Cinque Terre brings White Lotus seaside resort chic to Chadstone

Dining at the mall used to be a vaguely grim affair, unless you were a devotee of fast food or greasy noodles (no judgment on either of those fronts). The mall food court, which rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, was built for convenience – both for the shopper and the mall, which didn't have to devote too much real estate to, or invest too many resources in, the business of feeding large numbers of people.

In recent years, companies that run malls – especially those that bill themselves as luxury places to shop – have realised that food can be a draw as much as a necessary amenity. With more people doing their shopping online, there needs to be a good reason to get in the car and fight for a parking space. 

In many of the nicer shopping centres around the world, dining precincts are a huge part of that IRL draw. It's a turn of events that helps explain why a restaurateur like David Mackintosh (Lee Ho Fook, Ides, Pope Joan) and a chef like Joseph Vargetto (Mister Bianco and the short-lived Cucina Povera) might get into bed with the behemoth that is Chadstone Shopping Centre, opening Cinque Terre in the top-floor Social Quarter dining precinct in early December.

With its views of more usual, shopping-centre fare (primarily a TGI Fridays), it nonetheless manages to channel a kind of Italianate seaside chic, especially if you manage to snag one of the central tables with plush, cushioned bench seating. (Since they're reserved for medium-sized parties, there was no one in these seats when I visited.) Gilded and tiled and anchored by a large pizza oven in the corner of the open kitchen/bar area, this is as attractive an interior as any CBD hotspot offers.

The menu, too, is ambitious for a venue in this setting. For Christmas shoppers, it must have been a lovely surprise to have the option of a proper Italian wine list and handmade pasta to help break up the spending scrimmage. 

There's high-end charcuterie (36-month San Daniele prosciutto, $19; cured wagyu bresaola, $19) and a 300-gram Bistecca porterhouse ($60). This is no half-hearted attempt at indulgence.

There's some true creativity at play here, too: take the vitello tonnato ($25), which pairs poached veal with tuna crudo rather than the traditional tuna sauce. It's a swap-out that results in a cold, summer-friendly dish spiked with vinegary cured celery and capers.

And yet issues that traditionally plague fast-casual venues are also in evidence here. I'm not convinced the tomatoes on the Ligurian caprese ($16) were actually heirloom, as advertised, for example: they seemed more like the hothouse kind you'd get downstairs at Coles. I am convinced, however, that they were under-ripe and woody. The salad also lacked the barbecue black olives that I assume lend it its Ligurian title.

Problems with service were particularly frustrating. Even on a slow afternoon, when we were one of only two occupied tables in the place, basic details were forgotten: a lack of share plates for shared dishes; a lack of cutlery beyond the initial set-up. I had to eat my lemon-braised spatchcock chicken ($38) without a knife and our tartufo dessert ($16) using the serving spoons left over from our entrees. 

Servers were nowhere to be seen. The woman behind the bar poured the wine we ordered and left it on the pass for a waiter to pick up for more than 10 minutes, even though we were about two metres away. She checked her phone; it wasn't her job to run it out to us.

I feel that this is the difference between someone who gets a job in a mall restaurant and someone who's a service professional; I barely blame her, to be honest. However, when a venue charges high-end restaurant prices, there's an expectation of high-end training.

There's also plenty to praise about the place: the pizzas ($26-$36) are better than most shopping-mall ones by a mile. The diversification of dining options that Chadstone has helped pioneer is only a good thing.

But I'd be lying if I said this restaurant lives up to the standards I've come to expect from this restaurateur and this chef. Perhaps that's too much to ask. I long for a day when even my most hopeful expectations of the professionals I admire are met, at a mall or anywhere else.

Vibe: Fashionable Italianate resort, with a view of TGI Fridays

Go-to dish: Vitello tonnato

Drinks: Basic cocktails, plus a decent-sized list of mainly Italian wines

Cost: About $140 for two, excluding drinks, unless you're just here for a quick pizza

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine