Tucked down a city laneway, 10-year-old Trattoria Emilia walks the line between tradition and modernity, without anything seeming forced or cutesy.
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Got itGood Food hat15.5/20How we score
Italian$$$$
What was it about 2015? Was there something in the water, something that made people extra creative, extra inspired, extra Melbourne? Because so many great restaurants opened that year, venues that have defined our dining scene.
Embla and Marion gave us a template for the modern Melbourne wine bar; Anchovy showed us what extremely personal, modern Australian Vietnamese looks like at its best; Minamishima gave us a new standard for Japanese fine dining. The list goes on.
One restaurant opened that year that flies a bit more under the radar, but exemplifies a certain type of Melbourne excellence. It is Trattoria Emilia. Opened by chefs Francesco Rota and Luca Flammia, who came to Australia a few years earlier from Modena, it was conceived of as an expression of pure Italian cooking, focusing on the food of Emilia-Romagna in the north.
Vitello tonnato with fried sage at Trattoria Emilia.Simon Schluter
For the past decade it has done just that, but there’s something about the buzzy room, the style of service, the freewheeling fun paired with a laid-back professionalism, that feels oh-so-Melbourne. Or perhaps it’s just a fine example of how closely tied our city’s brand of hospitality is to Italy, and how well that culture fits into our own.
In 2024, Emilia’s management launched Emilietta, a lunchtime sandwich operation in the bar area of the restaurant, a spur off the main space that works beautifully as an add-on.
Flammia left the business in the middle of this year, and late in September the restaurant closed for a very brief refresh. I was worried it might lose some of its vintage cosiness, its lived-in feel. I ought not have fretted.
Less observant regulars may not even notice the expanded and opened-up kitchen, the change in artwork, the new banquette seating along the back wall that allows for more customers while also giving the tables a little breathing room. The room still has its nooks and crannies, its lovely (and smart) mix of large and smaller tables, its antique glass cabinets and general warmth that has always marked the space.
The pasta is too perfect to have resulted from anything other than extreme mastery of the art form.
More importantly, it still serves some of Melbourne’s most assured Italian cooking. Rota knows how to walk the line between rusticity and elegance, between tradition and modernity, without anything seeming forced or cutesy or overly slavish to convention. He takes ingredients and dishes and techniques and asks: what is the best expression of this? How do I milk the most flavour, the most pleasure, the best outcome from these elements?
There’s the generous bone marrow entree, a hulking luge of wobbly meat essence topped with the chopped bitter green, rapini. On the plate is a smear of fermented porcini and some crostini. Layer marrow on toast and give in to the decadence.
Rosy vitello tonnato is a lesson in tradition, its tuna mayo, caper and fried sage topping proving that sometimes you can’t improve on old-school ingenuity.
Plin (small ravioli) stuffed with ricotta, zucchini and leek, with saffron and zucchini flowers.Simon Schluter
The pasta section is the heart of the menu. It’s here you’ll currently find an ode to spring, small ravioli stuffed with ricotta, zucchini and leek, bathed in saffron and strewn with zucchini flowers. The pasta itself is tight, silky, too perfect to have resulted from anything other than extreme mastery of the art form.
The pork and beef tortelloni is a signature for a reason; and Rota’s risotto, too, is a revelation, both brothy and pleasingly viscous, layered with flavour. Currently, it’s a meeting of citrus and the ocean: lemon, prawn, sea urchin and pops of salmon roe.
The refreshed dining room, and Emiletta sandwich shop (at rear).Simon Schluter
I very much appreciate that Emilia doesn’t only cater to vegan guests but has a whole vegan menu, and it’s one you wouldn’t regret ordering from even if you’re an omnivore. I especially enjoyed a roasted cauliflower main with pine nut and sesame sauce, and my friend and dinner guest was relieved that she didn’t have to worry her preferences would impede my work objectives.
But more broadly, the sense of inclusivity in the offering mirrors the sense of welcome that Emilia embodies. Service is gracious, fun and charming, even when the place is jam-packed, which it usually is.
Emilia may not be the most recognised of the 2015 class of Melbourne restaurants, but it might be because it feels timeless, like it was always here in this laneway and always will be. Here’s hoping.
The low-down
Atmosphere: Warm, vintage, buzzy Italian-Australian charm
Go-to dishes: Bone marrow ($27); risotto ($44); plin (ravioli, $40)
Drinks: Classic Italian cocktails, a fantastic wine list showcasing some of Italy’s lesser-represented regions
Cost: About $170 for two, excluding drinks
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Default avatarBesha Rodell is the chief restaurant critic for The Age and Good Weekend.From our partners
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