14.5 / 20 How we score Italian $$ $$ “Do you want some marijuana with your food?” If you ate regularly at landmark Northbridge Italian restaurant Sorrento (1949-2021), you may have heard its magnetic owner Alfonso Di Lanzo say this to you, sotto voce, the corners of his lips curled into a half-grin. If your brain is wired like mine, you were probably concerned that this Italian gentleman was taking the Mediterranean custom of eating weeds a little too far and might find himself on the wrong side of the law.
But we – or at least I – needn’t have worried. As it turns out, “marijuana” was simply a code word for chilli. I know this now thanks to Fiona Di Lanzo, Alfonso’s daughter who grew up working at Sorrento learning the finer points of hospitality from mum and dad as well as other legendary Perth Italian restaurateurs.
After a stint in Melbourne, Fiona returned home and opened the Mount Hawthorn wine bar La Madonna Nera, a svelte dagger of a space whose timeless good looks speak to its owner’s past life as an architect and interior designer. Booths and tables for two are pressed up against the wall. Italianate knickknacks and flattering lighting set the mood.
A communal table wiggles its way through the room and terminates in the open kitchen. The look and spirit of the room calls to mind the sort of well-worn enoteca that travellers dream of finding while holidaying in Italy, only you can’t buy takeaway wines. But then you realise that La Madonna Nera’s.
