One of Kew’s quintessential restaurants, Mister Bianco, now has a little brother with the opening of Massi in Little Collins Street. Chef Joseph Vargetto has opened up the new 50-seated Italian restaurant in the CBD with an aim to bring the flavours of Italian region Piedmont to Melbourne with a casual approach, offering up morning coffee and cakes, lunch, and an aperitivo hour.
Focusing on Northern Italian cooking, Massi is all about feasts starting with antipasto and cold meats, even boasting a crudo antipasto corner where diners can view chefs slicing up their produce from salami to pistachio mortadella. On the menu for starters are dishes like the sweet fried peppers with nduja, and bacala mantecato with fried stuffed olives. Moving onto bigger dishes brings in plates of rich cavatelli with slow-cooked pork shoulder ragu and white bean, black spaghettini with vongole, blue swimmer crab, garlic, and chilli, and veal coteletta. Desserts include Sicilian orange cake with ricotta cream, and marscapone panna cotta.
The venue’s long marble bar serves up post-work drinks ranging from beers and tap wines to Prosecco spritz, all forming the Aperitivo Hour (4:30pm Mondays to Fridays) to mirror the popular time in Italy.
“There is a great buzz in the Melbourne CBD and I’m delighted to be back”, said Vargetto. “I’d been looking for a new site for some time and the Little Collins location is perfect, it is comfortable and welcoming”.
Massi
Address: 445 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Contact: (03) 9670 5347
Website: massi.com.au
Hours: Mondays 8am-6pm; Tuesdays-Wednesdays 8am-10pm; Thursdays-Fridays 8am to late.
Images supplied and used with permission.
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