EAT > Scopri, Carlton (18/20)

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There are places that stay forever on your most reliable list. It takes a special mix of reliably fine food a warm and comfortable room, good acoustics and genuine service. Scopri remains one of those establishments that remains on our favourite list and is one of Melbourne’s most quietly assured Italian dining rooms: a neighbourhood institution that still feels like a discovery each time you push open the door.

AMBIENCE >

Scopri sits just off the Lygon Street circus, on Nicholson Street, where the pace drops and the tone shifts from trattoria rowdy to low-lit, Piedmontese calm. Inside, the recent renovation and extension have subtly expanded the room without sacrificing its intimacy: polished timber floors run the length of the space, white-clothed tables are spaced more generously, and the framed black‑and‑white imagery of northern Italy still anchors the room with a sense of place.

Service remains one of the great draws; staff glide rather than march, topping up Nebbiolo and decoding daily specials with the same warm, easy cadence that has made Scopri feel like a second home for so many regulars.

So it was for us as we eased into an 8pm sitting on a lazy Friday evening, the staff slide past with welcoming and familiar greetings. The table swiftly turned over from the early sitting, bread, drinks and water all arriving at the table quickly and without fuss.

EAT >

The menu at Scopri is compact but deeply seasonal, pivoting around produce that arrives each week from co‑owner Alison Foley’s biodynamic Romsey Ranges garden in the Macedon Ranges. That means a caprese that actually tells the weather – thick‑cut tomatoes, milky mozzarella and basil when the garden is booming; or, in the cooler months, sweet‑earthy heirloom beets and leaves, all dressed with the kind of green, bitter olive oil that reminds you how bland most olive oil has become.

Pasta is the heartbeat here and the kitchen’s most persuasive argument. Agnolotti del plin, pinched small and delicate, arrive slicked in butter and sage, the filling a rich, almost pâté‑like mix of rabbit, pork and veal that lands as comfort rather than heaviness. On another visit, a special of squid‑ink spaghetti threaded with fruits of the sea – clams, mussels, tender rings of calamari – has that glossy, gently briny sauce that clings to each strand and quietly demands another glass of white.

Secondi hew closer to the Piedmontese countryside. A slow‑cooked goat shoulder comes tumbling off the bone into its own pan juices, served with just‑bitter greens and whatever roots have come in from Romsey that week. A Berkshire pork sausage dish, long‑time favourite of regulars, balances richness with smoky scamorza and mint‑bright zucchini, the kind of plate that makes it hard to leave room for dessert. When you do, a silky pannacotta or textbook tiramisù keeps things classic and mercifully unfussy; this is a kitchen that knows when to stop.

DRINK >

As the name promises, this is as much a wine place as it is a food address. The list leans naturally into Piemonte – Barolo, Barbaresco, Dolcetto and friends – but also looks generously across Italy and a smart selection of local Victorian producers, from bright young Nebbiolo to skin‑contact curiosities for those in an exploratory mood.

We enjoyed a bottle of the excellent and reasonably priced Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2024 followed by a fine Montepulciano both served in the appropriate glassware.

The by‑the‑glass options are well‑judged and change regularly, making it easy to pace a meal from Franciacorta or prosecco through to something more contemplative with your secondi. Staff are deft at reading tables: they can happily talk structure and tannin to wine nerds, but they’re just as comfortable translating the list into plain language and landing you on “something medium‑bodied, not too oaky, good with rabbit”.

CONCLUSION >

Scopri is the rare restaurant that wears its years lightly: a dining room that has settled into itself without losing the spark that made people fall for it in the first place. Come for the handmade pasta and the steady hum of conversation, stay for the sense that you’ve been folded, just for an evening, into somebody else’s long‑running, deeply personal project of cooking, farming and hospitality.

Scopri’s calm confidence is hard‑earned. Owners Anthony Scutella and Alison Foley opened the restaurant in 2009 after two years living in Piemonte, returning to Melbourne with a head full of family recipes and a clear idea of the kind of neighbourhood place they wanted to run. “Scopri” – Italian for “discover” – speaks to those years of eating and travelling through northern Italy, and the restaurant has grown from passion project to Carlton fixture without ever feeling complacent.

In 2016, Foley’s side project of growing vegetables in the family’s suburban backyard evolved into Romsey Ranges, a one‑acre biodynamic garden in Romsey that now supplies the bulk of the restaurant’s heirloom vegetables, greens and herbs. What doesn’t come from Romsey is sourced from like‑minded producers – think That’s Amore Cheese and Flinders & Co – underlining a philosophy that great ingredients, handled simply, are non‑negotiable.

The most recent chapter in the story is expansion rather than reinvention. To keep pace with demand, Scopri has gently pushed out its walls with small freshen up renovation and extension that add capacity and polish without diluting the room’s soul, and the opening of sibling wine bar Bar Olo around the corner in 2024 has allowed the team to channel some of the overflow into a second, more casual space. Bar Olo (read our review) has already been recognised by The Good Food Guide as Best New Restaurant of 2025, a testament to the strength of the Scutella‑Foley partnership and the maturing little ecosystem they’ve built around Romsey Ranges produce and Piedmontese hospitality.

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