Sosta Ristorante

If North Melbourne isn’t on the top of your list for fine dining, then you probably haven’t been to Sosta Ristorante (formerly Sosta Cucina). Here, Tuscan co-owner and chef Alessandro Tintori (ex Il Bacaro) offers elegant regional Italian dishes that incorporate native Australian ingredients. Paired with Italian wines and attentive staff, Sosta Ristorante is a few steps above the rest on Errol Street.

The seasonal menu – featuring produce from Ramarro Farm and Spurrell Foraging – showcases traditional Italian flavours with modern taste and sensibility. Sosta Ristorante’s illustrated menu might feature an entree carpaccio that heroes kangaroo instead of beef, crisp golden half-duck paired with native citrus, and bone marrow-spiked squid ink spaghetti under a beam of Fraser Island spanner crab. For dessert, you might try chocolate tart topped with delicious house-mulled cherries and sour cream. Many of the elements on your plate are made in house, from the pasta for mains to pistachio ice-cream for dessert.

Sosta has an atmosphere that caters to customers of all types. The art deco lighting and timber accents are romantic enough to please your date, while the menu is stimulating enough to satisfy the most knowledgeable Italian foodie and the extensive wine list will please any group of merrymakers.