delicious.100: Rosa’s Canteen is one of Melbourne’s best restaurants.

Everything’s good at Rosa’s Canteen, Rosa Mitchell’s newish Italian hub that shines as a mature platform for her straight-ahead Italian cooking.

less than 2 min read

February 7, 2017 - 11:19AM

Rosa Mitchell at her newish Italian hub in the city. Pictures: Ellen Smith

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WHAT shall it be today?

Spaghetti with chilli and pangrattato breadcrumbs or prawn linguini? What about spiral casarecci pasta, rumbled with a piquant lamb ragu?

Spaghetti pangrattato.

Rosa’s mezzanine-level canteen.

It’s all good at Rosa’s Canteen, and if you are dining at Rosa Mitchell’s newish Italian hub, and the chicken livers are listed as a “special”, look no further. The ones they send out here are unbeatable, blushing pink and drenched in soused onion and marsala.

“Here, I can do more than just Sicilian cooking,’’ Mitchell tells us. That’s because her mezzanine-level Canteen, down a lane near the Supreme Court, is a more mature platform for her straight-ahead Italian cooking than the theatre district kitchen she once managed.

All timber, terrazzo and louvres, this is an engaging space, well managed by a crack front of house team. Good bread and oil is on the table in a flash. Then, if you want, there’s salumi misti or fish carpaccio. A changing slate of mains can include firm, fleshy dory, stuffed calamari with broad beans and supple veal saltimbocca cruising with spinach and peas. No tricked-up garnishes. No need when you’ve got a handsome side of Italian slaw.

Veal saltimbocca.

Any meal at Rosa’s Canteen must finish with cannoli — oozing honey-scented ricotta — and a stovetop coffee. Ask her for the recipe. When time allows, Rosa loves a chat.

Must eat dish: veal saltimbocca