Does Brunswick East spring to mind when you think of great Italian restaurants in Melbourne? Well, it should, and we’ll prove it. Lygon Street is essentially little Italy with excellent tram access.
The section between Brunswick Road and Blyth Street features some of the best Italian restaurants Brunswick can offer, and we’ve listed our favourites below to help you choose where to go the next time you feel like a big bowl o’ pasta. Bellissimo!
Italian Restaurants In This Article
The Finest Italian Restaurants Brunswick East Can Offer
Save yourself a full weekend of making homemade pasta sauce by hitting up these delicious Italian Restaurants in Brunswick East. They’ll fill you with some of the most authentic Italian eats available so you can go home happy and binge-watch The Sopranos.
Bar Idda
Chef Alfredo La Spina’s Bar Idda is the spot for Brunswick East’s finest home-style Sicilian food. If you’ve been lucky enough to dine in Italy, you’ll feel like the experience has been replicated here perfectly the moment you step through the door.
The intimate setting is simple, comfortable and friendly, and the food is designed to be shared. As a result, you’ll find a lot of variety on the menu, from the delicious, eggplant-filled Mulinciani to the traditional Sicilian cassata dessert.
Bookings are always a good idea here as the place is popular, to say the least, but walk-ins are welcome to take a seat at the bar and sip on some cocktails until a spot frees up. If you want traditional Italian flavours in a simple, comfortable setting, Bar Idda is the place to go!
Zia Teresa
Zia Teresa has been running for over 35 years. Teresa Bruno and her family’s home-style restaurant have been providing Calabrian signature dishes since April 1985, steadily growing in popularity thanks to their homemade pasta.
Authentic Italian food in Melbourne doesn’t get better than this, and to this day, Teresa still hand-picks the produce to ensure it is fresh and full of flavour. The menu is always changing as the team love to try new things, and they cater to vegetarian and vegan requirements better than most!
The ever-popular assaggi menu is built for the sharing of dishes with family and friends, and it will be hard for you to go past the famous four-cheese Gnocchi that uses a recipe from the 70s. Best of all, Zia Teresa uses their very own pasta, so you won’t be able to find anything like this anywhere else.
The Stonemill 347 Food & Wine Bar
Stone Mill offers old school food in a new-school setting. Famous for their $7 Aperol and prosecco and giant, ever-changing specials board, you’ll love the mix of old and new in this cafe slash restaurant.
The menu is heavily Sicilian-leaning but with an even spread of the wonders that Italy has to offer. We recommend popping in for breakfast to try the simple yet tasty avocado bruschetta, mainly due to the fresh Casalinga bread it’s served on.
The service is friendly and relaxed for a team that loves to have a chat. The spot even offers BYO for a measly $3, if you think you can do better than their delicious wine selection, of course.
400 Gradi & Zero Gradi
We’ve mentioned some of the best pasta joints; now let’s take a look at pizza, the Luigi to pasta’s Mario. Did you know that pizza chef Johnny Di Francesco, owner of the famous 400 Gradi, is the 2014 world champion pizza maker?
How do you become a world champion? You have a pie with an amazing dough, that’s how. 400 Gradi’s pizza goes back to the basics with subtle flavours and minimal toppings (No, Australia, pizza should not have a million things loaded onto it). They are also well-known for their efficient service that will have you chowing down in no time.
Once you have filled up on some of the best pizza you’ve ever had, pop next door to the gelataria for dessert. Zero Gradi has 18 flavours to choose from, including Neapolitan classics and new flavours that appear every week. If gelato isn’t your vibe, they also have plenty of Italian cakes and shared desserts as well.
Gelobar
Another great dessert option is the homemade gelato and various other cake options at Gelobar patisserie and restaurant. Started by Salvatore (Sam) Scullino, the creator of Gelobar’s famous gelati recipe who brings over 57 years of experience to the creation of artisan-style gelati and traditional Italian pastry.
In fact, Sam’s brother Antonio, who helped create the recipe was given an Italian knighthood for gelato making. Of course, we love that Italians knight people over food, but also agree that it must be great to receive such an honour!
The soft, stretchy blood orange sorbet is a contender for the best flavour, as is the rich and dark chocolate. Expect a line at this popular spot, but trust us, it’s worth the wait.
Compass Pizza
La Bussola was a classic Italian eatery that has been re-vamped as Compass Pizza by pubs like the Wesley Anne and Edinburgh Castle. The goal of the refresh was to keep the basics of the much-loved Italian restaurant but give it a modern sheen.
The biggest change was to the produce used in the menu, to create a more sustainable and locally-sourced process, which in turn, also boosted the flavours.
You’ll find a fun vibe throughout the establishment, with lots of local craft beers and Italian imports on the menu. In addition, compass features Brunswick’s only electric pizza oven that cooks the dough and sauces that are made by head chef Joseph Nauer in-house. You’ll also only pay $15 a pizza for some of the best pies in the suburb!
A Slice of Italy is Just Down The Road from East Brunswick Village
You’ll have a whole world of flavours within reach thanks to the convenient location of East Brunswick Village. With a range of East Brunswick apartments selling now, you can make your new home within a friendly community that connects you to the many great eats on offer in Brunswick. Find your new spot today!
Continue Reading
We wanted to put East Brunswick Village (EBV) to the task and have had our sales team answer these ‘six essential questions you should ask when buying an apartment’, and we think we shape up pretty well!
We wanted to put East Brunswick Village (EBV) to the task and have had our sales team answer these ‘six essential questions you should ask when buying an apartment’, and we think we shape up pretty well!
