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It’s a scene more akin to Sunday lunch at nonna’s than a sleek spot in Melbourne’s legal precinct: the procession of home-style pastas, stovetop coffee on the burner and matriarch Rosa Mitchell – a bandana wrapped Axl Rose-style around her forehead – keeping a watchful eye over all that goes on. But that’s the play at this no-fuss eatery, where suits from the law courts tuck into simply Italian plates by the namesake owner-chef.

You’ll find Mitchell at the pass plating up ribbons of housemade green tagliatelle with tender pork in a lively white wine sauce; chewy casarecce tossed with prawn meat, capers and chilli; and involtinistyle farsumagru, the Sicilian classic of sliced mortadella, boiled egg and silverbeet, rolled in beef then simmered in red sauce. Mitchell’s even piping crisp-shelled ricotta cannoli to order, a treat you will absolutely want to finish with.