Everyone orders the calamari and zucchini fritti with lemon mayonnaise, we’re told. Not to be dull, we choose a grilled squid with blood orange, pistachio and chilli that turns out to be a highlight in an impeccable meal at Neil Perry’s Melbourne import.

A warm globe artichoke caponata is Perry’s favourite antipasto here, so we trust the man of the house. The caponata is perfectly balanced; studs of eggplant and tomato, sweetness and acid playing against each other wonderfully, but the tender artichokes are lost in the strength of the sauce, and could do with a little less of a good thing.

Perry’s upmarket ode to home-cooked Italian, housed in the Harry Seidler-designed Grosvenor Place at The Rocks end of the CBD, seats more than 200, but with its green and blue velvet chairs, gold-trimmed tables and stunning open kitchen, there’s an intimacy to the luxe room.

Tagliolini with spanner crab, garlic, chilli and parsley is heavy on the oil, but when the oil is this good it’s a delicious blessing. No flaked crab disappears into a sauce here; there are forkable pieces tossed through the pitch-perfect al dente tagliolini, which is twirled onto the plate like a large, perfect cannolo. And yes, there’s a ricotta-filled version for later.

Last year in delicious.100 we marveled at the over-abundance of wait staff, their precision and attention to each guest. While they’re still charming and enquire as to the enjoyment of your meal many, many times while you’re eating, they vanish post dessert and it took our table 15 minutes to find someone to bring the bill; a risky error with the time-poor lunch crowd. Our green salad and broccolini with zucchini, peas and lemon never turned up. We’re ever more nostalgic of the age-old art of writing down an order.

Must eat dish: Tagliolini with spanner crab, garlic, chilli and parsley