Herald Sun food editor Kara Monssen reveals the top 25 restaurants in Victoria

It’s official — these are the top new Melbourne restaurants to feed your Italian food cravings, including one that’s hidden inside a Bayside pub.

After 12 months of eating, drinking and thinking, here is ‘The List’ of my favourite places to visit in Melbourne and Victoria.

Crab linguine with tomato bisque

Lucia, South Melbourne

If the Mediterranean-inspired raw tuna isn’t enough of a reason to visit this sunny South Melbourne restaurant, then chef Jordan Clavaron’s pasta dish will get you across the line.

Watch out for Clavaron’s summertime crab linguine (fingers crossed it makes a come back) slippery in a rosy tomato bisque with whispers of sweet of crabmeat. The dish took on new lives in the off season, most famously in the Moreton Bay spaghettoni.

11 Eastern Rd, South Melbourne

luciamelbourne.com

Saint George levels up its pasta game.

Saint George, St Kilda

St Kilda’s Saint Hotel (ahem, Fitzroy St in general) needed a hero, so in swooped celebrity chef Karen Martini and co to save the day. Along with head chef Diana Desensi (Byron Bay’s Pixie) and husband Michael Sapountsis in toe, she cooks a familiar tale of European comforts that are unashamedly classic, rich in flavour and texture. Desensi steps up in the pasta department, with some seriously tasty takes. I still long for those plump ricotta and cockerel raviollo parcels she had on the menu over Easter — drowning in a robust cockerel jus with spring onion ash and cimi di rapa.

54 Fitzroy St, St Kilda

saintgeorgestkilda.com.au

Master snack purveyor, Elio’s Place, also make a mean pasta dish.

Elio’s Place, CBD

Brother-sister cafe pros Adam and Elisa Mariani are behind both a gorgeous dining space and an impressive snack game with an Italian bent. Think burrata with artichokes and crispy chilli oil, trout mousse piped over potato rostis and charred oxtongue skewers. On drinks, take your pick from spritz, martinis, vermouth or a chilled glass of vino.

1/238 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

eliosplace.com.au

Carlton’s Bar Olo does more than wine.

Bar Olo, Carlton

Don’t be fooled by the name, Bar Olo isn’t just about wine. Anthony Scutella and Alison Foley’s fully-fledged restaurant is responsible for seriously smart Italian food (and with Scopri as its older sibling, no wonder). Yes there are proper Italian snacks — see vitello tonatto, tuna tartare, fritto misto — but head chef Dennis Gullo’s doesn’t muck around in the pasta stakes. Maybe you’ll try Scopri’s iconic and pillowy agnolotti del plin, or fall head over heels with his duck and porcini ragu.

165 Nicholson St, Carlton

barolocarlton.com.au