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Osteria La Passione

Osteria La Passione, restaurant, Richmond, Melbourne.
Osteria La Passione, restaurant, Richmond, Melbourne.Supplied

14.5/20

Italian$$$

Passione is indeed the essential ingredient at this sophisticated version of an Italian osteria, located at the untrendy end of Richmond. There's a fierce authenticity about Osteria, where a chef who lovingly grows or raises much of what appears before you also chooses and paces each of the day's six courses. Throughout the meal, staff swoop in offering sometimes pricey, but always ambrosial, extras from the salumeria or cheeseboard. It's a model that demands complete trust in the chef's expertise, a willingness to shed time-keeping and all beeping devices, and give yourself over to the kind of relaxing, satisfying experience most Italians would easily recognise. Dishes might include addictive smoked-buckwheat bread, juicy eggplant parmigiana, perhaps braised rooster with vegetables, gnocchi with pesto or crisp-skinned suckling pig, followed by airy ricotta cheesecake for dessert. This is a celebration of seasonal, home-grown flavours, to be shared and savoured in the intimate dining room.

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