Florentino

March 1999

For more than 70 years the Florentino has been a famous name in Melbourne’s food and wine industry. Now the Grossi family have taken over the business and have put their name up front. There it is on the menus, on the waiters’ new jackets and on the front doors.

The family presence is palpable. Be it Elizabeth flying between the hallowed upstairs atmosphere to clearing plates during a busy lunch in the Grill at street level to her brother and the chef Guy, changing (heresy to the regulars) the daily pasta dish served from the hole in the wall kitchen in the Cellar Bar.

The curtains have gone from the windows in the ‘outer’ upstairs dining room eating area revealing (now sparkling) leadlight windows just level with the leafy trees of Bourke Street. In the inner sanctum of the Mural Room the curtains have been changed but the grand circular table in the window remains. Some things cannot be touched.

Menus have been completely reworked and the wine list substantially added to. Samuel Wynn would be pleased. In 1918 (the father of David Wynn and founder of the family wine dynasty) he took over what was then a little wine saloon which was licensed to sell only Australian made wine, not imported wines, beer or spirits. Gradually he introduced fine table wines to a business which had been built on the ‘threepenny dark’ trade from Gordon House, then a cheap lodging house for homeless men. Soon parliamentarians, their public servants, and thespians from the theatres became regulars.

The next stage in the fortunes of the Bourke St building came when the upstairs was converted into a restaurant, called Café Denat, later with the addition of management from Rinaldo Massoni, it became Café Florentino. The Massonis ran it very successfully for many years, adding on the next door property and in the 60’s son Leon, developed a new ‘bistro’ style downstairs.

It is now, and has been for many years, three distinct business - the Cellar Bar, popular for a coffee, a glass of wine and a pasta; the Grill, with its still huge Florentine steak and the upstairs dining room, now graced with an impressive and elaborate Grossi menu.

As Guy Grossi and his family are finding, with three kitchens, several staircases and lots of places where staff can get lost, it’s not an easy business to run. But they are determined that it will be one family run operation rather than divided as it was before. All basic preparations come from the upstairs kitchen, which had been substantially renovated some years ago by previous owner, Floyd Podgornik. So now the lasagna and bolognaise served in the Cellar Bar are made to Guy’s recipe, "no more self importance upstairs versus downstairs."

And to get all this happening, there is brother in law, Chris Rodriguez (formerly chef at Caffe Grossi) in the kitchen along with a team of loyal staff who have been working with the family for many years in previous business such as Quadri (1986-9) Epoca (now sold) Pietro and Caffe Grossi which are still owned and run by the family. Then there’s Guy’s wife Melissa whom he met at Box Hill TAFE who helps out. And behind it all, Guy and Elizabeth’s parents, who came out from Milan in the 1950’s to work in Melbourne’s top restaurants (starting at my grandparents’ Mario’s restaurant which was just around the corner in Exhibition Street).

Guy cooked with his father, Pietro, after school and started working full time at 15, giving him lots of experience. He joined his father in the Tolarno kitchen then owned by Leon Massoni after he had left the Florentino with George Tsindos. Subsequently Leon and Pietro became partners in Massoni’s, Fitzroy Street. Not surprisingly Leon Massoni is very pleased now to see his father’s restaurant, Florentino, in Grossi family hands.

It seems a natural, as Guy explains, "when the Florentino came up, we dropped all our other plans and decided that this would be it. Because it really does suit the family very, very well and gives us quite a bit of scope with the three outlets."

Expectations are high from many Melburnians who have such strong memories of dining in the Bourke St establishment. But the Grossis are confident they can make it even more successful than it has ever been. They will need to. There are rumors that they paid a very high price for the business. With a public spoilt by the number of places in Melbourne to choose from, and consequent low prices, it’s a tough call. They have considerable advantages though, a real love and respect for "one of the most beautiful rooms in the city" and a fierce determination to make it more Italian and to make it a place where people are comfortable. " I really think it needed to opened up and the rules relaxed." So the ties can come off, the jackets go on the back of the chairs and, perhaps, even women will start eating in the Grill at lunch.

Then there’s the eyes, the energy and the experience of Manager/Maitre’d, Tony Pizzi, who has been working at Florentino’s for more than thirty years. Something of a record I believe and showing no signs of slackening off. Must be the stairs that keeps him fit.