Grossi Florentino Grill reopened last Tuesday after a complete makeover of the dining room. The Grill has been closed since its final service on Christmas Day. The last time the room was refurbished was in the early 1980s. The Grossi family, which bought the Florentino (which includes Upstairs restaurant; Cellar Bar; and Grill) in 1999, has brought it into the present –the formerly conservative dining room has been transformed into an elegant, contemporary Tuscan hub.
CBD-based architects Mills Gorman, also responsible for the recent changes in the Upstairs restaurant, redesigned the space.
Wooden floorboards support dark-wood tables and chairs with striking lampshades down one side of the room. Hand-shaped brass cladding extends along the wall behind the chocolate-coloured leather banquette. A marble pass borders the open kitchen, which has been fitted with a shiny new Josper oven and Asado grill.
“We’re still a Tuscan dining room, but we have changed our approach to the menu, using the new equipment,” says Carlo Grossi, of the Grossi Group.
The menu features some brand-new items and returning favourites.
Antipasti gets the meal going with dishes such as duck-liver parfait with fig jam, and piadini with black cabbage, lard and pecorino. There are still classic seafood dishes: flounder with Pantelleria capers and marjoram, and Skull Island prawns with chilli and lemon. But the steaks are the highlight. The selection includes O’Connor Hanger steak and the John Dee Angus “Big Rib for Two”.
Grossi Florentino Grill is open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner.
Grossi Florentino Grill
80 Bourke Street, Melbourne
(03) 9662 1811
