It’s a cliché, but we truly are the lucky country. Well, at least from a culinary perspective that is. Where else on earth would you find such diversity? Our culinary landscape and its myriad influences often correlate directly with migration patterns. The low-entry point means new Australians often begin by opening restaurants that deliver the food of their homeland.

In the 1950s it was the Italians who arrived in droves bringing all the swagger of Cucina Italiana with them. Now spaghetti bolognese (yes, we know it’s ragu) is basically our national dish. Hell, we’ve even adapted Italian words into our dialect – calamari, for instance, comes from the Italian for squid. Adelaide’s Osteria Oggi, meaning ‘today’, is the brainchild of non-Italians, yet it’s a lesson in everything that’s so right about not only Italian cuisine, but the way in which they break bread. In fact, it’s how we like to do it too.

Following the success of their casual inner-city eating house, Press, Simon Kardachi and Andrew Davies have created all the energy of their first child but with a bright summery swagger. A (seriously) long concrete benchtop combines shared table and bar environs that burst into a raucous paved room where communal tables provide the front-row seat for good times beneath a vine-entwined pergola. It has all the approachability of a local tratt, but with a bit of contemporary Aus spit and polish.

Chef Davies, in conjunction with chef Mimi Rivers, is clearly cooking the food he loves to eat. There’s no ego on the plate, just bold flavours with a considered touch – it’s little wonder the place is heaving.

Petals of veal tongue, arranged like a flower, lick up lashings of tuna mayonnaise with satisfyingly salty fried capers and anchovy. Meanwhile, rounds of radish and ruby grapefruit add a sharp, zest, and peppery twang to bluefin tuna crudo. A mound of tagliatelle entangles snappy blue swimmer crab. Although it’s beautifully cooked, the shellfish foam, blackened corn and black garlic puree is too bold for the natural sweetness of the crab.

But the fish of the day epitomises not only what Oggi is about, but why Italians do simple food better than anyone. Local snapper’s skin is crisp. Its flesh shimmering at the immaculate point of hesitation to reveal its savoury sweetness. It’s wading in a buttery, white wine and garlic puddle on a plate dotted with Goolwa pipis and mussels – nature’s spoons to scoop up every last drop. Stop it.

Osteria Oggi is everything we yearn for from an honest Italian, and then some. Adelaide, no Australia, really is lucky.