Agostino

We had a great waiter, food was good but maybe our expectations were set a little high. Nice place, seating is packed in a little too close. Good wine list. Value was on the higher end.. Good without being blown out of the water great.

My love affair with Carlton continues. More new restaurants, wine bars and cafes keep appearing in the area—tastefully refurbished and transformed—tempting me each week to dine out. This time it was Agostino that tugged hard at my sleeve. ‘It’s all in the name of research!’ I tell myself, justifying the extra money I’ve transferred (yet again) to fund my costly gastronomic projects/hobbies/indulgences. Such is the life of a foodie.

Agostino is what I envision a classy cocktail bar in New York would be like. It’s sleek, chic, intimate and moody—low-lit with shades of green and timber, soft leather and a boutique bottle shop to peruse post-feast. 

As a self-confessed fromage fiend, I ordered the cheese of the day: aged parmigiano with a generous drizzle of honey. It’s the tender marriage of salty and sweet; crumbly and lush. Then came the cacio e pepe ravioli with truffle pecorino: al dente handmade parcels swimming in a gold pool of cultured butter.

With a full belly threatening to bust my jeans, I could’ve comfortably stopped there, but then I saw the dessert menu. There it was, my favourite dolce: the irresistible tiramisu with dark chocolate, cherries and grappa. With every bite a blistered, boozy cherry would burst and so would my heart.

Agostino is an extension to King & Godfree and when we arrived we were lead downstairs into an impressive basement wine cellar where there were quite a few tables and a bar. As it is part wine shop, you can shop around for a bottle and have it corked for $20 to have with your dinner, no judgement on the value of this approach but we enjoyed having a browse through their collection.

Complimentary sourdough and butter hit the table, firm and airy. We started off with some roasted bullhorn peppers with squacquerone and drizzled with basil oil. This is just natural produce at its best, the peppers were sweet and the cheese was very creamy and soft, one to look out for in the future.

The crudo del giorno was lean slices of bluefin tuna, anchovy mayonnaise, blood orange and witlof. It was very nice but quite pricey for the portioning, we ended up with a slice of tuna each (3 diners) and barely any blood orange to pair with it. At $24 it barely touched the walls of our stomachs.

The culatello was a beautiful cured meat with a nice layer of glistening fat. The pear made a nice contrast to the saltiness. They also had prosciutto with figs as one of their special menu items which has the same concept. It also came with some gnocco fritto which tasted super fresh, fluffy and chewy.

We also shared some grilled octopus, new potato, calabrese salami and salsa verde. Another excellent dish, I could taste the slight char on the octopus and it was really soft. Wish they threw in some more salami, again we had to do some awkward splits so everyone can try out all the elements on the plate.

Pasta time! If there is cacio e pepe on the menu, that's an auto-include. This was in ravioli format with cultured butter and truffle pecorino. Simply, we felt the flavours to be quite mild. They need to be more liberal with the pecorino romano and pepper. We did however thoroughly enjoy their mafadine with milk braised pork and veal ragu. The pasta was perfectly cooked with a good amount of bite and the ragu was juicy and salty.

We ended with a few desserts. My friend ordered the panforte which is a Tuscan fruit and nut cake. I didn't care for this, it's just a dense cake that your grandma would eat with their cup of tea. We shared their chestnut honey crema with rosemary and pinenut croccante. This was quite generous and was a little more dense than a custard. The caramelised sugar on top gave it a nice crunchy textural element and overall it had a unique chestnut and yolk flavour. I polished off with an affogato, shot of espresso and scoop of vanilla ice cream, predictable and enjoyable. It came with a couple of biscuits which I enjoyed more than the cake aforementioned.

Not having been open a year and it's already snagged a chef's hat. Having been to similar restaurants such as Agostino I felt that a few of the dishes here were quite difficult to share given the portioning. I am sure that most items are designed for sharing, some refinement is needed here and outlined in the review. Price-wise it is also a notch higher in most categories. In saying that we really liked the moody cellar space as well as the option of being able to select our own wine from the store. Keen to see what else King & Godfree has to offer.

One of the best squid ink linguine I’ve tried recently. I could eat 2 serves of that. The place is beautiful. The service was amazing. Would definitely come back for more visits. Best for a date or special occasions. Highly recommended to try

We were fortunate enough to get a seat in the cellar area of the restaurant which was an absolutely perfect spot to enjoy our meal. Warm and cozy and you felt like you had space even though the tables were relatively close. The food was delicious. The pea and ricotta ravioli was a personal favourite. My only negative was the staff. When you asked for something they seemed a little like you were inconveniencing them however it did seem they were under the pump a bit, there was a lot going on so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. On quality of the food though I really couldn’t fault it so I have to go with a 5/5.
I would highly recommend Agostino for a date night, family dinner or a dinner with friends.

Nice ambient dining room with an intimate feel. A small downside is that the layout has close to half the room facing the wall which detracts from the atmosphere somewhat. A very extensive wine list with a wonderful selection of wines from around the world. The food was good, but not exceptional and overall it was a very pleasant dining experience.

It was great to take some international visitors to such a great Melbourne establishment. The food was absolutely delicious, as was the wine with its extensive selection. I was compelled to go up to the kitchen and thank the staff personally. The service was fantastic, quite helpful and attentive. The whole experience will no doubt see me booking again.