Best Pasta in Melbourne

There are few things more comforting and delicious than a good bowl of pasta. With its longstanding Italian community and commitment to good food, Melbourne serves up some of the best spaghetti, fettuccine, pappardelle, orecchiette and ravioli in the world. It’s telling that some of the places on this list have been operating since the ’80s, with few changes to what they do. Good pasta is timeless and resistant to trends.

As of this year, you don’t have to leave home to eat Tipo 00’s casarecce with sausage ragu, Grossi Florentino Grill’s testaroli or Park Street’s rabbit and veal agnolotti. You can recreate them in your own kitchen with The Broadsheet Italian Cookbook. Pastas from Il Bacaro, Pellegrini’s, Mario’s are are also among the book’s 80 recipes. Available now at shop.broadsheet.com.au.

Related pages:
Best Pizza in Melbourne

Tipo 00

A fine-dining chef's handmade-pasta passion project.

361 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

Di Stasio Citta

Restaurateur Rinaldo Di Stasio is back in the city with an extraordinary restaurant that blends high art, high drama and high cuisine.

35 Spring Street, Melbourne

Book a Table

Florentino

Pasta backed by years of research and experience, plus exceptional customer service.

80 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Park Street Pasta & Wine

Fresh, handmade pasta rolled from the best possible ingredients is the draw at this intimate osteria.

268 Park Street, South Melbourne

Book a Table

Agostino

A modern take on the classic Italian enoteca, a 50-seat wine bar with house-made pasta, hard-to-find wines and waiters clad in head-to-toe white Japanese denim in an iconic heritage-listed building.

297 Lygon Street, Carlton

Cafe Di Stasio

No list would be complete without this St Kilda institution.

31 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Book a Table

Pentolina

After 19 years behind the counter at Pellegrini’s, Matt Picone opened this pasta bar dedicated to his late father.

2/377 Little Collins St, Melbourne

Va Penne

To find this dimly lit Italian bar and eatery, look out for a flashing red neon hand in the window. Inside, you’ll find old-school breadbaskets (loaded with carbs to salsa-verde-doused burrata); garlicky spaghetti vongole swimming in oil; a cocktail list centred around Vermouth; and more.

493 High Street, Nortcote

Oster

Northern Italian fare in a dimly lit osteria.

76-78 Bridge Road, Richmond

Book a Table

Il Bacaro

All about that Moreton Bay bug spaghettini.

168-170 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Bar Carolina

A tight list of hits from the same restaurateur behind Il Bacaro.

44 Toorak Road, South Yarra

Cecconi’s

The seafood linguine has been a classic for years.

61 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Scopri

Dine on elegant dishes below a giant vista of the Italian countryside.

191 Nicholson Street, Carlton

Trattoria Emilia

An easy CBD haunt based on a Northern Italian trattoria.

360 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Book a Table

1800 Lasagne

After years running lasagnes around town in a ’91 Holden Barina, Joey Kellock has moved into a former pizza shop. On the menu: lasagne, maybe a dirty Martini and little else.

653 High Street, Thornbury