As we take our seats at Stokehouse downstairs on St Kilda Beach, recently rechristened Stokehouse Pasta & Bar (formerly Pontoon), the waitress needs to know one thing.
“Now, are we heading to the show tonight or …?”
What show?
“It’s Flight Pilot or something. Air Pilot? It’s old-persons’ music.”
Readers, it is Air Supply. Playing over the road at the Palais. And no, we’re not going.

Once she’s established we’re in no rush we can relax into the pale-wood interiors – glowing in the sharp evening sunlight – and admire the rippling bay views.

Given most diners will, like us, be staring out to sea, interiors are kept airily simple, with brick-tiled floors, a brass-panelled open kitchen and large central bar facing a wine wall.

There’s al fresco seating on a beachfront deck but it’s vacant tonight thanks to our Antarctic summer.

The menu is now Italian and caters to all tastes – from salty snacks to pastas and mains such as Cape Grim sirloin and fantastic-looking fish, giant golden-battered beauties served on a sea of chips.

To begin we order a Bergamot Fizz (citrussy Italicus liqueur, prosecco and lemon) and a breezy Stokehouse Spritz of amaro, orange bitters and white peach and jasmine soda.

Drink options stick mostly to proven winners; wet, dry and dirty martinis, Negronis, a dozen beers and nine wines by the glass.

Staff are engaging and know their stuff. They pace our (seven) plates so we’re never overwhelmed, starting with gildas – skewered anchovies and olives that flush the mouth with salt and brine. Great with a crisp Italian pinot grigio.
Then chunky cod croquettes – more like fish thumbs than fish fingers – loaded with flaky flesh and perched on a pool of smoky, acid-bright harissa. Diced raw kingfish, slicked in vibrant green parsley oil, is zingingly fresh.

There’s nothing too tricky or cheffy on the menu. Most of the pastas – orecchiette with broccoli and anchovy, for example – I could easily make at home. But does my dining room have a luminous view filled with waves and palms? It does not. And that’s Stokehouse Pasta’s appeal; the dining’s fine but the setting’s the clincher.

Spinach and ricotta tortellini is not hard to do at home either if you buy in the pasta, which they do here. Served with pine nuts in a burnt-butter sauce, it’s nicely done.

I’m not as taken with the crab spaghetti topped with crunchy toasted breadcrumbs (pangrattato). Just two slices of the promised chilli make for a safe but dull dish, despite the copious crabmeat.

We pair the pastas with a ‘deconstructed’ Niçoise salad, a large oval plate arranged with green beans, flavourful cherry tomatoes, lettuce, an anchovy mayo mined with capers, soft-boiled egg, (floury) sliced potato and four juicy leaves of tuna, seared at the margins and pink everywhere else. I like this DIY option, mixing and matching tastes to suit your appetite.

Desserts, again, are not fancy. A tiramisu, a cannoli, house-made sorbets and gelato, and a sundae. The sundae’s the smart choice. It has scoops of all three gelati – chocolate, vanilla and raspberry when I visit – sliced banana and chocolate sauce. It’s topped with thick, sweet cream and a maraschino cherry, something I haven’t seen in a restaurant since Air Supply was a thing.
Stokehouse Pasta & Bar is fun, tasty and not wildly expensive.

It’s a low-key glamorous seaside diner that will be just lovely in summer, if it ever arrives.

Related review: 10 new restaurants in Melbourne to visit before the year is out