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Cafe Di Stasio

Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20

Italian$$$

With its moody ambience enhanced by an evocative blue-filtered Bill Henson print and white-jacketed, well-drilled staff, it is little wonder that Di Stasio is so often chosen by Melburnians as the stage for milestones. the sealing of deals, the dance towards love. The food closes the deal, all classically minded, quietly luxurious Italian. To use a fashion metaphor, starters such as silky crayfish omelette served on a bisque sauce recall the refined Armani rather than the racy Cavalli. Pasta is turned correctly. linguine is properly al dente, and dressed with artfully spliced prawns (the kitchen line's knifework really does do justice to the produce), tomatoes, garlic, chilli. Mains might include roasted duckling, perfectly crisp-skinned; or rich, autumnal wild boar, braised in white wine and accompanied by radicchio and sweet chestnuts. Desserts, such as millefoglie of thin layers of pastry, vanilla cream and apple caramelised with calvados, are understated and assured. a fitting microcosm of this institution's proud 25-year history.

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