Stefano's Restaurant

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Cellar, a Cook, and a Philosophy

Set in the cellars of the Mildura Grand Hotel, Stefano's Restaurant is one of regional Australia's most enduring and decorated dining rooms. The setting alone — intimate, unhurried, underground — signals that something different is happening here. What follows is Italian cooking rooted in the Murray-Darling region, guided by a philosophy that has remained consistent for decades: fresh, seasonal produce, traditional technique, and nothing superfluous.

Recognised by Gambero Rosso and holding Two Chef's Hats in the 2025 Age Good Food Guide (a distinction the restaurant has earned across multiple years, including Restaurant of the Year in 2003), Stefano's has long been considered exceptional not just by regional standards but by any measure.

Stefano de Pieri AM

The man behind the kitchen came a long way to get here. Born in Treviso, near Venice, Stefano de Pieri migrated to Australia in 1974. He studied Politics and Italian Studies at Melbourne University, worked in the Victorian Public Service, and became an adviser on ethnic affairs before settling in Mildura with his wife Donata in 1991. It was the local produce and wine that captured him — and frustrated him, for their lack of wider recognition.

That frustration became creative energy. His book A Gondola on the Murray, later adapted into a television series by the ABC, brought Mildura's flavours to a national audience and established Stefano as a significant figure in Australian food culture. He describes his approach to cooking as relying on "memory and instinct," stumbling into the kitchen rather than arriving by design.

Cucina Povera, Done Properly

Stefano's cooking draws on the Italian tradition of cucina povera — but he is careful to explain what that actually means. It is not frugality for its own sake. "The practice of cucina povera is essentially an intense labour of love requiring time, patience, creativity, and commitment to the freshness and integrity of the produce." There is no interest in excess, no ingredient included unless it earns its place.

The seasonal menu reflects the Murray-Darling region directly, with Italian technique applied to what the land and river offer. The evening begins at 5pm with drinks and antipasto, dinner following at 6:30pm — a structure that encourages the table to breathe, to settle in, to treat the meal as the occasion it is.

A Room Worth Travelling For

That Stefano's has attracted serious recognition from guides on both sides of the world speaks to something real. The Italian cuisine here is not a transplant — it has grown into its Australian context over many years, shaped by one cook's deep knowledge of both traditions. For anyone passing through Mildura, or willing to make the trip, the cellars of the Grand Hotel are the destination.