It’s a family affair at Salamanca’s fine dining institution Maldini

After 25 years serving cuisine inspired by his Italian heritage, Maldini owner Bruno Di Tommaso is now embracing another of his birth place’s strongest traditions – the importance of family – and recently handed the reins over to his two sons.

MALDINI

47 Salamanca Pl, Hobart

Opening hours: 7 days Lunch 12 - 2.30pm, Dinner 5pm - late

On the menu

Spiedino de manza, $22; insalata con burrata, $18; bruschetta con aglio, $15.50; spaghetti marinara, $34.50; gnocchi puttanesca, $30.50; and sauteed greens, $15.50.

It’s hard to miss Maldini, sitting as it does on the corner of Salamance Place and Salamanca Square. Outside, patrons enjoy the fresh air and non-stop people watching, inside there’s a constant hubbub as diners chat and eat while waitstaff weave their way through. It’s been like this for a quarter of a century now, with Maldini serving locals and tourists hearty Italian cuisine inspired by the Abruzzo region, from where the owners’ family originates.

Abruzzo lies on Italy’s Adriatic coast and its landscape combines plenty of beaches and craggy mountain peaks. It was not until the 1960s that a motorway linked the region to Rome, turning what had previously been a difficult full day of driving to a journey of just a couple of hours. This lack of accessibility meant the region has long been one of Italy’s secrets - full of family-run businesses that thrive on authenticity rather than Instagram opportunities.

Owner of Maldini's Bruno Di Tommaso has paid homage to the strong sense of family of his birth place in the Abruzzo region of Italy and has handed the reins of his restaurant over to his two sons. Picture: Matt Thompson

This sense of family - and the food they love - is apparent at Maldini, where, after 25 years, Bruno Di Tommaso has recently handed the reins to his two sons and their business partners. Bruno moved from Abruzzo to Australia with his family in 1961, when he was 5 years old and still has family in the region. “I visited when I was 19 and just couldn’t believe the taste of the tomatoes,” he says. “Served with some local olive oil, they were just incredible. After the war, it was quite a poor area, with a focus on farming. Our family grew a lot of their own produce and there was lots of cooking over an open fire. My grandmother, who lived to be 102, just kept telling me, ‘keep eating’!”

Maldini’s Spiedino de manza, which features chunks of tender eye fillet threaded with zucchini and lime slices on two skewers, grilled and served with pickled onion and aioli. Picture: Chris Kidd

One of the specialties of the region is spiedini, literally “skewers” and in this case, the spiedino de manza ($22) is chunks of tender eye fillet threaded with zucchini and lime slices on two skewers, grilled and served with pickled onion and aioli. It’s a generous serving and with a side salad, this would be plenty for a meal. But of course, we’re only just getting started. The insalata con burrata ($18) is a cloud of cream-filled cheese atop a salad of bright cherry tomatoes and a zingy salsa verde. We pull off chunks of the fresh mozzarella and smear it with a dab of salsa for a mouthful of Italian summer. To finish our starters, we share a plate of bruschetta con aglio ($15.50) - the molten and delicious love child of garlic bread and cheese on toast.

The Insalata con burrata, which includes a cloud of fresh mozzarella atop a salad of bright cherry tomatoes and a zingy salsa. Picture: Chris Kidd

Maldini is housed in one of the original Georgian sandstone warehouses that were built in the 1830s to house traders dealing in dry goods, whale products, wool and imported items from around the world. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the past - with the thick stone walls on display along with the alterations that have been made over the past two centuries. Inside there are large tables of friends as well as family groups and couples. It’s noisy, but the staff don’t miss a beat. Given their location, the restaurant welcomes a healthy number of visitors, but Bruno says they were lucky to receive “amazing support from the locals” during the pandemic.

Maldini’s light and flavourful Spaghetti marinara which is served with prawns, mussels in the shell and calamari. Picture: Chris Kidd

He’s eaten plenty of pasta in his day and now, Bruno’s favourites from the menu are the crispy-skin ocean trout served with summer squash ($40.50) or the prosciutto-wrapped eye fillet ($47.50). Both look delicious but it’s a very warm summer evening the night we visit and so my husband orders the spaghetti alla marinara ($34.50) and I opt for the gnocchi puttanesca ($30.50). My gnocchi is delicious - full of classic puttanesca flavours of tomato, olive and capers - but very rich and perhaps better suited to a chilly winter’s night than a balmy summer one. My husband’s spaghetti with seafood however, is light and flavourful - studded with prawns, mussels in the shell and calamari. The white wine, butter and garlic sauce is delicious without being over-powering. Green vegetables never go astray and our side order of broccolini and asparagus ($15.50) is dressed simply with lemon and a little oil, which cuts through the richness of the puttanesca sauce.

Maldini’s hearty Gnocchi puttanesca is full of classic puttanesca flavours of tomato, olive and capers. Picture: Chris Kidd

Our enthusiasm at the start of the meal (the waiter did warn us that we’d ordered a lot of food) means that dessert is not a viable option this evening. But if we had a mind to, there are Italian classics including tiramisu ($16) and affogatto ($18.50). Another time, mi amici!