Ragazzone in Ballarat serving modern Italian and worldly wine

Long derided as “old, gold and cold”, Ballarat is enjoying a new dining boom and this new mod Italian is top of the must-visit list.

Ragazzone in Ballarat is contributing to the city’s dining boom

If 2020 was the year of dreaming of a sea/tree/COVID-city change, then 2021 will surely be the year that dreamers do.

Not that Ballarat is some tap-the-nose secret waiting to be discovered – young families looking for space and those with a keen eye for a bargain have been snapping up period-feature homes for less than a two-bedroom flat in Brunswick for the past few years – but our third biggest city has been doing a great job of losing its “old, gold and cold” epigram thanks to an influx of smart operators with clever hospitality ideas. Or at least adding “bold” to it.

Which makes it a pretty exciting place to hang your hat – if not for good, then at least for a weekend.

From such trailblazers as Fika (coffee), Mitchell Harris (wine bar) and Craig’s Hotel (posh pub bistro) through world-class fine dining in Underbar and one of Victoria’s best Thai restaurants in Mr Jones to beers brewed on site at Hop Temple and newcomer Aunty Jacks, there’s little to no chance of going hungry-thirsty.

Drew Harry is one such local lad who’s helped contribute to a regional dining/drinking scene that is today as exciting an offering as you’ll see anywhere in the country.

The simple, stylish dining room at Ragazzone

Harry helped Simon and Gorgi Coghlan launch the marvellous makeover of the historic Provincial Hotel and the accompanying day-through-night bistro Lola a couple of years ago, while his new business partner, Teddy Powlett, is responsible for giving Ballarat funky south east Asian share plates and cool cocktails at Moon & Mountain and fab fried chicken at Winner Winner.

Now at Ragazzone, they’re serving up pasta and wine and a booked-solid fine time.

With 1000-odd public servants soon to move into the new Gov Hub opposite, the restaurant is well placed to fill its 30-odd seats many times over with lunching lawyers and banqueting bureaucrats but that vision of tomorrow provided cold comfort when opening their doors three weeks prior to the Vic-wide lockdown v 2.

Snacks to start include lamb arrostini, pig’s head croquette and Morton Bay bug wafer. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Luckily pasta travels well and takeaway sustained the small team through the dark of winter and since September locals have kept the simple, stylish space full-to-bursting, whether here for an a la carte lunch, $75 set menu-only dinner across two seatings, or snacks and spritz while watching Ballarat walk by.

Either way, there’s a few small bites to get started that are a non-negotiable win.

There’s a terrific lamb arrosticini – or Italian skewer – where a ribbon of roasted meat is dotted with sharp goat’s curd and scattered with crumbed olive ($7); a hefty, rich and meaty pig’s head croquette that comes with a bright tarragon mustard and a slice of pressed apple ($7); and a potato wafer generously topped with mayo-mixed Morton bay bug and a peperonata positively popping with capers ($8).

Order them all.

The cuttlefish with ‘njuda, tomatoes and leek is best in classs. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Ditto the cuttlefish, which is one of the best versions of the ubiquitous fried squid/cuttlefish dish I’ve eaten.

Terrifically tender scored and curled tiles come dusted with dried espelette pepper giving them an almost BBQ chip-like tang, dollops of spicy ‘njuda (the spreadable Calabrian sausage that’s found its way onto most Melbourne menus in one form or another) and sweet-rich black garlic emulsion sit alongside cylinders of charred leek and a few oven roasted tomatoes. It’s a great dish that’s confident, original and defiantly bold ($18).

A handful of housemade pastas follow, including an artful take on carbonara where a golden yolk crowns a nest of guanciale battons on a tumble of spaghetti ($25), and spanner crab folded through midnight black squid ink angel hair ($29).

Handmade pasta includes ricotta agnolotti. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Fat pillows of agnolotti come plumped full of lemony ricotta and swim in a sage-butter sauce of heady richness, more roasted tomatoes share the stage with large quenelles of thick salsa verde and fried caper berries ($30).

There’s a smart little wine list created by Anthony Schurs, who’s moved down the road from Underbar to look after the bar here. He’s has filled the fridges with accessible Aussies and interesting Italians, suggesting a glass of catarratto (a Sicilian white variety) to go with the agnolotti and its crunchy green apple freshness was the perfect $12 a glass foil for all that buttery richness.

An excellent macchiato and mini tiramisu-flavoured cannoli ($5), and you have the makings of a terrific lunch, go to whoa.

The Great Melbourne Exodus has begun. And Ballarat is all set to feed the masses.

RAGAZZONE

319 Mair St, Ballarat

Open: Thurs-Sat lunch from noon; Wed-Sat dinner at 6pm and 8pm

ragazzone.com.au