We have arrived at nonna-hour, but you’d never know it.  The restaurant is already humming, the conversational buzz backed by an all-Italian soundtrack– a playlist of everything from an iteration of Lucio Dallo’s “Caruso” (“Ti voglio bene assai/ma tanto, tanto bene assai”) to jaunty dance numbers from the 50s and 60s. We follow our waiter to a lamp-lit table just in front of the waist-high pass, where bowls of figs, lemons and tomatoes are set like a still-life.

“Limoncello spritz? Negroni?” he asks as he seats us, unfolding our flax linen napkins, and with a snappy wrist flick, draping them across our laps.

On the first floor of the Westin Brisbane but with its own entrance and lift, Settimo is restaurateur Guy Grossi’s first restaurant in the city, his seventh (“Settimo”) in total. It’s as stylish as might be expected, but also comfortable and approachable, with a congenial (and increasingly rare) no-table-turnover time policy.

Related recipes: 5 magical Italian recipes by Guy Grossi 

The menu draws influence from the southern Italian coast – in particular the picturesque towns and villages along the gulf of Salerno.

Along with familiar dishes, now ubiquitous all over Italy and the rest of the world – figs wrapped with sweet, nutty San Daniele prosciutto; crostini, and Caprese salad of multi-hued tomatoes; here, featuring local Casa Motta mozzarella di bufala, are lesser-known regional specialities.

“Scialatielli all’Amalfitana” is a pasta made with a mix of durum wheat and semolina, milk, basil and grated pecorino. It’s slightly grippy – making it perfect for holding sauce, and served with seafood, subbed here with South Australian mussels, Goolwa pippis and exquisitely tender sous-vide octopus, the flavour of the sea amped up by the addition of ‘colatura di alici’ – an Italian fish sauce made with anchovies fermented in a charcoaled barrel.

The gnocchi in “gnocchi alla Sorrentina’– with the most simple sauce of tomato and mozzarella is so deftly made, so delicate they only just hold together. Fish of the day may include spangled emperor, a lucky by-catch of Mooloolaba-based Walker Seafood’s tuna and swordfish targets, the beautiful white flesh pressed briefly skin-side onto the charcoal grill to lightly crisp and add a charry note, before being topped with tomato dice and toasted fennel seeds.

We order a side of green beans with creamy burrata and some velvety, cheesy eggplant Parmigiana to accompany a dish credited to Grossi’s father. The dorper lamb has been marinated in rosemary, garlic, a little chill and white wine, sprinkled with breadcrumbs, sage and parmesan and cooked, then left in the fridge overnight to set the crust, before being re-warmed by flames. It’s incredibly rich and ridiculously tender, unforgettably good, particularly with our wine – a Planeta Rosso from Sicily that has proven its agility by partnering to pretty much all the dishes from Settimo’s tasting menu.

A classic tiramisu, a rhum baba – a sweet that travelled via France to Italy, here light and rum-scented rather than “soaked,” or a “delizie al limone” a fitting homage for a menu focusing on a region that grows some of the world’s best lemons, bookend the menu.

Granted, there are no Amalfi cliff-top views, no regulation rows of umbrellas on a beach below, or colourful fishing boats in the water, but Settimo is authentically, utterly Italian.  “Italianissmo” in fact – perfect for firing travel inspiration, or, if an Italian trip is not on the cards, offering delicious consolation.

Related review: 6 Italian recipes made for easy entertaining