture. So expectations are high.

On a cold night Molto is doing a brisk trade, and we prop at the bar while our table is readied. A negroni is suggested and proves impossible to resist, all sweet and sour and tinged with orange rind.

High ceilings, white tiles, bentwood chairs and wide benchtops provide a lovely backdrop to the real action – the food. Cabinets are filled with cheeses, salamis and whole prosciutto, the woodfire oven sits to one side, the gleaming bar runs down the other wall.

Entrees to share (stuzzichini) pasta, pizza and a daily list of specials, as well as plates of cheese and cured meats make up the menu. Salt cod makes the ultimate fish cake (and many other things) and the little balls, baccala ($19), are tender, cleanly fried and full of flavour.

Suppli (Roman versions of the Sicilian arancini balls) are lovely logs of tender risotto stuffed with taleggio cheese. Crumbed and fried to a perfect crisp, they go down a treat. A carpaccio of raw beef ($19) is very good. This increasingly popular dish can be done well but is often a shadow of its true self. Here it is true to its origins, relying on wafer thin slices of top quality beef, raw, and simply garnished. This dish is about texture and contrast as much as anything and the tang of lemon or parmesan or a little soft herb, against the meaty neutrality of the beef is the thing – yum.

We take a recommended glass of Zinfandel ($13/$44) and make it a bottle – the smooth medium weight wine matching perfectly with the pasta we have to come. All through the meal staff come past to make sure everything is OK, and do a good job of predicting what we need. The whole place has the feel of a well-run establishment, with confidence and personality.

Molto have been having trouble with their wood fire so pizza was off when we visited. A dish of the pecorino wheel pasta, cacio e pepe ($28), arrives with aplomb, swirled through the cheese wheel and served at the table. Simple, creamy and designed to show off the pasta and the noble cheese, this is a dangerously good dish. Good chilli is offered if you want to cut the richness a little.

A whole snapper ($36) is slow cooked, intensifying the flavour and tenderness beautifully. Copious soupy juices requiring a pile of wood fired bread to get it all up. Maccheroni Matriciana ($27) is a very good version of a standard. Tender pasta in a deeply flavoured pork and tomato sauce, spiked with long, slow chilli heat, this is a great dish.

Dessert is rash at this stage, but chocolate risotto ($17) is intriguing and it pays off. Lovely dark chocolate fully infuses the rice, a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream all that's needed to complete the dish. Serious, rich and big, this is a dessert to share.

The newest in the new breed of terrific Italian restaurants in Canberra, Molto is a great place to sample the wonder and endless variety of one of the world's great cuisines.