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Before I walked into Village Wine Bar, I didn’t realise it was run by two of Melbourne’s most accomplished restaurateurs, twins Tony and Peter Giannakis, previously at Port Melbourne’s The Graham. The brothers were awarded multiple Good Food Guide hats during their time there, between 2001 and 2017, and they received the Guide’s service excellence award in 2005.

All I knew about this Albert Park Italian was that the menu looked great – straightforward with a few interesting flourishes – and that snaring a table was a struggle, which is why I ended up with a reservation at 5.30pm on a Tuesday.

Sitting there at nana o’clock with a spritz and spiced nuts, waiting for my mate, contemplating the state of Melbourne dining, it all fell into place. There was Tony, genial but clearly with his eyes on 20 things at once. Over the next little while, the tables filled: empty nesters for cotoletta, mums for prosecco and pasta, early daters for oysters and carpaccio, nothing-in-the-fridgers for spaghetti aglio e olio, a no-brainer at $20.

Tony – one of the brothers is always on the floor; this was a Tony night – ran the place like the conductor of an orchestra and as the restaurant became busier, the crescendo swelled into the beautiful symphony of a restaurant in full flight.

As it happens, the Giannakis brothers had the idea for this restaurant even before they took on The Graham. When they opened at the end of 2020, the concept and the state of the city converged in a gleeful thrum. This is a restaurant that’s proud to give people what they want – spaghetti vongole, crumbed cutlet, tiramisu – and confident enough to tempt them with sardines, perhaps, or panettone pudding, even a Greek wine.

Chef Thomas Townsend was born in New Zealand, did a fine-dining tour of duty in the UK and cooked at the Grand and the European in Melbourne. His cooking is mature, employing finesse in service of diner enjoyment. Beef carpaccio is lightly seared, sliced and dotted with horseradish crème fraiche, crisp fried shallots and grated smoked egg yolk. Gnocchi is made with roasted potatoes; they’re caramelised and tumbled with bagna cauda (warm anchovy emulsion), toasty hazelnuts and buttered cavolo nero.

Spatchcock is gently cooked in duck fat, finished in burnt butter and served over chestnut puree with Jerusalem artichokes and a sweet-sour agrodolce. It’s excellent. Tiramisu is built in a glass, the mascarpone folded with zabaglione to make it fluffier and boozier.

Nothing here will startle any culinary horses, but you can’t knock a restaurant that delivers joy seven days a week, every lunch and every dinner. Village Wine Bar is polished, assured and an absolute pleasure to visit.