Capri

Founded in the 50s, a restaurant that never gets old.

For those who become easily riled when people and places are listed as legends and institutions well before their time, you’d have no problem with those honours being bestowed upon Capri. This Cappuccino Strip restaurant has been owned and run by the Pizzale family since 1954. Seven decades in, its façade and awning seem indelibly etched into South Terrace, and the place itself into the lives of its regulars. You’ll find grandparents eating where they ate with their own nans and pops, and off-duty chefs who tip it regularly.

What’s not to love about a dining room that seems to have changed little over 70 years; a menu unfussed by the latest dish trends? There’s classic lasagne and spaghetti alla bolognese; calamari pops up three times in the seafood section, and then there’s the complimentary minestrone soup with a chunk of crusty bread. It says old school without affectation. The carne section is predominantly veal, from saltimbocca and scallopine to three different cotoletta dishes, which is also the latest it-dish at some of the State’s finest diners. Try their most basic rendition, it may become your benchmark.