Melbourne’s Brighton has welcomed in Cucina & Co., the new Italian restaurant from Riccardo Bianchini (Caffe’e Cucina) aimed at fresh, classic and traditional flavours showcasing what Italians do best: pizza e vino. The 65-seat venue will be offering a seasonal a la carte menu which brings it back to simple Italian cooking with wood-fired pizzas, homemade gnocchi, and daily specials, with hearty soups and stews planned through winter.
There’s plenty of choice for diners with menu items including drunken braised baby octopus in wine and tomato broth, handmade pasta<./b> with veal ragu and white wine, a seafood linguini, and eggplant parmigiana in homemade Siciliano sauce with mozzarella and fresh basil. Of course, these are all alongside the pizza offers, which are pumped out of a top-grade wood-fire pizza oven, handled by expert ‘pizzaiolo’ Leonardo Alfieri, with 18 different toppings included on the menu for the 72-hour-rise dough. These include the classics margherita and marinara along with more exclusive options like the zuccotta which is cream of pumpkin, buffalo mozzarella, sausage, basil, and evoo, and the diavola with San Marzano tomato married with mozzarella, spicy Soppressa, and basil.
Drunken braised baby octopus in wine and tomato broth.
The restaurant’s sommelier, Sabino Matera, has curated an extensive selection of Italian wines to serve up alongside classic cocktails like the all-time favourites negroni and aperol spritz.
Cucina & Co.
Address: 325 New Street, Brighton
Contact: 03 9530 5324
Hours: Mon-Thurs 3pm-10:30pm; Friday-Sun 12pm-10:30pm; Sat-Sun 9am-1pm
Images supplied and used with permission.
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