Review of Roma restaurant

In the shadow of an office tower, Roma stands out as much for its neon sign as for what awaits beyond its latticed doors. The room – with its mid-century Italianate vibe, white tablecloths and chequered floor tiles – gives you a magic tingle the minute you step inside. It’s the platoon of career waiters, all wit and charm and old-school repartee, led by Giovanni Patane. It’s the generosity of the enormous menu, the service from breakfast to late at night, the myriad tiny details that were obviously laboured over.

A white honeycomb lattice ceiling is both a nod to Roman restaurant Trattoria al Moro and a clever design choice to muffle sound. A central table is laden with the day’s antipasti and vases overflowing with flowers. Plates, lights and even salt and pepper shakers feel carefully sourced, piece by piece, to suit the mod Italian mood.

Being an ode to Rome, the menu by Matt Wilkinson includes a whole offal section: beautifully crisped lamb brains with bracing caper salsa, rosy chicken livers, a bright and saucy trippa alla Romana that somehow feels indulgent. It’s a brave wager, but it’s true to the Italian capital’s working-class dishes – and an invitation to curious Melbourne diners. Wilkinson knows how to play to the crowd, too, with pitch-perfect carbonara and all’amatriciana, gorgeously simple seafood and impeccable gelati.

Italian restaurants dot nearly every high street in this city. But Con Christopoulos and his collaborators have built one that’s distinct not just for its quality but for its personality, an increasingly rare commodity in today’s dining landscape.

Must-order: Seafood carpaccio; lamb’s brains; soqquadro carbonara; salted caramel gelato.

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