Brunetti, Lygon Street’s famous pasticceria, is a Melbourne institution – a triple threat café, bar and restaurant where you could pass the whole day, going from meal to meal and then browsing the pastries and cakes in the interim hours.
The biggest flaw of Brunetti’s original City Square location was size. By moving to Flinders Lane in 2017, Brunetti can now accommodate up to 300 people. The space is huge, but manages to tick all the design zeitgeist boxes: swanky marble benchtops, timber and brass accessories and some nice greenery thrown in too. It harks back to 1950s and ‘60s Italy, with a dedicated gelato bar, a bunch of whirring coffee machines, a mini paninoteca serving sandwiches and deli eats, and a massive mural of a bustling Italian square by illustrator Filipe Jardim.
The fit-out features two imported additions from the old country: Australia’s first DeManincor induction cooktop and a Marana Forni woodfired pizza oven that hangs suspended from the ceiling. And the menu has been elevated, too. It now includes rich spaghetti carbonara, bolognese gnocchi, panino sliders and vitello tonnato for lunch or dinner, with breakfast options of mushroom omelettes, Nutella pancakes and yoghurt with granola. Fancy an after-work tipple? The Campari Bar is Brunetti’s first foray into stand-alone bar service that slings Aperol Spritzes, Italian wines and grappa well into the night.
But the main act has always been the sweets. The cakes are decoration as much as comestibles: take your pick of macarons, croissants, fruit tarts, biscotti, cannolis and profiteroles, but don’t forget about the cakes, which span Italian sponge, chocolate mousses, baked cheesecakes and impressive looking profiterole towers.