A New Italian Osteria For Prahran From The Team Behind South Melbourne’s Much Loved Park Street Pasta & Wine
Opening its doors on Tuesday, 21 June, Osteria Renata is a new neighbourhood Italian located on High St Prahran and is a much-anticipated sequel from the team behind South Melbourne’s Park Street Pasta & Wine (PSPW).
Acting as a classic Italian ‘Osteria’ – a small place serving wine and simple food – the new restaurant operated by owners Restaurateur Alex Ghaddab and Head Chef Gus Cadden, also takes inspiration and its name from Ghaddab’s Polish-Ukrainian grandmother ‘Renata’.
“Renata drew friends and family to the table each week with her warm hospitality, sharing lovingly prepared food, and it is this approach that underpins our restaurant philosophy, which is to create an experience in a fashion reminiscent of your Nonna’s table – simple, generous and delicious,” says Ghaddab.
“Osteria Renata is a balance between adventurous and classic dishes, with our pasta lab allowing Chef Gus to have some fun and challenge himself and his team with various menu additions. We want to be the neighbourhood Italian, not reinventing the wheel but sticking to what we are good at and paying respect to good quality, seasonal produce.”
Highlights on the a la carte menu include:
- Shucked oysters, amaro mignonette
- Focaccia, sourdough, carte di muscia, tomato conserva
- 36 month aged, acorn-fed Iberico jamon, gnoccho fritto ‘cacio e pepe’
- Roasted bullhorn and frigatelli peppers, anchovy dressing
- Tuna tartare, lemon sorrel, beaurre bosc pear, green olive
- Octopus spiedini, ‘nduja
- Quadratti, mushroom, porcini, parmigiano fonduta, caramelised leek
- Tagliatelle, pork and ‘nduja ragu, pecorino romano
- Squid ink mezzemaniche, cuttlefish ‘umido’, bottarga
- Tortelli, braised veal shank, bone marrow, tomato
Behind the bar is a classic and inventive range of signature Italian themed cocktails, Amaro digestives, alongside Italian and Australian craft beers, and new world and old world wine varietals from regions spanning across Italy, Australia, Spain and France. There will also be rotating wine taps with varietals from local winemakers such as the Project X Range from Chalmers Mildura and Victorian grown Falanghina, Fiano and Lambrusco.
With its design overseen by Nick Cox of Projects of Imagination, the venue’s existing bar has received a reskin treatment and new banquettes have been installed, allowing the space to seat 58 guests – including a semi-private table accommodating 10 guests at a time. An outdoor courtyard facing the pasta lab will, during the warmer months, become Osteria Renata’s private ‘Prosecco Garden’ accommodating an additional 25.
The restaurant’s dedicated pasta lab will feature a ‘Sfogline’ meticulously extruding, rolling and folding, fresh artisan pasta for Osteria Renata and PSPW, and there are plans to introduce ‘fatto a mano’ pasta-making workshops in the dedicated space using the Botenne Fratelli PM 80 extruder later in the year.
Open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday and lunch on Fridays and Saturdays, Osteria Renata will be an exciting new edition to High Street Prahran.
Website: osteriarenata.com.au
Instagram: @osteriarenata
Address: 436-438 High St Prahran, 3181
Phone: (03) 9112 8962
Image credit: Parker Blain