Best places to eat and drink in Melbourne this weekend

It’s the Italian snack that’s like a happy marriage between pizza and a toastie, and there’s only one place to try it in Melbourne. Here’s where to get your hands on a torta al testo.

Whether it’s a pizza store serving authentic Perugian torta al testo, the city’s best gnocchi or a hidden-in-plain-sight bar for cocktails and cheeseburgers, here are the best spots to eat and drink in Melbourne this weekend.

FOR TERRIFIC TORTA

North Fitzroy’s year-old Piccolino has welcomed a new chef and partner into the recently revamped pizza and gnocchi bar, and Andrea Fioriti has brought a traditional testo pan and recipe with him to create torta al testo.

This Perugian specialty is like a small, crunchy flatbread sandwich. The dough is cooked crisp on the “testo” pan and then, while hot, is filled with such ingredients as prosciutto and mozzarella, and marinated eggplant with parmesan.

The authentic Torta al Testo is now on the menu at Piccolino in North Fitzroy

You can find torta al testo — or versions thereof — throughout Italy and parts of Spain, but this is the only place in Melbourne to try this authentic recipe straight from Perugia that’s perfect with a Peroni red or Aperol spritz.

Along with the torta, Fioriti is turning out a nice line in wood-fired pizzas and fresh pastas, as well Piccolino’s (in) famous spaghetti pizza bowl — yes, that’s spag bol served in an edible pizza bowl.

Can’t decide between spaghetti or a pizza? No worries, this spag bol bowl has you covered

The gnocchi — made by the owner’s 76-year-old father every Wednesday — is excellent, fluffy little pillows that sing in a Napoli sauce with bright tomatoey zing, though you’ll also find spaghetti and tagliatelle to team with a changing line up of sauces that might include truffle mushrooms, saffron, Bolognese and carbonara.

That famous egg-cheese sauce is also the inspiration for one of a dozen pizzas and is a smoky, porky, cheesy, eggy delight, the blistered crust pliable with lovely chew, the base holding the topping firm.

So come for the torta, stay for the pizza at this little northside gem.

Piccolino, 148 Scotchmer St, Fitzroy North, piccolinopizza.com.au

The knockout American cheeseburger at the new Crown Towers lobby bar, R Bar

FOR CLASSY COCKTAILS AND CHEESEBURGERS

There’s David Blackmore wagyu bresaola and Mr Cannubi mortadella from Ballarat’s excellent Salt Kitchen alongside fresh housemade ricotta and 24-month cheddar from Tassie’s Pyengana. There are bowls of namechecked olives and the world’s best tinned fish and $300 worth of caviar to spoon onto blini with crème fraiche and your pinky up.

There are port, sherry or bourbon barrel-aged negronis and manhattans and martinis made from Four Pillars gin garnished to spec tableside. There’s table service from ample staff, the cutlery is hefty, the napkins linen, the bill inevitably big and better if picked up by the boss.

A little bit fancy: R Bar serves cool cocktails and top-shelf snacks, including posh sausage rolls

But the real giveaway that Neil Perry’s fingerprints are all over R Bar, the reborn lobby bar at Crown Towers, is that the cheeseburger is a knockout.

A perfectly seasoned pink patty with a spot-on ratio of meat-to-hotplate crunchy bun comes sandwiched between two slices of melted cheese with mustard and a generous amount of properly sharp pickles to cut through.

This is the Rockpool Burger 2.0 and it alone is worth a visit to this plush, hidden-in-plain-sight bar that’s as perfect for a late night assignation in the velour booths out back as it is an expense account breakfast out front.

Lunchtime sorted: The Godmother sandwich

That mortadella also turns up draped across 2019’s bar snack du jour, gnocchi fritto, the fluffy little pastry pockets served warm with a drizzle of olive oil, though the super buttery pastry that surrounds nicely spiced sausage rolls is an equally compelling partner to a quenching Rockpool pilsner.

A good line in hefty sandwiches takes care of lunchtime hungers, not the least of which is the Godmother, a meatlovers’ feast of various cuts on thickly buttered Turkish bread with cucumber and lettuce for fresh crunch finished with a squirt of hot sauce.

Shaking, stirring, pouring and putting Perry’s produce-first philosophy on the plate, R Bar makes a very compelling case for first-class lobby sips and snacks.

R Bar, Crown Towers Lobby, Southbank, crownmelbourne.com.au

FOR GOOD GNOCCHI

Honestly, they’re downplaying it.

Collingwood’s hole-in-the-wall gnocchi joint, Good Gnocchi, has popped up in the city. The brief remains the same: gnocchi with one of five sauces (Bolognese, Napoli, walnut pesto, cheese or butter sage), with garlic bread if you want to double down on the carbs.

That gnocchi is seriously, seriously good.

Fluffy little pillows that dissolve with the slighted hint of chew, they are at once ethereal and completely satisfying, the tin bowl delivering the perfect lunch sized amount that’s so light you won’t need a nap.

The old-school Bolognese has the right amount of saucy meat and comes doused in parmesan.

A couple of wines are available by bottle and Duralex glass, Peroni is on tap, and Fernet-Branca with cola is on digestive duty. Small and super cute, this Hub Arcade hidey hole is worth seeking out for pasta lovers the city over.

Good gnocchi? More like Bloody Good Gnocchi.

Good Gnocchi, Hub Arcade CBD. Open noon-8pm Tues to Sat.

A month of Oktoberfest fun starts this weekend

FOR BIERS AND BRETZELS

A little bit of Bavaria is coming to Burnley thanks to Michael Stanzel. The German-trained brewer is transforming Burnley Brewing into a Bavarian bierfest, and will kick off its 24-day Oktoberfest celebrations on Friday.

Michael has created 12 exclusive beers for the fest, each brewed with imported ingredients in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot — the German beer purity law that states beer can only be made from hops, barley and water.

“Even people who’ve never tried “craft beer” love German styles because the refined brewing process produces clean, crisp beers that are seriously drinkable,” Michael says, who began brewing the festival beers in July to allow them to develop properly.

“We’re in the privileged position of being able to give the beers the time and care they deserve.”

Michael Stanzel from Burnley Brewing says cheers to biers

A Munich-inspired menu will run throughout the festival — pork knuckles and bretzel and bratwurst galore — with the special Helles pale lager also available offsite in limited edition cans.

Meanwhile, Munich Brauhaus in South Wharf will “tap the keg” on Saturday at 1pm, heralding the start of a month’s long Oktoberfest at the bustling beer hall where four Baviarian Oktoberfestbiers are on tap: Hofbräu München, Löwenbräu, Spaten and Paulaner.

MORE EATING OUT

23 UNMISSABLE TASTES AT THIS YEAR’S SHOW

THE 10 RESTAURANTS THAT CHANGED MELBOURNE

Pirate Life and 4 Pines have also brewed special beers for the celebrations and will be served at both Munich Brauhaus and The Bavarian Knox and Highpoint.

“Das Original and Das Beste” Hofbrauhaus in the heart of Chinatown will celebrate its 51st Oktoberfest with traditional stein-carrying competitions and the tapping of the keg on Saturday — the same day the Munich event gets under way.

Three specialty Bavarian brews have been sourced for this year’s festivities.