Rossi - Melbourne

Review by Jackie

During my University end-of-year break, my friends and I planned a girls week away in Melbourne. We wanted to spend some time together away from our busy lives enjoying each other’s company and celebrate another year of completing University. Our goal for this trip was to live the bougie and luxurious life trying new places to eat and having fun getting reading to go out.

Where is it?

Rossi is located in Prahran, Melbourne, between South Yarra and St Kilda. I don’t know too much about the area other than it seemed to be where the people were on Saturday night. The main street (Chapel St) has so many cool bars and night stops where everyone seems to gather. 

Rossi is one street over from the main strip, away from all the hustle and bustle, but still very popular and the place to be for the best Italian food I have ever had!

What’s to like?

Everything was perfect about this restaurant. The atmosphere makes for the perfect night out, as mood lighting fills the space, with fresh greenery and exposed brick walls making everything feel cozy but super luxurious at the same time. The music was calming but fun - perfect for a catchup with friends. 

The Italian menu is packed with so many good choices it was hard not to pick each item! In the end, we settled for Italian Fries w. Rosemary Salt and Calamari Fritti w. Lime Aioli & Black Salt for entree and it started the ball rolling strong. The fries were the perfect level of crispy and soft potato (you simply can’t go wrong), the calamari was fresh, not too chewy and worked well dipped into the lime aioli. 

The main dishes really blew us all away, we were sitting at our table speechless!! We ordered Carbonara (w. Mezze Maniche, Egg Yolks, Guanciale, Pecorino) and the Rossi Diavola Pizza (San Marzano Sugo, Fior Di Latte, Salami, Nduja, Stracciatella, Basil, Chilli Honey). 

Let's start with the pasta. This was simply the best pasta I have ever had and I really wish it wasn’t all the way in Melbourne, as I wish I could visit Rossi every week!!! It was cooked to perfection, the pasta was al dente evenly coated in the carbonara sauce. You could taste the flavour without feeling overwhelmed by a creamy pasta and the small bite-sized pieces of Pecorino added the right amount of saltiness and texture to a simple pasta dish. 

Moving on to the pizza. It was a handmade wood-fired pizza. The combination of Nduja & Salami with Chilli Honey was something that I had never tried before but worked so well. I also really enjoyed the San Marzano Sugo-based sauce. With a generous serving of Fior Di Latte and Stracciatella - as a cheese lover, I like to be able to see and taste the cheese on my pizzas, Rossi did not disappoint!

After such a successful dinner, we could not pass up trying their dessert and to our surprise, it really was the cherry on top! We ordered a classic Tiramisu to end our night. Waiting for the dessert, we were saying how we really like it when a restaurant scoops individual portions of a Tiramisu from a large bowl at the table and lo and behold, soon thereafter our waiter walks out with a fresh bowl of Tiramisu for us, scoping out our portions! We couldn’t help but show our excitement! Each bite was delicious, we quickly cleaned our plates and were very pleased with our dinner that night.

It was so good that my friend (another food lover) decided to leave a Google review on their page :) 

Next time I book flights to Melbourne I will also be booking a table at Rossi to enjoy high-quality Italian food which I have been craving since I got back home.

Entree - Fries & Calamari

Dessert - Classic Tiramisu