Rossi opens where Ladro TAP once stood in Prahran – and there’s pizza
If you thought Ladro’s closure last year had left a pizza-sized hole in Prahran, say hello to Rossi.
The Greville Street address that was once Ladro TAP is now a pizza restaurant by another name – Rossi. And it has a few extra tricks up its sleeve.
The menu rolls four pasta dishes and a lengthy list of snacks and salumi into the package, while the bar program is a big focus, owing to the background of owners Good Company, who own nearby bar Electric and nightclub The Emerson.
When Ladro’s owners Ingrid Langtry and Sean Kierce announced last November they were selling, it all fell into place for Good Company director Nick Young.
“We originally had a site in Northcote earmarked for an Italian restaurant a couple of years ago,” he says. They shelved those plans, but not the idea, due to the pandemic.
“When the old Ladro site became available right in our backyard, in such an iconic street as Greville Street, we jumped at the chance.”
The pizza-dominated menu – there are 10 choices – is mostly free from surprises, although chef Thibault Boggio brings with him experience from high-end kitchens, including as sous chef at Vue de Monde and Trader House Group.
The French-born chef, whose father is Italian, is drawing on his heritage with a white ragu of duck and speck, lasagne, a prawn and zucchini pizza inspired by a Campanian pasta and bomboloni.
Bar manager Predrag Kocevski says he has combined the greatest hits from Good Company’s venues into one 22-strong cocktail list at Rossi.
Ladro’s industrial-chic bones have been softened by large indoor plants, mirrors and framed vintage posters, and there are plans to add a bar in the courtyard.
Open Mon-Thu 4pm-11pm, Fri-Sat noon-1am, Sun noon-11pm
162 Greville Street, Prahran, 03 9510 2233, rossi.bar
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Emma Breheny – Emma is Good Food's Melbourne-based reporter and co-editor of The Age Good Food Guide 2024.