La Madonna Next Hotel Melbourne restaurant review: Dan Stock

More hidden secret than hot spot, this sumptuous space boasts top-notch offerings at Melbourne wine bar prices — and the best $12 dessert in town.

“La Madonna!” chef Daniel Natoli is said to have exclaimed upon first seeing the space that was to become his new domain but it’s not just in looks that the restaurant at the new Next Hotel is doing dining differently.

There’s a room boom in Melbourne and each of these funky new hotels are upping their wine dine game like never before, whether it’s Adam D’Sylva serving duck lasagne at the W Hotel’s Lollo, Shannon Martinez bringing her plant-based plate pizzazz at South Yarra’s Ovolo or mod Italian and old-world glamour at Luci at the new Hilton.

At Next, however, across the restaurant and bar that take over the entire third level, the brief was to create a space that could live outside a hotel, and early days young, they’re doing a pretty good job of nailing it.

Fig Carpaccio. Picture: Nicki Connolly.

This is the first hotel restaurant, for instance, where you’ll see plucked ducks dry-ageing on display, and the first hotel bar where you’ll see barrel-aged booze decanted to order, and one of the few where staff have come up through Melbourne’s restaurant, rather than hotel, ranks. Sharing kitchen pass duties are Daniel Natoli and Adrian Li who have worked together at various venues around the traps, most recently at Armadale’s Rina’s Cucina, but more formatively at Tokyo Tina, Neptune and Saigon Sally, and having impressed at a media dinner I snuck back a week later for lunch.

More hidden secret than hot spot – especially during the week – La Madonna is sumptuously spaced and luxuriously appointed in the way of an international five-star, but the offering and, importantly the pricing, is more Melbourne wine bar.

It’s a space as comfortable to perch solo at the bar and smash a few snacks with a glass of something interesting as it is to bring the boss for a full bring-another-bottle multi-course feast.

Taste Restaurant Review: La Madonna Zucchini Fritto Picture: Nicki Connolly

Either way, a couple of skewers are a good opening act while getting your bearings, whether the outrageously good zucchini fritto with green onion, kewpie mayo, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with vinegar ($7 each) or smoky, charry, chewy ribbons of ox tongue hot from the hibachi grill and served with a punchy salsa verde ($7 each).

That the chefs have offal on the menu speaks to a rare freedom afforded a hotel kitchen, while a chicken wing parmigiana speaks to a tongue-in-cheek casual ease that makes the offering worth seeking out for those not staying in house.

Stuffed with melted cheese and ’nduja, crunchy crumbed and served on a bright sugo, it’s a super fun, super tasty snack ($20 for two).

Good house-baked sourdough arrives gratis (an increasing rarity these days) served with both grassy olive oil and furikake (a mix of sesame seeds, salt, nori and bonito flakes) reflecting the chefs’ respective heritage.

La Madonna’s dry-aged duck. Picture: Nicki Connolly.

A lovely eel dip ($15) topped with Yarra Valley salmon caviar and served with purple potato crisps and various raw veg including radishes harvested from the Moonee Valley community garden is a fresh and supremely enjoyable counter to the decadent richness of stracciatella wrapped in compressed tomato and swimming in pond of white soy and basil oil ($18).

A couple of pastas are offered, including pretty perfect pappardelle, where silken ribbons come tossed through a rustic ragu of pork and fennel sausage heft and slow-cooked depth ($26). Team with a glass of something from manager Dom Getson’s creatively curated wine list – perhaps a $14 Sicilian Nero d’Avola or $15 McLaren Vale primitivo — and you have a quick lunch sorted.

Those lingering longer will want to plump for Li’s signature — one of those ducks in the window that once aged are basted in Aperol and then roasted to a brittle-skinned crunch for a take on Peking duck blushingly pink and delightfully delicious ($50 half /$100 whole).

La Madonna’s Tiramisu has the best $12 dessert you’ll find in town.

The spatchcock, however, perhaps better illustrates the hotel/kitchen’s forward-thinking credentials, served as it is with a “forgotten citrus” sauce made from all the fruit in the bar that would otherwise end up in the bin – lemons that have given up their peel; oranges that have been squeezed to death. The result? An olive-brined bird that’s juicy and saline savoury teamed with a buttery sauce with real citrus vim. You’ll want to ask for more sourdough to wipe that plate dry ($32).

Before retiring to the striking barrel room with its casks filled with ageing spirits for a smoky take on a manhattan, Natoli’s tiramisu, with anywhere up to a dozen different drops add the heart-starting heft to layers of Italian meringue to create a take on the classic that’s boozy but balanced, creamy but light and the best $12 dessert you’ll find in town.

Hidden in plain sight and worth seeking out, La Madonna delivers hotel dining with a difference that’s at home in the heart of our city.

Taste Restaurant Review: La Madonna Picture : Nicki Connolly

LA MADONNA

Level 3 Next Hotel at 80 Collins, entry via 103 Lt Collins St

Open: breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

lamadonnamelbourne.com.au