Old mates clink glasses and toast their own good fortune beneath a vine-covered, indoor pergola. Couples canoodle in a small, arched alcove. Up above, on the mezzanine-level kitchen, chefs appear and disappear from view on their raised stage, looking as if they could burst into a Puccini aria at any moment. Waiters with fruity accents flirt, cajole and keep things humming.

Oggi Osteria, the latest offering from the team behind Adelaide’s Press Food & Wine, is more than a pasta joint. It’s grand entertainment … Italian style.

The best place to view this tableau, unless you are in its midst, is from a seat at the end of the 20-metre-long concrete slab that morphs from table to bar and back again in its path from the front door.

Order a glass of Soave and choose something to nibble. The bread “soldiers” wrapped  in translucent lardo are naughty but oh so nice, while raw scallop with fennel and bottarga or celery heart, treviso and poached egg will leave plenty of scope for what lies ahead.

That could be as simple as a bowl of the pasta that is all made in-house, the tortellini and ravioli by a nonna squad who work each morning on a marble table in the cellar (at least that’s what the owners say).

Go-to choices include the campanelle, little frill-necked cones that are perfect for catching the bits of smoked eel and peas, or the tagliatelle with sweet shreds of blue swimmer crab, scorched corn kernels and a crustacean essence, all given extra oomph by a smear of black garlic. Buono!

The pasta could be a meal in itself or followed, in more authentic Italian fashion, by a shared meat dish such as the bistecca or roasted shoulder of tamworth pork.

To finish, it’s worth stretching the belt further for a tiramisu or panna cotta, if only to justify splashing out for a glass of spectacularly good vin santo.