South Yarra’s four-level pasta palace lives up to its name with rocking crab dish

Melbourne’s pretty spoilt for pasta joints, so did we need another along South Yarra’s sorry and sodden Chapel St?

Kara Monssen

3 min read

October 25, 2022 - 11:30AM

Stella’s rooftop will undoubtedly be a hit with the kids this summer. Picture: Kate Pascoe

Food

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Tagliolini granchio.

It’s a mouthful to say, but sure ain’t hard to swallow at Stella.

That neat twist of millimetre-fine silky egg noodles, glossed in prawn bisque and snow white crabmeat is a thing of beauty.

No sooner than it lands at the table, it’s devoured by two hungry mouths.

And if he had teeth or could eat solids, I’m sure my friend’s little mate would have enjoyed it, too.

Pasta is great, always has been and will be in my books. The versatile sustenance works brilliantly as a family-pleasing midweek-meal, late-night fridge-cold snack and glorious restaurant dish. Melbourne’s pretty spoilt for pasta joints. Do we have enough? Probably.

More to the point, do we need another along South Yarra’s sorry and sodden Chapel St?

Ali Mousavi thought so.

Tagliolini granchio, crab pasta, lives up to Stella’s pasta palace reputation. Picture: Kate Pascoe

After two decades in property development, he’s dabbling in the restaurant game after being inspired by dad Hossein, who ran Italian restaurants abroad for 40 years.

Stella, named after his daughter, was never going to be a humble trattoria.

Instead he’s played to his strengths, turning the cringe-worthy burger and bento eatery Bess Bar (worth a Google) into a four-level pasta palace complete with rocking rooftop for the kids and cosy wine-sipping nooks for older crowds.

For a hospo newcomer, Ali installs a solid team to call the shots.

Chef John Park leads the kitchen, best known for his work at 400 Gradi, Prahran’s Ines Wine Bar further along Chapel St, and most recently at The Meatball and Wine Bar.

Fellow Gradi and Grossi Florentino alumni Paul Mitchell has also come on as venue manager.

I reckon I’ve eaten here during the building’s Italian Chef days, slurping a lunchtime spaghetti that wasn’t as good as that crab pasta in a space not as polished as this.

The 60-seater ground-floor restaurant strikes a minimalistic grey concrete look with terrazzo stone floors and burnt amber accents, with a giant woodfire oven hubble at the rear.

It’s not just about pasta – there are also eight pies made from a Mousavi family sauce and base recipe, as well as antipasti snacks and those typical kingfish crude, burrata and tartrate suspects you’d expect at a mod-Italian spot.

Are we done with burrata yet? Picture: Kate Pascoe

Try saltimbocca through a veg lens at Stella. Picture: Parker Blain

The latter ($28) uses the leaner girello beef cut, diced into tiny cubes and jumbled with shallots, capers, cornichons and mustard seeds, topped with avruga caviar and quail egg.

It’s well-seasoned and there are wicked textures at play — it’s among the best I’ve had recently.

I don’t often order the bread, but you must at Stella. The sourdough ($10) is damn good, warmed in that woodfire oven until crusty with a fluffy centre to slather an accompanying whipped (not smoked as suggested) butter.

It works wonderfully with “I can’t believe we’re still banging on about this” burrata. It’s nice enough, but at $31 for something not house made, it’s OK to pass.

A few other eyebrow-raising prices caught my attention: a $38 San Daniele pizza and what would be a reasonably priced $26 margherita asking an extra $8 for buffalo mozzarella.

I’m told it does come with fior di latte cheese.

The tiramisu. Picture: Kate Pascoe

The vegetarian saltimbocca is also up there. For $35, it subs whisper-fine veal for zucchini sheets which cuddle singed-broccolini and smoked scamorza strips, finished in a cheesy bechamel.

It’s fine but forgettable – yet I can tell Parks has worked hard to make every mouthful exciting.

He does a great job of this with the tiramisu ($21); a creamy mascarpone mess of almond and chocolate soil and biscuity sponge that’s a light on espresso yet big on the Disaronno nuttiness.

Stella may be South Yarra’s buzzy new it-spot, and while it will not change the Chapel St dining scene overnight it’s certainly pushing things in the right direction.

Kudos to you, crab pasta.