Spectacular $20 Pasta Nights & Summer Series at Ophelia
Summer nights in Northcote have a new queen, and her name is Ophelia. Tucked on High Street, the latest from the Terror Twilight/Convoy/Tinker crew (Ben Argentino, Bec Moore and Kieran Spiteri) is already operating at fever pitch. By day it’s a sharp, light-filled café pouring impeccable coffee and refined brunch plates; come Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night it flips into one of Melbourne’s most electric wine bars, vinyl spinning from the floor-to-ceiling record wall while the room fills with the kind of beautiful, noisy crowd that makes you glad you bothered to leave the house.
We landed on a Tuesday for the now-famous $20 Pasta Night (part of their mid-week dining series that has ruined all other cheap eats forever). The place was heaving with trendy locals who clearly know a secret when they taste one. Booking is essential unless you enjoy standing at the bar looking hopeful.
Cocktails set the tone immediately. The Peach Negroni (grilled peach gin, Unico Rosa vermouth, Marionette Peach liqueur, Suze and peach bitters) is so emphatically summery it should come with sunscreen. Equally lethal is Ophelia’s Last Breath, a bone-dry house martini made with Antagonist Hard Cut gin, Maidenii Dry vermouth, Beechworth B8 amaro and a single fat olive. One of the best I’ve had in years, and dangerous in the way only a truly great martini can be.
Small plates arrived in joyful waves. A cheddar biscuit topped with asparagus and pepita-pine nut pesto was a textural firework. Beef cheek croquettes with tarragon-cornichon mayo were a main attration with depth of flavour. Raw yellowfin tuna with pickled green tomato and sherry mignonette was super fresh and tasted like someone bottled sunshine and poured it onto a plate.
Then the pastas. Casarecce with lamb ragu, zucchini, broad beans and mint was slow-cooked perfection, the sauce clinging to every twist of pasta. Spaghetti con le sarde brought sardines, fennel, golden raisins, pine nuts and a blizzard of crunchy pangrattato together in a dish that sang of Sicilian summers. Both $20. Both ridiculous value.
Wines were mainly Victorian and all natural-leaning: Chalmers 2023 Pecorino (apricot and texture for days), a skin-contact Momento Mori orange that glowed amber in the glass, and a silky Mt Gambier Pinot Noir that made everything taste even better.
Sides were non-negotiable: shoestring fries with confit garlic aioli, grilled zucchini draped in squacquerone and drizzled with rosemary honey, and the house focaccia with roast tomato butter that you will want to take home in your handbag.
Basque cheesecake with salted caramel and cherry compote, burnt on top, creamy within, was the kind you’re still thinking about three days later.
Service runs like a dream. Munnie is an absolute legend with exceptional service and savvy recommendations, and co-owner Kieran Spiteri works the floor with genuine warmth, topping up glasses and checking tables between the rush. The vinyl keeps spinning, conversation bounces off the brick walls, and indoors and outdoors both feel like the place to be.
Ophelia could have coasted on good looks and a clever fit-out, but every plate, every glass, every interaction is executed with quiet confidence by people who have been doing this at the highest level for years. Unlike her Shakespearean namesake, this Ophelia is very much alive, triumphant, and already Northcote’s worst-kept secret.
Get there before the rest of Melbourne realises.