LARGE and curved, with the perfect amount of bouncy chew, the lumaconi are filled with sauce of hours-long depth, the unmistakable richness of lamb providing a welcome diversion from the usual pork-veal ragù.

Melbourne has long known its pici from its pappardelle, but with almost as many pasta variations as there are hot dinners, it’s going to be a long time yet before we run out of shapes to discover.

At Oster, a supremely stylish new-ish eatery that’s doing its level best to bring some much-needed Italian brio to Bridge Road, chef Nicola Romano fills those large snail-like pasta shells with that knockout ragù and a little gremolata for a plate that’s unique and damn good.

It’s the first time I’ve come across this comically large pasta, and the same goes for casoncelli, a stuffed pasta beloved of Lombardy. Romano fills it with ricotta and spinach and covers the lot with an aged-grana padano foam. It’s at once creamy and salty, comforting and clever.

Also on the short carte, a powerfully peppery bucatini cacio e pepe (are you really an Italian restaurant these days if you don’t have this cheese and pepper number on the menu?). Orecchiette with mussels is less successful, the smoked tomato sauce surprisingly bland.

The pastas aren’t the only clever things here. I’m stealing Romano’s trick of brushing warm focaccia with melted anchovy butter. His take on vitello tonnato, meanwhile, swaps the veal for slices of swordfish to winning effect.

Co-owner Osvaldo Tognella’s all-Australian wine list ticks off buzzwords (biodynamic, orange) and Italian varieties with a good showing of old masters (Yeringberg, Mount Mary), but at mark-ups only surgeons from Epworth Hospital opposite won’t blink at.

Add in the sweet service and Oster – which means ‘host’ in northern Italian dialect – is a welcome addition to a stretch of Richmond in need of its artfully elevated pastas.