It’s a curious heritage to mix – the heady, complex layers of Indian spices, with the simple acid-fat-salt mix of the best of Italian cuisine – but somehow at Lollo, Adam D’Sylva has risen to the challenge.
When the W approached the local favourite behind Coda and Tonka to deliver an eclectic celebration of multicultural Melbourne, I can only imagine that the mere mention of D’Sylva’s headline creation – the ‘freshly baked to order’ Duck Lasagne – was enough to seal the deal.
Fortuitously, it tastes even better than it sounds; not like duck at all, but rather a lavish spin on an Italian classic delivering oven-baked mounds of gamey flavour, topped with luxurious dollops of burrata and fragrant, fresh basil.
And here’s where the brilliance of D’Sylva’s turn at Lollo lies: reinventing age-old classics that have long begged for an update. The old stomping ground of a burrata and tomato salad is given a much-needed zing of sherry and pesto, accompanied by warm roti (who would have thought that the one thing missing from a caprese was roti? Not this Italian…), while the Grilled Fremantle Octopus combines a hefty dose of chili-spiked green papaya, along with a topping of fried anchovies.
It's a thoroughly adult menu that reflects the tasteful, upmarket interiors – but perhaps my favourite part of the restaurant is the bustling open kitchen. As you eagerly await your next dish, you can smell the heady, rich aroma of a carefully tended-to 500g hunk of rib eye – and although it would be rare to see such a generous slab of steak on the sidewalks of South Asia, it does bring to mind the famous smoking street stalls of the subcontinent.
There are hits and misses, it must be said. The Grilled Cosberg, billed as a rather delicious sounding ‘cacio e pepe style Caeser’, was disappointingly soggy, and doesn’t deliver the expert balance of some of the other dishes, for example. But, overall, you’re bound to find something to tickle your fancy – be it a potent Red Duck Curry, or the chic, subtle Baked Cone Bay Barramundi accompanied by soft leeks and topped with crunchy pangritata.
If this is the future of the hotel restaurant, then Melbourne is certainly primed for a jubilant reopening to the discerning and tasteful traveller.