Studio Amaro

168 Chapel St
Windsor, VIC 3181
https://www.studioamaro.au/

Chapel Street is full of eats, but I find they can be a bit hit or miss at times, and crowds don’t always guarantee quality. Studio Amaro however lives up to the hype. With a slick 70s retro vibe in the restaurant and a thumping downstairs bar, Studio Amaro is ideal for groups who want a fun night out, paired with excellent Italian food that is designed to share.

Rating: 14/20 – pastas and snacks.
Fun fact: this review brought to you by the 12 hour ICU night shift!

The Rigatoni Arrabbiata ($34) is the social media poster child for Studio Amaro, and it is simple yet lovely. The giant rigatoni is made in-house and cooked to a beautiful chewy al dente, dressed with a robust tomato sugo, and creamy dollops of stracciatella. I loved the complex salty brine of the dehydrated olive, though I wished there was a bit more of the promised wood-smoked chilli.

I zeroed in on the Campanelle ($37) and its promise of milk-braised pork – something that is a must-have for me ever since Totti. And this was just delectable, with the luscious slow-cooked ragu folded into the whorls and crevices of pasta. And get this, if you have it with the focaccia (more on that later), it tastes almost like banh mi. In fact, my only complaint is that the nduja sauce could be a little spicier.

For such rich pasta, the Cabbage Salad ($19) was a godsend, the pleasantly bitter leaves interspersed with sweet pea sprouts and sharp radish, all dressed with plenty of lemon and mint, and a generous grating of ricotta.

The pastas here are generous enough to share, but the real reason to bring a crowd to Studio Amaro is the amazing selection of antipasti. The Whipped Ricotta, Lemon Oil ($12) is a house-favourite, the mild creaminess with a touch of citrus reminiscent of avocado toast, especially when swiped onto some Sourdough Focaccia ($9.5, 4pcs).

To complement the whipped ricotta, I would highly recommend the Wood Roasted Peppers ($14), which had a deliciously smoky and tangy flavour, garnished with generous amounts of garlic and basil.

The Chicken Liver Parfait ($14) was on the more ordinary side. Though beautifully presented, the parfait itself was too salty without much complexity, and I wished for more of the Amarena cherries, which provided a beautiful fruity sweetness that complemented the parfait well.

For a more substantial start, the Pork and Fennel Sausage ($21) is satisfyingly meaty, the snappy skin giving way to a dense, smoke-infused filling. The bed of olives and white bean in a herby sauce it sits on is a little incongruous, but plenty tasty when eaten by itself.