It’s a Wednesday night in leafy Malvern, with the temperature a balmy nine degrees. The nearby strip shops on Malvern Road are closed – a bakery, a beauty bar, and a bicycle shop.
But, there’s now some action and attraction near the intersection of Tooronga Road. A string of green and white Hollywood-style lights illuminate the street. It’s Teo’s – Malvern’s renaissance in Italian cooking.
Upon walking inside and escaping the windchill, Teo’s is bustling.
An old-school telephone in Sicilian-olive green takes pride of place on the dark wood counter top. Staff are fresh faced and friendly – in crew neck, branded white and green t-shirts. The glistening wood-fire pizza oven is hard to miss encased in square mosaic tiles – a mixing pot of copper, chestnut, rust and metallic brown. Pantone ‘Tram Green’ covers the walls, offset with even more dark wood and mood lighting.
Sam Kerney, chef and part owner, developed his love for Italian produce and food after marrying his Italian wife. Chalkboard specials – a burnt capsicum, chilli and prawn pasta, and a pizza topped with mushroom cream, more mushroom, pork sausage and fior di latte, showcase what owner, Matt Vero, says is “simple, authentic Italian fare”.
The pizza dough can’t be faulted. It’s expertly chewy. Deciding on just one pizza proves the challenge. The ‘Cavalo Nero’ features Tuscan kale, cauliflower, chilli, garlic, pinenuts and almond feta. The ‘Piccante’ – tomato, pork sausage, spicy nduja, mozzarella, red onion and peppery rocket.
The pasta options keep it traditional with a Bolognese, carbonara, amatriciana and aglio olio. All packed full of fresh flavours and herbs, with exquisitely al dente spaghetti. Generously portioned, too.
The collab between two Italian classics – tiramisu and panna cotta – is the stand out dessert. Perched on top of a bed of white chocolate milk crumb and cherry marsala, sharing is most definitely not recommended.
Wines by the bottle and the glass from local and Italian wine regions flood the drinks list. The Il Farneto Rosato Pet-Nat is a fruity biodynamic drop with some fizz. For the non-alc space, a trio of San Pellegrino’s lightly carbonated beverages are on offer.
The demographic of the diners is assorted.
Three “table for two” diners appear to be on romantic dates. There’s a table of five 30-something-year-old women catching up for an after-work wine and pizza. And then there’s a very large group of primary schoolers and their families celebrating the end of their cricket season.
“We haven’t done this in a long time,” says one of the parents.
Italian food is a crowd pleaser in Melbourne. So much so that Melbourne will soon be the first location outside of Italy to host a ‘Mercato Centrale’, a gourmet Italian food hall. But low-key, ‘make it a weekly regular’ kind of Italian has been missing from Malvern. Until now.
Teo’s Malvern (1344-1346 Malvern Road, Malvern)
(03) 7019 2014
Open from 4:30pm Tuesday through Sunday
