What to pair it withIt’s a classic Italian menu, sticking to the traditional antipasti-primi-secondi-dolci format. That translates as a simple calamari fritti, a selection of just-sliced cured meats or roasted Gippsland quail, left on the bone, wrapped in pancetta and served with the wintery flavours of mushroom, Gorgonzola and barley. It would be a crime to skip the pasta. Made fresh in the kitchen each day, the signature agnolotti del plin – little pouches stuffed with a fine mince of roasted rabbit, pork and veal and finished with a sage-butter sauce – are the stuff of dreams. Main dishes stick to a refined rustic line – goat on the bone with potatoes and peas in a white-wine sauce, or King George whiting going southern-style with a herby sour lemon dressing. Dessert? Cannoli, of course, or panna cotta infused with grappa, Italy’s firewater made from wine leftovers.
Why we love itIt’s so Italian it hurts (in a good way), but Scopri boasts an excellent backstory with the owners’ biodynamic farm in the Macedon Ranges. It supplies plenty of the produce – the menu lists what’s coming out of the ground at the moment, whether that’s garlic and turnips or rhubarb and beetroot – and provides a nice sense of Victorian place.
