Craving for hearty, Italian comfort food? You know, the kind your mum or nonna would have made (if they were Italian). Yes, Maruzzella is the place to be to satisfy your Italian comfort food cravings!

Located in East Perth, Maruzzella started as a little restaurant and has been around since 2015. The owner and manager of Maruzzella is Francesco Lucisano who used to be head chef at L’Enoteca, Victoria Park. It was two years ago that Francesco invited me to attend a Gnocchi cooking class at L’Enoteca. Time flies! Recently, Francesco invited Elwyn and I for dinner at Maruzzella.

The food at Maruzzella is based on Francesco’s South Italian background incorporating traditional flavours of South Italy and his passion for cooking. To start off, we had the Rustica pizza ($26.50) which comprises of tomato, buffalo mozzarella, sliced prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, rocket salad and shaved parmesan. The pizza at Maruzzella had a clean finished taste with a lesser charred, burnt flavour compared with what you get with woodfired pizzas. Each slice was scrumptious along with the delicate cheesiness of the buffalo mozzarella. Yum!

The Involtini Pollo Maruzzella also known as the Fontina Cheese Stuffed Chicken ($34) consists of chicken thighs stuffed with mortadella salumi, fontina cheese and sage served with crispy polenta cake, asparagus and thyme sauce. The chicken was juicy and full of flavour. There was a buttery, nutty flavour in between the chicken from the fontina cheese. The thyme sauce gave a lovely flavour to the dish, keeping the chicken moist. Not only that, those crispy polenta cake are addictive!

The Fettuccine al ragu di agnello ($27.50) comprises of slow cooked lamb shoulder in herbs, tomato and wine served with fettuccine pasta, finished with a hint of chilli and basil.  It was a delicious and hearty dish, perfect for the cold, wintry evening. The fettuccine was cooked perfectly to al dente and the lamb shoulder was soft and tender. The sauce was flavoursome with punchy flavours from the tomato based sauce and a slight hint of spice from the chilli.

For desserts, we had the Panna Cotta al limone ($13.50) which is a lemon infused panna cotta served with pistachio and honey praline and mixed berries. A dancing panna cotta is a successful panna cotta. I love how this dessert is so light and punchy and you can never go wrong with lemon in dessert!

We also shared a Tiramisu ($14). Tiramisu is my all time favourite Italian dessert and is a must order for me whenever I am at an Italian restaurant. It’s soft in texture from the coffee soaked savoiardi biscuits with a delicate, non overpowering coffee flavour.

For a Thursday night, Maruzzella was doing well with most of the tables being occupied with returning regular customers. It looked like Francesco has done a fantastic job since he opened Maruzzella. According to Francesco, it’s all about using the best quality ingredients which comes down to having fresh, local and imported Italian ingredients for his dishes. If you are feeling hungry after reading this post, head to Maruzzella for a South Italian journey for your tastebuds!

Don’t forget to check out Maruzzella’s Facebook page for events such as the All you can eat pizza!, Gnocchi night and more!

The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own. We would like to thank Francesco for having both of us for dinner at Maruzzella.