Pentolina adds to Melbourne’s list of classy counter meals

Melbourne is blessed with some great restaurant counters to pull up a stool at, and the cool curves of Pentolina’s marble bar adds to that list. Just don’t expect the transcendent food you might find at some of the others, writes Dan Stock.

Octopus tentacles are draped over potato rounds in the polpo. Picture: Rebecca Michael

I reckon it is truly one of life’s greatest joys.

While it still gives many the ultimate heebie-jeebies and leaves which-cutlery-to-use-what-wine-to-order angst in its wake, I say the quicker such dread is left for dead the happier we all would be.

Nigel no mates? Banish the thought, for dining alone is a singular pleasure.

With a fork in one hand and a glass close by the other, a meal for one affords a moment’s to-hell-with-the-world respite where the restorative powers of a plate of something delicious and a splash of something equally so are focused solely on you.

Sure, smart phones mean you’re never truly alone, but black spots can be a trap for early players counting on the company of Twitter or Facebook to shield them from self-conscious shame, however misplaced.

A seat at the counter, rather than table, is, therefore the solo-diner’s natural habitat. Offering as much — or, more importantly — as little interaction and conversation as mood dictates, Melbourne’s blessed with great spots to pull up a stool.

Melbourne is blessed with plenty of great restaurants to pull up a stool and dine alone — Pentolina adds its name to that list. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Whether it’s the one-two sucker punch of a veal-in-white-bread “afterschool sandwich” and pitch-perfect negroni bianco while sitting at the expanse of marble at Di Stasio Citta, a plate of balsamic-sticky pan-fried calves’ liver and a glass of Chianti at Tipo00, a half dozen oysters and a glass of bubbles at Philippe, or dumplings, kingfish and Chablis at Supernormal, there are dozens of counter meals you can count on when booking a bit of you time into a day.

Melbourne’s original counter meal where countless solo diners have slurped back a bowl of bol is Pellegrini’s and last year, after almost two decades behind that bar, Matt Picone left to do the same on the other side of the city.

Meaning “little saucepan”, Pentolina takes many of its cues from Pellegrini’s, including a huge counter area that surrounds both bar and open kitchen. It’s dinner and a show for one.

The carbonara is as good as you remember creamy pasta to be, though not better. Picture Rebecca Michael.

It’s a terrifically handsome space, with brushed, exposed concrete walls and terrazzo floors and rattan-backed chairs surrounding small tables for two and bigger rounds for groups, but it’s the cool curves of the salmon-coloured marble bar that’s the real focal point of the laneway restaurant.

Late last year Matt handed over the reins to the kitchen to Gabriele Olivieri (ex Bottega; Cecconi’s) and his menu is a slightly broader and more modern take on the simple home-style, handmade pasta offering Pentolina opened with.

That means such artful entrees as the polpo ($22), where a single octopus tentacle is draped over potato rounds, a bright cima di rape oil spooned across. Underneath, a schmear of spicy njuda (a Calabrian soft sausage) that adds tingling heat to the plate that would’ve shone had the squishy soft octopus not spent quite as long being cooked sous vide before it was finished on the hotplate.

The addition of anchovy fillets to the panzanella salad is a nice touch, with cucumber ribbons and red onion slivers joining cherry tomatoes and a few black olives, though the small croutons seem more afterthought than chunky headliner in a “bread salad” ($10).

The Pappadelle Ragu. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Eating greens comes with ease when broccolini comes pan tossed through chilli before joining al dente pasta tubes. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Nevertheless, it’s a good side act to the main event, 10 fresh pastas that are good, though not in the realm of the transcendental that you’ll still find around the corner at Tipo00, or up the road at Lello.

A rich, slightly sweet and almost hamburger-y ragu is the meaty foil to fat, slippery pappardelle ribbons finished with a squirt of parmesan cream ($24).

Fettuccine — rather than spaghetti as it would be served in Rome — is the carb of choice here for the carbonara that’s as good as you remember creamy pasta to be, though not better. I’m not sure I’d bother blowing most of your energy intake budget on the version here ($26).

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Eating greens comes with ease when broccolini comes pan tossed through chilli before joining fat, al dente pasta tubes, but the dish needed more pangrattato (breadcrumb) crunch, the pasta was billed as conchiglie (shells) and the menu named cima di rapa (flowering turnip tops) as the star, which would’ve added a welcome bitter sharp edge had they been used ($23).

Little fusilli curls are tossed through a good all’amatriciana, though those looking for a depth of heat rather than a quick shake of chilli might find it wanting ($25).

Service is friendly, Italian pinot grigio and sangiovese come by well-priced glass and carafe on a list that also includes a good line in spritz and $9 Nastro Azzurro, and the atmosphere is welcoming and warm.

Pentolina is a perfectly lovely spot for a casual meal. Come one, come all.

PENTOLINA

2/377 Little Collins St, city

Ph: 9606 0642

pentolina.com.au

Open: Mon-Fri, noon-3pm, 5-10pm; Sat 5-10pm

Go-to dish:
Pappardelle ragu