?$dans-daily-web-image$&wid=1400)
Filthy Martinis, Italy’s finest by the glass, and lasagne with a cult following – this all-Italian diner is known for great tunes, a cosy ambience, and all-round good times.
?$dans-daily-web-image$&wid=900)
1800 Lasagne is a good-time Italian diner that delivers on all fronts. The name is a carry-over from its pre-restaurant days when owner (and sometime racing-car driver) Joey Kellock would zip around Melbourne’s inner-city suburbs in a heavily decalled, slightly beat-up 1991 Holden Barina, dropping off foil-clad parcels of pasta to those in the know.
Today, not only is there an extended delivery fleet – including a ’78 two-door Toyota Corolla, a 1969 Mazda Bongo van and a ’91 red Ford convertible – the whole shebang operates out of lasagne HQ: a fully fledged restaurant of the same name.
Here, you can enjoy the lasagne in question – a hefty, multi-layered stack made with pork and veal ragù or eggplant, and rich Neapolitan tomato sauce, silky pasta and a generous measure of béchamel – as well as Italo-centric drinks from a list that leads with beers, local and Italian, and follows up with cocktails that run classic, as well as a decent alcohol-free offering (yes, that is a zero% Amaretto Sour), an impressive selection of Italy’s bittersweet amari liqueurs, and Lambrusco, Italy’s sparkling red wine, by the glass.
On the cocktail front, the Mandarino is a house specialty. It’s made with Melbourne Gin Company Dry Gin and a cordial-like mandarin sherbet, the recipe for which is a tightly held secret, but rumoured to involve sugar, a large number of mandarins, and a plastic bag.
Martinis, meanwhile, come as you like, made with vodka or gin, dry or wet, dirty or filthy – you name it. The Spritz, too, takes various forms, with Italian liqueurs such as artichoke-based Cynar, orange-scented Montenegro, and lemony limoncello among the choices. There’s also an entire page dedicated to Negronis.
When it comes to wine, there’s a predictably Italian focus – as seen in that Lambrusco, a lightly sparkling number from Emilia-Romagna – and overall, the list is weighted towards producers Joey has a connection with. There are a few progressive Aussies in the mix, such as Vanguardist and Tom Shobbrook, a decent house sangiovese at $55 a litre, and a lengthy reserve list for the more special drops.
Lasagne with a cult following cannot be ignored. Plenty of restaurants have made their name on a signature dish, but few have done it as wholeheartedly as 1800 Lasagne. Initially developed for a friend’s dinner party, this one takes almost seven hours to make. It’s frankly impossible not to order.
For the lasagne-lethargic, the four or so other pasta dishes on the menu are just as excellent, such as spaghetti with Goolwa pipis, lemon, garlic and chilli, as is the cos lettuce side with anchovy-flecked cream and blanketed in Italy’s Grana Padano cheese.
