Equal parts classy and classic, this seminal Italian seaside diner just keeps on keeping on.
Even a wet, dreary Tuesday night finds Il Lido heaving with clued-up regulars who are as much a part of the furniture as the sturdy chairs and long communal tables themselves. They’re here, of course, for timeless Italian mainstays that consistently nail the brief, from submissively soft eggplant parmigiana through to a tiramisù that gets the ratios just right. And, of course, to mine the depths of an exhaustive wine list that courses through the bel paese’s 20 regions and beyond with gusto.
There’s an obvious eye for detail in the kitchen, where good sense rules the day. Zested orange accentuates the freshness of local bigeye tuna tartare tenfold, with airy caper cream adding briny ballast. The bitter crunch of cavolo nero, meanwhile, offsets the long-simmered sweetness of a pork and beef ragù saucing fat tubes of al dente house-made paccheri. Occasionally, certain ideas like cacio e pepe risotto prove too clever for their own good, but it’s nothing another glass of silky Piedmontese red can’t fix.
The bitter crunch of cavolo nero offsets the long-simmered sweetness of a pork and beef ragù saucing fat tubes of al dente house-made paccheri.
All-day service remains a major drawcard, as does the level of care from the invested team – and those beaut Cottesloe views sure don’t hurt, either. An institution, and rightfully so.
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