THE SERVE

Whenever a big suburban pub is swamped by pokies, frozen schnitzels and chips poured from I5-kilogram bags, a fairy dies. But when a big suburban pub installs a wood-fired oven7 hires a gun Italian chef and banishes the pokies to a discreet back parlour, that same fairy sparks up again. If she's at the Grosvenor, she then chooses a bottle of sangiovese from the browsable wine wall, and sips it with a plate of good-fatty guanciale (cured pork cheek), yummy polenta nibbles oozing with gorgonzola, and super thin-crust pizza. Grosvenor Hotel's rebadging signals its intentions: it's now Grosvenor Wine Bar Bistro Cellar. Walk past the wine wall, wood oven and gorgeous display of cured meats and antipasto (fried eggplant, pickled mushroom, frittata) and you're in the sprawling family friendly bar, including smokers' porch. Walk the other way and you'll find a dining room where a smart, stylish, timbered fit-out transforms the eight lane highway outside into a pleasant boulevard. Private rooms and banquet menus make the place a good option for special occasions. Service is smart and friendly. The food is great. Rustic Italian dishes are rendered with flair, as with the handmade pasta dishes, a baby calamari and pancetta braise (a five minute stew that makes no secret of its garlic and rosemary), and a wood fired goat dish inspired by chef Niko Pizzimenti's grandmother who gathered dill, mint, oregano, garlic and onion from her Sicilian garden and pounded them into a pungent emulsion that she then massaged into meat and left overnight. Food with a story tends to taste better but it's the chefs deft hand that makes the goat such a tender, soulful and substantial main course. Other dishes are more tricked up but never just for show. Prawn cocktail is updated into a fun seafood trifle, layered with beetroot and prosecco jelly, popcorn-crumbed prawns and crabmeat that's magicked into linguini. Pizzimenti (ex-Caterina's but not that long out of Italy) is proud of his desserts, especially a buffalo milk pannacotta with vin santo syrup that makes this ubiquitous sweet interesting again. The pub's owners are the property developing Catalfamo family, who also own The Point Albert Park. They've just put both businesses on the market. Here's hoping new custodians maintain the quality-driven approach. Downmarket pub fodder has its place (slot machines probably don't) but I weep for the fairies if parmas and pokies regain prominence at the Grosvenor.