Santini Bar & Grill, WA Good Food Guide’s Restaurant Of The Year, has it all going on from its casual, luxurious interior, to its sexy bar to its well-executed Italian-inspired menu. Since opening last year, it has gone from strength to strength and it’s no wonder with restaurateur Robert Marchetti – of Bondi Icebergs fame – developing the Santini concept.

“He is an amazing man to learn from,” said Santini head chef Nic Wood.

“We have worked together for seven or eight years now and he is the first person I took on as a mentor in my cooking career.

“He is more than just a creative food director, his vision from the seats to the styling of the room to the wine selection . . . he has amazing vision on how to operate a restaurant successfully.”

Wood, who returned home to steer the Santini project, said it took hard work, consistently, great staff and loyal customers to make it to number one.

“And a heap of passion,” he said.

“I learnt to cook from my nanna and what she taught me was to do things properly instead of taking short cuts. They might save you time and money, but it doesn’t give you the best results.”

It’s those “best results” that are the reason Santini is the WA Good Food Guide’s Restaurant Of The Year.

The secret to Wood’s award-winning cooking? Top-quality produce.

“We try to get the best quality produce and do as little to it as possible,” he said.

“We’ve got some traditional Italian dishes and not so traditional, but everything comes from the root of Italy and we let the produce shine.”

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